Tech companies including Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Palantir proposed a range of futuristic—and controversial—ideas for managing UK offenders at a closed-door meeting with the justice secretary, it has emerged.
According to minutes seen by The Guardian, representatives from over two dozen technology firms met with Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Prisons Minister James Timpson in London last month. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is seeking “innovative” ways to address the crisis of overcrowded prisons and stretched probation services. One radical idea raised was the use of subcutaneous implants to track offenders in real time.
Other suggestions included using robots to manage prisoners, AI-powered rehabilitation assistants, and autonomous vehicles to transport inmates. Ministers framed the discussion as exploring what a “digital, data and technology-enabled justice system” might look like by 2050.
Mahmood reportedly told companies she wants “deeper collaboration between government and tech to solve the prison capacity crisis” and “scale and improve” offender tagging technologies to promote rehabilitation. The MoJ later said the session was intended to foster dialogue and not policy-setting.
Tech firms also floated the use of high-powered quantum computers to predict future criminal behaviour and automate sentencing calculations within the strained probation service. However, some at the meeting warned of “dystopian outcomes” if such tools were misapplied.
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