Thesis on digital divide in prisons wins award

Three students from ITU have won the Danish Institute for Human Rights' Thesis Award for their thesis "The Digital Divide in Prisons". The thesis examines how the digital divide between inmates in Danish prisons and the surrounding society can be bridged.

Written 31 January, 2025 10:38 by mesm

Inmates in Danish closed prisons have severely limited access to digital tools, including Digital Post and borger.dk. This makes them particularly isolated from the surrounding society and can complicate their reintegration upon release. This issue has been investigated by Augusta Holmstrøm Jacobsen, Ellen Schytte Hansen, and Nathalie Sira Sidibe Jakobsen in their thesis, supervised by Associate Professor Gitte Stald. The thesis has just won the Danish Institute for Human Rights' Thesis Award.

As part of the thesis, the three students developed a prototype for a portal, which can provide inmates with better digital prerequisites and control over their own lives, for example, by giving them access to borger.dk. During a visit to Storstrøm Prison on Falster, the three students discovered how far removed their digital everyday life and tools were from those of the inmates.

"It was an eye-opener to visit the prison and experience the helplessness that can exist. We also felt firsthand how much we were helped with everything during our visit. For example, we couldn't even go through doors on our own but were dependent on the help of the prison staff. The same can be applied to the inmates, who are dependent on help for everything, especially the digital, which they almost have no access to," says Ellen Schytte Hansen, supplemented by Nathalie Sira Sidibe Jakobsen:

"You could really feel how quickly you fall behind in the digital reality when you don't have the right access. It's not something you otherwise notice in everyday life. Even if you've only been digitally excluded for a couple of years, you can feel behind for a long time after your release."

The three students hope that their thesis can contribute to research in the field and, in the long run, that their work can help the inmates.

"We hope that this will become an academic article and that someone will want to continue researching in this area," says Augusta Holmstrøm Jacobsen, and Ellen Schytte Hansen adds:
"In our work with the thesis, we have identified some major issues that need to be solved in some way if we want to achieve a life without crime for those who have been incarcerated in Danish prisons. It is clear to us that digitalization also has an influence."

At the award ceremony, the Danish Institute for Human Rights said about the reason for the award:

"From our perspective, the thesis tackles a significant human rights issue in a down-to-earth manner: It deals with what we call digital exclusion and addresses overcoming the powerlessness that many experience when encountering digital Denmark."

This is the second time the Institute for Human Rights has awarded their Thesis Award. This year, the award was given to two theses. The Thesis Award includes 12,500 kroner for each thesis.

Further information

Theis Duelund Jensen, Press Officer, phone +45 2555 0447, email thej@itu.dk