UK to use AI in prisons

AI will be used across prisons, probation and courts to better track offenders and assess the risk they pose with tools that can predict violence behind bars, uncover secret messages sent by prisoners and connect offender records across different systems.

In a statement on Thursday (31 July), the Ministry for Justice said the AI violence predictor analyses different factors such as a prisoner’s age and previous involvement in violent incidents while in custody.

This will help prison officers assess threat levels on wings and intervene or move prisoners before violence escalates, it said.

Another AI tool will be able to digitally scan the contents of mobile phones seized from prisoners to rapidly flag messages that could provide intelligence on potential crimes being committed behind bars, such as secret code words. 

 This will allow staff to discover potential threats of violence to other inmates or prison officers as well as plans to escape and smuggle in weapons or contraband. 

 These phones – often used for gang activity, drug trafficking and intimidation – are a major source of violence in prisons. 

This technology, which uses AI-driven language analysis, has already been trialled across the prison estate and has analysed over 8.6 million messages from 33,000 seized phones.  

“Artificial intelligence will transform the justice system. We are embracing its full potential as part of our Plan for Change,” said Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Shabana Mahmood

“These tools are already fighting violence in prisons, tracking offenders, and releasing our staff to focus on what they do best: cutting crime and making our streets safer.”

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