\n<\/p>\n
Tracking devices inserted under offenders\u2019 skin, robots assigned to contain prisoners and driverless vehicles used to transport them were among the measures proposed by technology companies to ministers who are gathering ideas to tackle the crisis in the UK justice system.<\/p>\n
The proposals were made at a meeting of more than two dozen tech companies in London last month, chaired by the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, minutes seen by the Guardian show. Amid an acute shortage of prison places and probation officers under severe strain, ministers told the companies they wanted ideas for using wearable technologies, behaviour monitoring and geolocation to create a \u201cprison outside of prison\u201d.<\/p>\n
Those present included representatives of Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Palantir, which works closely with the US military and has contracts with the NHS. IBM and the private prison operator Serco also attended alongside tagging and biometric companies, according to a response to a freedom of information request.<\/p>\n
Mahmood told the tech companies she wants \u201cdeeper collaboration between government and tech to solve the prison capacity crisis, reduce reoffending and make communities safer\u201d. She invited them to \u201cscale and improve\u201d the existing use of tagging \u201cnot just for monitoring but to drive rehabilitation and reduce crime\u201d. The prisons minister, James Timpson, called for a \u201ctech-led approach to justice\u201d.<\/p>\n
The initiative is the latest sign of the Labour government\u2019s embrace of the technology industry to help deliver efficiency savings in creaking public services from schools to hospitals. In January, Keir Starmer declared that AI was a way \u201cto transform our public services\u201d and spoke about \u201ctotally rewiring government\u201d.<\/p>\n
The push by the Ministry of Justice follows last month\u2019s review of sentencing by the former justice secretary David Gauke, which called for fewer short prison sentences and the greater use of AI as well as possible wider use of facial recognition technology in public to help cut the overcrowded prison population by almost 10,000.<\/p>\n
At the meeting last month, which was hosted by the industry lobby group Tech UK, ministers asked the tech companies what a \u201cdigital, data and technology-enabled justice system\u201d could look like in 2050. Responses included: \u201cReal-time behaviour monitoring and subcutaneous tracking\u201d to support the health, and \u201cbehaviour management\u201d of people under the control of the criminal justice system; artificial intelligence advisers to support offenders\u2019 rehabilitation; and robotics \u201cused to manage prisoner movement and containment\u201d including \u201cself-driving vehicles [to] transport prisoners\u201d.<\/p>\n
Human rights campaigners called the ideas \u201calarmingly dystopian\u201d and warned that the meeting suggested the government may be \u201cgetting too close to the tech giants\u201d. A second meeting with tech companies is scheduled for Tuesday, with Lord Timpson due to hear 20-minute pitches for new ideas at what officials are calling an \u201cinnovation den\u201d.<\/p>\n
A government source stressed the ideas raised so far were hypothetical talking points to bring about conversations about the future of offender management to better protect the public.<\/p>\n
The justice secretary has previously said she is \u201cnot squeamish\u201d about using technology such as \u201cgait recognition\u201d, a type of biometric monitoring of humans\u2019 unique movement patterns, which some believe could help prevent violence in jails before it happens.<\/p>\n
An MoJ spokesperson said: \u201cAs the public would rightly expect, we continue to explore technology that will help us cut crime, effectively monitor offenders and keep the public safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donald Campbell, the director of advocacy at Foxglove, a non-profit organisation campaigning for fairer use of technology which obtained the FoI response, called the suggestions \u201calarmingly dystopian\u201d. \u201cIt is chilling to know that justice ministers have sat with the tech sector to discuss using robots to manage prisoners, implanting devices under people\u2019s skin to track their behaviour, or using computers to \u2018predict\u2019 what they will do in future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Other suggestions from the tech companies included using high-powered quantum computers to \u201canalyse past data to predict future behaviours and create diversion paths\u201d and to automate sentencing calculations in the overstretched probation service.<\/p>\n
But there were also fears raised about the consequences of relying too much on technology. One response recorded in minutes was that: \u201cIf misapplied, these technologies could lead to dystopian outcomes that are difficult to reverse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campbell said: \u201cThe idea that tech companies can produce tools to \u2018predict\u2019 crime has been discredited time and again \u2013 it is disappointing to see that they are continuing to push it \u2013 and that the MoJ is so willing to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tech UK, which hosted the meeting, said it was part of efforts to create a fairer, better and more effective justice system. A spokesperson said: \u201cIt is essential that the future of justice is shaped with transparency, accountability, and public trust at its core.\u201d<\/p>\n
Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM and Palantir did not respond to requests for comment. Serco said: \u201cWe will not be commenting on this activity\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tracking devices inserted under offenders\u2019 skin, robots assigned to contain prisoners and driverless vehicles used to transport them were among the measures proposed by technology companies to ministers who are gathering ideas to tackle the crisis in the UK justice system. The proposals were made at a meeting of more than two dozen tech companies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[661,2282,582,2410,2408,2413,2414,2412,2411,2407,812,2409],"class_list":{"0":"post-9822","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-firms","9":"tag-justice","10":"tag-meeting","11":"tag-offenders","12":"tag-placing","13":"tag-prisons","14":"tag-probation","15":"tag-secretary","16":"tag-skin","17":"tag-suggested","18":"tag-tech","19":"tag-trackers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}