Usability and Behaviour Analysis of Prisoners using an Interactive Technology to Manage Daily Living.

A computer system (Direct2Inmate) has been developed to assist prisoners to manage typical daily living tasks such as ordering meals, registering for educational programmes, making health appointments, personal entertainment and much more. The system is available worldwide via kiosks and tablet PCs. We investigate if this digital technology meets the needs of prisoners who have low computer and reading literacies. In considering a prisoner’s persona, researchers have identified that emotions in prisons are volatile and can be heightened due to usability issues with interactive technologies, which can be disruptive and result in unwanted behaviours. With this in mind, we evaluated the system’s user interface using usability testing and we recorded usability metrics in addition to the facial and verbal behaviours of prisoners whilst they interacted with the system.