FireFly

Our Solution: Legal AI for Survivors

As articulated by the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, Colette Peters, the goal of the BOP is not “to make good inmates. It’s to make good neighbors.” The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) faces a critical challenge in fulfilling this mission.

A fundamental aspect of this transformation is ensuring inmates have constitutionally guaranteed access to the courts—a right hindered by systemic understaffing and educational deficits among the prison population.

In an adversarial justice system as we have in America, fundamental to upholding the legal rights of people who are incarcerated is ensuring that they have access to similar tools. While lawyers on the outside have access to these tools, there is a significant risk that those who do not have access to these tools will be at a severe disadvantage.

Scale of the Problem

Nationally, the problem is extensive, impacting nearly every federal correctional facility. Locally, the communities we serve echo this issue, with a significant portion of inmates unable to exercise their legal rights effectively. This includes filing grievances against prison conditions or pursuing legal avenues like Compassionate Release under the First Step Act (FSA). Both measures are crucial for reducing recidivism and promoting rehabilitation, yet remain largely inaccessible to the inmates due to their complex legal and bureaucratic requirements.

Additionally, there are no inmates who have access to legal AI help.

Contributing Factors

The key factors contributing to this problem include:

• Educational Shortfalls: A large number of inmates lack the basic educational background necessary to navigate the legal system, diminishing their ability to file complaints or engage with legal processes independently.
• Insufficient Legal Access: Inmates frequently have limited access to relevant case law and legal resources, essential for advocating for their rights and understanding their legal options.
• Systemic Obstacles: Issues such as opaque administrative processes and alleged staff misconduct further complicate the ability of inmates to seek justice. The BOP’s own reports and recent amendments to policies like the expansion of guidelines for compassionate release highlight these systemic barriers, yet actual implementation remains inconsistent.
• Prisons do not allow access to legal AI tools: If we have to wait for prisons to allow inmates to have access to legal AI tools, then they will never get them.

Local and Global Impact

Globally, similar issues persist in various correctional systems, reflecting a widespread challenge in ensuring fair legal access for incarcerated populations. Locally, our initiative aims to directly assist over 100,000 inmates annually, improving their ability to secure reduced sentences through the FSA and gain compassionate release, ultimately facilitating their successful reintegration into society.

By addressing these issues, our project aligns with both national reforms and the immediate needs of our community, setting a foundation for broader societal benefits through enhanced legal access.

Leveraging Ethical Technology to Improve and Scale Critical Resources

Our solution seeks to harness ethical AI technology to improve and scale critical resources for survivors of modern slavery by improving access to legal resources.

Overview:

We have developed an innovative software solution that automates the functionality of Corrlinks, enhancing access to legal resources for incarcerated individuals. Our system leverages advanced artificial intelligence to empower users to independently access legal information, contact details for legal representation, and guidance on legal procedures.

How It Works:

Automated Information Retrieval:

Our platform allows incarcerated individuals to query the system regarding legal issues such as compassionate release or confinement credits under the First Step Act (FSA). Utilizing a database of all 409 Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) regulations, the system provides specific, relevant information instantly without the need for external assistance from case managers or family.

Phase Development:

• Phase I: Initial rollout of basic legal query functionalities and information provision.
• Phase II: Integration of AI-based training on legal case precedents to provide actionable citations and references.
• Phase III: Development of AI capabilities to assist in drafting legal complaints directly within the system.
• Phase IV: Implementation of a tracking agent to monitor complaint progress, ensuring deadlines are met and automatically requesting extensions to prevent administrative obstruction.

Legal Forum Integration:

We are in the process of establishing a forum, akin to the ABA's Free Legal Answers, where legal professionals can offer direct guidance. This platform will not only facilitate real-time legal advice but also accumulate a comprehensive database of resolved inquiries, enabling the AI to handle frequently asked questions autonomously. This will optimize legal resource allocation, allowing attorneys to focus on new or complex issues rather than repetitive queries.

Technological Innovation:

Our system is designed with scalability in mind. By digitizing and automating these processes, we aim to transform how legal aid is delivered within the prison system, thereby making a significant impact on the rehabilitation and rights of incarcerated individuals.

Ensuring Ethical and Responsible Use of Technology in Our Work

We leverage generative AI to enhance legal access for incarcerated individuals using the prison email system, CorrLinks. We believe that it is unethical for the government to have access to generative AI technology within the legal space without providing the same tools to those who are incarcerated.

Mitigating Potential Risks: Blocking by Prisons

One of the primary risks we face is that prisons might block our system. To address this, we have taken significant steps to ensure that our app operates within legal and ethical boundaries, thereby minimizing the likelihood of such action. We have conducted thorough legal research and drafted a legal brief to demonstrate that our app does not violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

Compliance with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

While this has not been tested in court, we have already written a brief to prove this point. Key cases supporting our position include:

1. United States v. Nosal (676 F.3d 854, 858 (9th Cir. 2012)):

   • This case established that "'without authorization' would apply to outside hackers (individuals who have no authorized access to the computer at all) and 'exceeds authorized access' would apply to inside hackers (individuals whose initial access to a computer is authorized but who access unauthorized information or files)." Our app only accesses user data with their explicit consent and within the boundaries of authorized access, ensuring compliance with this interpretation.

2. Facebook Inc. v. Power Ventures Inc. (844 F.3d 1058, 1066 (9th Cir. 2016)):

   • The court found that violating terms of service alone is insufficient to trigger CFAA liability unless there is an affirmative revocation of access. Specifically, the court stated, "a violation of the terms of use of a website—without more—cannot be the basis for liability under the CFAA." Our operations do not bypass any security measures implemented by Corrlinks. Additionally, we have not received any cease-and-desist letters or had our IP addresses blocked, distinguishing our activities from those in this case.

3. Van Buren v. United States (141 S. Ct. 1648 (2021)):

   • The Supreme Court ruled that the CFAA does not cover those who have authorized access but use it for improper purposes. Our app strictly adheres to authorized access provided by the users, ensuring that our activities are within legal boundaries.

User Consent and Ethical Use of Technology

1. User Consent: Our service operates with explicit consent from incarcerated individuals who sign up, ensuring they are aware and agreeable to our AI assistance. 
2. Transparency: We maintain transparency about our processes and the scope of AI involvement, ensuring users understand how their data is utilized and protected.
3. Fair Access: Our goal is to bridge the gap in legal resources between inmates and external legal professionals, promoting fairness and justice.

Engagement with Legal Experts and Support

We have spoken with several legal professionals at the Harvard Digital Law Clinic and the Free Law Project and are working to secure their support.

Target Population

Our solution is designed to serve incarcerated individuals in federal prisons across the United States. 

Current Challenges

Incarcerated individuals face several critical issues that hinder their ability to access justice and successfully reintegrate into society:

1. Insufficient Legal Access: Inmates frequently have limited access to relevant case law, legal resources, and professional legal assistance. This lack of access makes it difficult for them to advocate for their rights and understand their legal options.
2. Systemic Obstacles: Opaque administrative processes, insufficient legal representation, and alleged staff misconduct further complicate inmates' ability to seek justice. These systemic barriers can prevent inmates from effectively exercising their legal rights.

Impact of Support++

Support++ aims to improve the lives of incarcerated individuals by addressing these critical challenges by:

1. Enhanced Legal Access: By leveraging our legal AI Enginer, we hope to bridge the gap between inmates and external legal professionals, ensuring that inmates have the resources they need to understand and exercise their legal rights.
2. Facilitating Justice and Rehabilitation: By improving access to legal resources and support, Support++ helps inmates pursue legal avenues like Compassionate Release under the First Step Act (FSA). This pursuit can lead to reduced sentences and better rehabilitation outcomes, ultimately aiding in their successful reintegration into society.

Addressing Underserved Needs

Inmates are currently underserved due to a lack of accessible legal tools and access to legal help. Support++ directly addresses these needs by:

• Providing AI-driven legal tools to help incarcerated people find the information that they need.

By addressing these needs, Support++ aims to create a more equitable and just legal environment for incarcerated individual by empowering them to advocate for their rights and facilitating their journey toward rehabilitation and reintegration.

Team Composition and Qualifications

Our team's greatest strength lies in our direct, personal experience with the justice system—every member of our project is justice-impacted. This shared experience not only gives us a deep understanding of the challenges faced by those in carceral settings but also drives our commitment to developing effective solutions

Personal Experience and Motivation

As the team lead, my personal journey through the prison system has profoundly shaped our project's direction. Having had my rights violated while incarcerated, I understand the frustration and helplessness of trying to navigate a complex legal system without adequate resources. These experiences inspired me to transition into software development, where I could directly address these issues.

Skills and Network

Combining my technical skills with a growing network of technology professionals passionate about justice reform, I have been able to translate personal adversity into a practical tool that empowers incarcerated individuals. 

Community-Centric Development

Our approach to design and implementation is heavily community-driven. We maintain an ongoing dialogue with current users—individuals who are still within the system—to ensure that our solution is not only functional but also responsive to their evolving needs. This feedback loop is integral to our development process, allowing us to refine and adapt our tool in ways that are most meaningful to our users.

I selected this staged based on the numbers below. We don't have any funding. 

We currently have +1000 users:

We currently have approximately 1/4 of the prisons covered across the BOP

We have a growth rate of approximately 5 users per day:

Why Are You Applying to the Challenge?

During my incarceration, I experienced firsthand the significant challenges involved in preserving and gathering evidence, finding relevant case law, getting through the administrative remedy process, and ultimately writing briefs to file in court. These obstacles illuminated the systemic barriers that prevent incarcerated individuals from accessing justice and effectively advocating for their rights. This personal journey inspired me to create this legal solution.

Barriers We Face

1. Financial Barriers: Developing and scaling an AI-driven legal assistance platform requires substantial financial resources. Funding from the Challenge would enable us to cover development costs.

2. Legal Barriers: Navigating the complex legal landscape surrounding the use of AI and digital tools in prisons is a significant hurdle. We've currently connected with members at the digital law clinic at Harvard, but would like to reach out to Orin Kerr, who is the leading expert on these issues. The Challenge can connect us with legal experts who can help us ensure compliance with laws and regulations, particularly the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). 

3. Market Barriers: Gaining visibility and credibility in the market for legal tech solutions within the correctional system is essential. The Challenge can provide a platform to showcase our solution, attract potential partners, and secure additional funding.

By participating in the Challenge, we aim to overcome these barriers and scale our solution to provide meaningful legal assistance to incarcerated individuals, ultimately promoting justice and rehabilitation.

Innovation in Legal Aid for Incarcerated Individuals

Our solution introduces a pioneering digital approach to delivering legal aid to incarcerated individuals, a demographic traditionally underserved by modern technology. Unlike existing programs that provide legal information through newsletters or analog methods, our software facilitates direct legal assistance via automated tools accessible through prison email systems.

Key Innovations:

1. Automated Legal Assistance:

Our system leverages AI technology to automate access to legal resources, advice, and support. This innovation significantly accelerates the process of obtaining legal help, reducing the time lag that currently hampers incarcerated individuals seeking justice or relief.

2. Integration with Existing Communication Channels:

By utilizing the already permitted prison email systems (Corrlinks), our solution seamlessly integrates into the daily lives of its users without requiring additional infrastructural changes. This integration ensures high accessibility and usability, addressing a crucial gap in the current system.

3. Empowerment of Jailhouse Lawyers:

We also aim to enhance the capabilities of jailhouse lawyers by providing them with digital tools to assist other inmates more effectively. This not only improves their ability to serve but also amplifies their impact within the prison system, potentially transforming them into pivotal figures in legal reform and advocacy.

4. Broader Impact and Market Change:

Our initiative could catalyze significant changes in the prison legal landscape by setting a precedent for digital legal aid. By proving that secure, controlled digital access to legal assistance is feasible and beneficial, it could encourage corrections systems across the country to adopt similar technologies. This shift could lead to broader systemic changes, increasing transparency, efficiency, and fairness in the handling of legal matters within prisons.

5. Force Multiplier for Systemic Change:

The introduction of efficient, scalable digital solutions like ours could serve as a force multiplier in the legal aid sector, especially in carceral settings. It could inspire similar innovations, encouraging a shift from traditional, slower analog services to more dynamic, responsive digital solutions. This transformation has the potential to improve legal outcomes for millions of incarcerated individuals, thereby contributing to a fairer and more equitable justice system.

Theory of Change for Our Legal Aid System

Problem Statement: 

Incarcerated individuals face significant barriers to accessing legal resources and successfully navigating administrative procedures within prisons. These barriers prevent them from addressing legal issues effectively and asserting their rights.

Theory of Change

Evidence and Support:

Personal Experience and Preliminary Data:

Based on my own experiences and on questions we receive from users, such as the user below, we know that users are looking for answers to legal questions.

Continuous User Feedback:

Ongoing collection of user data and feedback will help refine the system and validate its impact, ensuring that it remains aligned with users' needs and legal standards. We currently have metrics to track the number of users, their locations, and the number of messages that are processed by the system. We will start tracking where users are within the legal process and how many legal complaints are making it through the administrative remedy process.

Short-term Outcomes:

• More complaints are filed within the FBOP
• Users are able to make direct connections with the Investigator General and outside organizations
• More effective completion of the necessary administrative steps to bring claims to court.
• Reduction in cases dismissed due to procedural errors.

Long-term Outcomes:

• Higher Success Rates in Administrative Filings.
• With increased scrutiny and accountability driven by successful legal claims, prisons may adopt more transparent and fair administrative practices.
• Potential policy changes inspired by data and trends identified through the system's use.

Our primary impact goal is to ensure that individuals with legal queries have access to the legal help they need. We aim to empower users by providing them with access to legal resources on the outside, which they currently lack.

Measurement of Progress Towards the Goal:

Given the challenges of measuring the precise number of unanswered legal questions within the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) due to existing data limitations, our project proposes implementing a comprehensive tracking system. This system will monitor inquiries received and responses provided, allowing us to quantify the reduction in unanswered legal questions over time. For our legal forum, we will track the number of questions submitted by users and the corresponding number of legal responses they receive.

Specific Indicators:

To effectively measure our impact, we will focus on the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goal indicators:

• Indicator 16.3.1: Proportion of victims of (a) physical, (b) psychological and/or (c) sexual violence in the previous 12 months who reported their victimization to competent authorities or other officially recognized conflict resolution mechanisms.
• Indicator 16.3.3: Proportion of the population who have experienced a dispute in the past two years and who accessed a formal or informal dispute resolution mechanism, by type of mechanism.
• Indicator 16.6: Develop effective, accountable, and transparent institutions at all levels.
• Indicator 16.10: Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements.

These indicators will be adapted to gauge:

• The number of legal queries received via our platform.
• The percentage of these queries that receive a response within a predetermined time frame.
• The satisfaction rate of users with the responses, assessed through follow-up surveys.
• The proportion of users who report their victimization to competent authorities or other recognized mechanisms.
• The proportion of users who accessed a formal or informal dispute resolution mechanism in the past two years.
• The development of transparent and accountable processes within our platform to ensure effective resolution of legal issues.
• The extent to which our platform ensures public access to legal information and protects fundamental freedoms for incarcerated individuals.

Core Technology of Our Solution:

Our solution utilizes the Corrlinks System to bring legal resources to people who are currently incarcerated. Here is how we have engineered our technology to meet the needs of this underserved community:

• Automation through AWS Lambda: We utilize AWS Lambda functions for automating the account signup process. This serverless computing service allows us to efficiently manage user registrations without the need for constant server monitoring, ensuring scalability and reliability.
• Account Management with Puppeteer: Puppeteer, a Node library, is employed to automate browser actions such as logging in and out of the CorrLinks system. This automation is crucial for the seamless delivery and retrieval of messages, enabling timely and secure communication between inmates and legal advisors.
• Integration with Legal Databases: Our server connects users to several essential APIs. Among these is a vector database that hosts the entirety of the 409 Bureau of Prisons (BOP) regulations, providing inmates with immediate access to necessary regulatory information. Additionally, we have integrated Harvard's case law system, offering access to a comprehensive repository of federal cases, which is vital for legal research and case preparation.
• Direct Communication via Text Messaging Service: To further enhance our solution’s effectiveness, we have incorporated a text messaging service through TextGrid that enables direct communication between incarcerated individuals and legal professionals, as well as external agencies like the Inspector General and journalists. This service is critical for reporting grievances and facilitating transparent, immediate interactions with entities outside the prison system.
• Advanced Analytics and Financial Management System: To support efficient operations, we developed an analytics and financial management system using Ruby, Ruby on Rails, and PostgreSQL, all hosted on Docker instances within Digital Ocean's cloud infrastructure.

Our solution not only utilizes modern technologies like cloud computing, browser automation, and API integrations but also ensures these technologies are applied in a manner that significantly improves the accessibility and effectiveness of legal resources for the incarcerated population. By doing so, we aim to address a critical gap in legal aid within the prison system, empowering inmates to advocate for their rights and seek justice more effectively.

Part-time staff: 2

We plan on bringing on two more people who are justice impacted to help us build this project.

1 year

Our team is entirely comprised of individuals who have experienced the justice system firsthand.

We cultivate an environment where all members are valued for their contributions and perspectives, not judged by their past.

Our app provides critical legal resources and support to incarcerated individuals, empowering them with the tools they need to navigate the legal system effectively. Our services are designed to enhance access to justice, ensure fair treatment, and ultimately aid in the rehabilitation process by equipping inmates with the knowledge and means to advocate for their rights.

Key Products and Services:

1. Automated Legal Assistance Platform: We automate the delivery of legal resources directly to inmates. This platform offers functionalities like  queries to up-to-date legal databases, access to federal and state case law, and direct connections to legal professionals.

2. AI-Assisted Legal Query Response: Leveraging AI technology, our system provides personalized responses to legal queries, which helps our users to be able to understand the prison regulations and the law.

3. Direct Messaging Service: A text-based service that facilitates real-time communication between inmates and external legal advisors and investigative agencies, which enhances prison transparency and accountability.

Customer Segments:

Our primary beneficiaries are incarcerated individuals who lack sufficient access to legal resources. 

Why Our Services Are Needed:

In the inherently adversarial legal system, those who are least equipped are often at a significant disadvantage. Incarcerated individuals typically face immense challenges in accessing the necessary legal support, which can critically impact their ability to secure just outcomes. Our services are crucial because they equip these individuals with more than just basic tools. Colloquially speak, we empower those who are incarcerated to bring a gun to a gunfight. 

By delivering direct legal assistance through emails, we help correct the imbalances of power within the legal proceedings and support a more equitable justice process. This empowerment is essential not only for individual cases but also for advocating broader systemic reforms within the correctional system.

A lack of resources should not be determinative in matters of justice.

Revenue Generated

Currently we are charging using to be able to send text messages to outside organizations. We generate about $2K per month in revenue.

Future Revenue Streams:

1. Government Funding: We actively seek government grants and contracts that support technology-driven social solutions. These funds are instrumental in underwriting the initial development and deployment phases of our app. While we have not secured any yet, we are still working on it.

2. Sales to Law Clinics and Reentry Services:

   • Law Clinics: Once we are able to connect users with legal information. We plan to create a market wherein completed administrative remedies can be selected by law clinics to take to court. We think we can charge law clinics to get access to this "marketplace" and/or take a percentage of the fees from winning the lawsuits.
   • Reentry Services: We want to be able to give reentry centers access to people before they leave prison. We believe that we can set up another "marketplace" like the InsideOut Network.  

Current Revenue Streams:

• Subscription Model: We offer a subscription-based access to text messaging portion of our app. We are using this money to fund the rest of the application.
• Freemium Model: The basic version of our app is available for free, which ensures accessibility. Text messaging is unavailable unless paid for.

Evidence of Success: