Aventiv Technologies, a technology company delivering secure and affordable products to bridge the digital divide and help America’s 1.9 million incarcerated individuals successfully reenter society, is partnering directly with justice-impacted tech entrepreneurs to launch Justice Sandbox. As the first-of-its-kind secure, technical development ‘box’ or environment, Justice Sandbox provides justice-impacted entrepreneurs an exclusive platform to develop their products.
The Justice Sandbox environment, built and hosted by Aventiv, gives tech developers a plug-and-play platform to connect, test, and launch content. This content will be available on up to 650,000 Securus tablets distributed to individuals in prisons and jails. “Aventiv is a modern technology company with a responsibility to partner and bring secure connections and tablets to corrections facilities, helping eliminate the digital divide that leaves incarcerated individuals behind,” said Dave Abel, CEO of Aventiv Technologies. “In creating connections, we’re building a digital marketplace for justice-impacted tech entrepreneurs who can bring their experiences successfully navigating post-incarceration reentry to those currently spending time inside, amplifying value for all stakeholders.”
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Aventiv has led an aggressive multi-year transformation to deliver quality, affordable, and secure technology that prioritizes the needs of incarcerated individuals. In 2022, as a key component of the transformation, Aventiv formed an Advisory Board of independent experts and advocates in correction, reentry, workforce, rehabilitation, education, and business whose diverse experience provides actionable guidance to help ensure Aventiv’s products and services lead to better outcomes. The inspiration for the Justice Sandbox came from Teresa Hodge, Chair of the Advisory Board, as well as listening sessions organized by the Advisory Board.
When deployed, the Justice Sandbox Apps connect users with education, employment, and inspirational content, developed and designed by those who have lived through the incarceration experience and understand what it takes to achieve stability upon release. The goal is to help incarcerated individuals build the proficiency, confidence, and knowledge to increase their likelihood of post-incarceration success.
Before launching Justice Sandbox, Aventiv was already creating highly engaging content in partnership with formerly incarcerated individuals. Apps like “Second Acts” and “Day 1,” featuring inspirational podcasts created by Aventiv Advisory Board Member Andre Norman, rose to instant popularity by offering first-hand content from people who have successfully navigated reentry. In fact, this content became the most viewed via Aventiv’s Securus tablet.
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“People in prison want to see themselves in the future, and Justice Sandbox gives them the motivation and access they need to complete their sentences and plan for a better tomorrow,” said Andre Norman, Aventiv Board Member and Co-founder of the Hope Media App. “Men and women in prison should not have to compete for a handful of programming and reentry readiness slots and I’m proud to be part of a program that puts reentry readiness information directly in their hands via modern tablets.”
Norman’s latest app, Hope Media, will launch with the Justice Sandbox pilot, expected to go live in September. In addition to Hope Media, the Justice Sandbox pilot includes two other venture-backed technology and software companies: Honest Jobs, a nationwide job board explicitly designed for justice-impacted individuals; and R3 Score Technologies’ R3UP App, a reentry planner to prepare users for release that also offers tools to manage risk assessments for post-release background checks. Aventiv is proud to partner with these tech founders, who often go underfunded and underestimated.
Following the pilot with these three Apps, the Justice Sandbox will expand its offerings to other justice-impacted service providers and tech entrepreneurs, offering an easy onboarding experience in a single “store-like” destination on Securus tablets, that aggregates content to help guide incarcerated individuals toward successful reentry. The Apps offered in each development phase will be delivered with the highest level of security, ensuring a safe environment for facilities and consumers.
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“There are thousands of successful nonprofit service providers or business owners who, after they were released from prison, started businesses to help others who will return to society after their release. Who best to help someone understand the challenges and possibilities of finding a meaningful and productive life than those who walked in their shoes,” said Teresa Hodge, Aventiv Advisory Board, Chairwoman. “These tech and information entrepreneurs are removing the guesswork around completing your sentence and navigating a path back to the community.”
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