Smart Prisons: Managing and Rehabilitating Prisoners with Psychology, Empathy and Artificial Intelligence
Release Date: 10/16/2020
ideaXme
Neil Koenig Senior TV Series Producer and ideaXme interviewer, in conversation with Benjamina Bollag, founder and CEO of Uncommon. Neil comments: As concerns about the sustainability of food production grow, could so-called “cellular agriculture” be part of the answer? A new Cambridge-based startup called Uncommon is one of a host of new players that are trying to find out. Instead of raising pigs on a farm, Uncommon is aiming to produce pork by “growing” it in a lab or factory. So how does the process work? On its website, the company explains that it obtains ”sample cells —...
info_outlineideaXme
Neil Koenig, ideaXme Senior TV Series Producer and interviewer talks with Kilian Kaminski, Co-founder of refurbed. 🪛⚙️🔨 👩💻📲 Neil comments: Does your home have a drawer with an old smartphone in it? If so, you’re not the only one. According to one study there are some 200 million unused phones in homes in Germany alone: that’s more than two per person. 📱💻 “This is a tragedy” says Kilian Kaminski, because there are “resources in these devices, which are really valuable - gold, silver, copper, and they are just lying around without any usage”. Kilian, along...
info_outlineideaXme
Neil Koenig, Senior TV Series Producer and ideaXme interviewer in conversation with Esther Wojcicki, Chief Education Advisor at Knack and Chief Academic Advisor at Pressto.ai. Neil Koenig comments: What’s the most difficult job in the world? President, astronaut, neurosurgeon? No - according to the educator, journalist and author Esther Wojcicki, “it’s being a parent”. As she explains, “most young people don't realise it, but when you become a parent you're signing up for a lifetime of worry…you’re going to want to help your child forever”. But, she adds, the rewards of...
info_outlineideaXme
Neil Koenig, Senior TV Series Producer and ideaXme board advisor interviews Cynthia Noble, Executive Director, Vornado Arts and ART on THE MART. 🎨 🌍 📣 "Please note that the Poetry Foundation is no longer going ahead this Fall. “The Poetry Foundation collaboration is now going ahead in 2025, however the collaborating artists will be announced next year.” ART on THE MART. Neil comments: Think of public art, and sculptures or statues might first come to mind. But how about something bigger than two American football fields? That’s the size of ART on THE MART, one of the largest...
info_outlineideaXme
Neil Koenig, ideaXme Board Advisor and former Senior BBC Series Producer interviews Artist, Anthony McCall. Neil comments: In the face of today’s flood of information from the internet and social media, it can sometimes take courage to retain belief in the strength of self-generated ideas. But for some, it can pay off. As the British artist Anthony McCall explains, “there's a certain moment in any artist’s life where your own ideas become more vivid than anyone else’s, for yourself”. Anthony McCall is certainly no stranger to vivid ideas. His ground-breaking piece from 1973, “Line...
info_outlineideaXme
Neil Koenig ideaXme board advisor and former BBC Producer interviews Christina Keller, CEO Cascade Engineering. Neil comments: As worries about the health of our environment continue to grow, a big concern is the harm caused by plastic waste. Whilst intense efforts to find suitable alternatives continue, the need to recycle existing plastics is becoming ever more urgent. One business that makes extensive use of recycled materials is Cascade Engineering, a family-owned plastics manufacturer based in Michigan, which makes products for a wide range of sectors, including the automotive and...
info_outlineideaXme
Neil Koenig, ideaXme board advisor and former BBC Series Producer interviews Gyri Reiersen, Co-founder and CPO, Tanso. Neil comments: Despite countless warnings from scientists about the dangers that greenhouse gas emissions pose to our environment, it seems that many businesses have still to wake up to the gravity of the situation. “It always surprises me how little companies know about their emissions” says Gyri Reiersen. An activist, entrepreneur, and self-confessed “nerd”, she is also co-founder of Tanso, a start-up based in Munich that offers software to help industrial companies...
info_outlineideaXme
Loredana Sinardo, BBA student at University of St. Gallen interviews Mme Bineta Diop, Founder and President of Femmes Africa Solidarité (FAS), an international NGO that seeks to foster, strengthen and promote the leadership role of women in conflict prevention, management and resolution in Africa. This interview took place when ideaXme recently visited the St. Gallen Symposium. Biography of Mme Bineta Diop: Studied International Relations and Diplomacy. More than 35 years of experience in women human rights issues, led peace building initiatives, conducted teams to observe elections and...
info_outlineideaXme
Neil Koenig, former BBC Series Producer, now ideaXme board advisor interviews Sarah Maria Nordt, founder and CEO, SANOGE. Neil comments: The fashion industry might be glamorous, but its allure comes at a cost, since it is widely regarded as being one of the world’s biggest sources of pollution. One entrepreneur who is trying to do something to improve the situation is Sarah Maria Nordt. She’s the co-founder of SANOGE, a fashion tech start-up based in Germany that aims to produce clothing in a more sustainable manner. It eschews mass production in favour of making clothes on demand....
info_outlineideaXme
Neil Koenig, former BBC Series Producer, now ideaXme board advisor and interviewer, in conversation with Dr Jan Goetz, Co-founder IQM at The St Gallen Symposium. Proponents of quantum computing claim that the technology has much to offer, saying that it promises to revolutionise many aspects of our lives such as scientific research, finance, healthcare and much more. So far, the field has been dominated by US-based giants like IBM, but now a new wave of start-ups is emerging in Europe. One of these is IQM Quantum Computers, based in Finland. At the recent Symposium at the University of St...
info_outlineIra Pastor, ideaXme life sciences ambassador, interviews Ms Pia Puolakka, Project Manager of the Smart Prison Project, under the Criminal Sanctions Agency, within Finland's Central Administration Unit.
Criminal Sanctions Agency:
Ira Pastor Comments:
In 2018, according to the World Prison Population List, which gives details of the number of prisoners held in 223 prison systems in independent countries and dependent territories around the globe, there were close to 11 million people are held in penal institutions, either as pre-trial detainees/remand prisoners or having been convicted and sentenced. About 50% of them were represented by prison populations in the U.S., China, Brazil, Russia and India. Interestingly, a few decades ago, going back to the 1960s, Finland had one of the highest rates of imprisonment in Europe, until researchers across the Nordic countries started investigating how much punishment helped in reducing crime, when they concluded it had minimal effect Over the following three decades, Finland remade its penal policy bit by bit, and by the end of this period of so called “de-carceration," Finland had one of the lowest rates of imprisonment on the continent, and they found that crime didn’t increase as a result. What Finland found out that did work was a gradual reintroduction of prisoners into normal life. About a third of Finnish inmates are housed in an "open prison" (defined as any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to complete their sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security, are often not locked up in their prison cells, and may be permitted to take up employment while serving their sentence), and Finland’s Criminal Sanctions Agency says inmates who go through open prisons are less likely to be arrested again with a recidivism rate of only 20%. Pia Puolakka and the Smart Prison Project: Ms Pia Puolakka,is the Project Manager of the fascinating Smart Prison Project, under the Criminal Sanctions Agency, of the Central Administration Unit. The Criminal Sanctions Agency is responsible for the enforcement of sentences in Finland. It operates under the direction of the Ministry of Justice and implements the criminal policy defined by the Ministry. Ms Puolakka has been working for the Criminal Sanctions Agency since 2012 where she originally started as a prison psychologist, and since 2017 she has been working in the Central Administration, where she first worked as a senior specialist responsible for rehabilitative services including program work, family work, and psychological and spiritual services in prisons. In 2018 she was appointed as the project manager of the Smart Prison Projectand her current post includes developing digital services for rehabilitative purposes and leading the implementation of the smart prison system. By education, Ms Puolakka is a forensic psychologist and works also as a private psychotherapist and hypnotherapist, with degrees from University of Helsinki and Åbo Akademi. She has also done further studies at Aalto University in Artificial Intelligence and digitalization for the purposes of designing the current Smart Prison Project.
On this episode we will hear from Ms. Puolakka about:
Her background; how she became involved in forensic psychology, psychotherapy, and into the criminal sanctions and rehabilitative services system. About the history of Finland penal system and their de-carceration model. About the Smart Prison Project and some of their educational programs in digitalization and artifical intelligence (AI). Expansion of the Smart Prison Project throughout Finland and to other countries.
Credits: Ira Pastor interview video, text, and audio. Follow Ira Pastor on Twitter:@IraSamuelPastor
If you liked this interview, be sure to check out ourinterview with Sridhar Solur about AI, the Internet of Things, and Smart Homes!
Follow ideaXme on Twitter:@ideaxm On Instagram:@ideaxme Visit ideaXme here: www.radioideaxme.com
Find ideaXme across the internet including on iTunes, Amazon Podcasts, SoundCloud, Radio Public,TuneIn Radio,I Heart Radio, Google Podcasts, Spotify and more. ideaXme is a global podcast, creator series and mentor programme. Our mission: Move the human story forward!™ ideaXme Ltd.