Addressing the Digital Divide Within Communities Impacted by Incarceration

Access to tech and creative industry employment

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

In California, Black and Brown people are overrepresented in American prison populations (54% Hispanic, 30% Black/African American). Nationally, Black Americans are incarcerated nearly 5 times the rate of white Americans. Our community is one of the most affected by systemic racism, over policing, and mass incarceration. While technology has reached into almost every corner of our lives in the global north, we are still leaving many people behind in the digital divide. Among these are creative, visionary people. Many of those people are behind bars, some preparing to return, and others just stepping back into their communities. Studies show that of the six hundred thousand people released nationally, 40% will have Post Incarceration Syndrome a psychiatric disorder that is characterized by a range of psychological, emotional, and social difficulties.
Creative Acts works to address the traumas of prison and decrease the digital divide inside prisons and in reentry spaces.

Our Alumni Laboratory consists of 20 alumni who were able to participate in this work while they were incarcerated and now lead as teaching artists. They are our organization’s cast and 'technologists’ as they work to write, film and develop VR content. They build curriculum from the perspective of lived experience and invest in their personal healing as well as the rehabilitation of others; while interacting with methods of engagement, training and learning with artists and technologists. This grant will allow more convening and development hours for this group to develop the curriculum for our expanded VR ReEntry Program. This Program uses art and the immersive experience of VR to replicate external experiences to help people reenter communities safely and confidently. Participants redevelop sensory capacity, regulate emotions and effectively problem solve through these virtual experiences, a radical reimagining of the reentry space. This program breaks barriers to provide access, learning and experience with innovative technology.
We have been asked to pilot a version of this program that incorporates a mentorship between older, lifers in prison and transitional-aged youth in probation and prison programs. Based on the success of that pilot and with the help of LA2050, we want to expand that program with the direct feedback of needs from the participants. The Alumni Lab will create new content and refine the curriculum to ensure it is relevant and responsive.

Los Angeles is already different because of our work. We are the only program to be inside of solitary confinement in maximum security prisons. This program has transformed the solitary confinement conditions for our participants, 85% of them had their sentences commuted and were able to return to the main yards within 3 months of completing our program. We have also provided equitable employment and access to technology to returned citizens through our Alumni Lab program and partnership with JCOD D.O.O.R.S. program. We want to expand this reach and our impact to justice impacted communities by providing more technology opportunities for partners inside to decrease the digital divide and more technology skill building for our returned alumni lab members to continue to pursue opportunities in the justice and technology sectors. We believe technology and the arts can heal LA County and reframe the image of those impacted by incarceration.

Because the Arts are qualitative in nature, we’ve had to get creative in the ways we evaluate our work and quantify our impact. Moving through bureaucratic challenges of obtaining identifiable data from the probation system, we use post program surveys to capture the direct reflections of our youth. 80% of our youth reported that they have a better understanding of why voting and civic engagement is important. We also bring in a mental health professional to evaluate the growth of our adult participants. These assessments are used to measure emotional qualities and help us understand how our arts programming supports emotional responsibility, increases empathy and reduces recidivism. After 2023 VR programming, our participants had a collective 96% decrease of in-prison infractions after completing our program. Of our Alumni Lab, 95% have remained out since their release.