From Next City:
All incarcerated residents of Maine have the right to vote — it’s one of two states, alongside Vermont, that allows it — but few actually do so. Low literacy rates and restricted access to information are among the main reasons.
This challenge became an unexpected opportunity for Ameelio, a technology nonprofit launched by Yale students this March to facilitate free communication between incarcerated people and their loved ones. The early goal was to provide a not-for-profit alternative to the $1.2 billion prison telecommunications industry, in which private companies charge for phone calls and emails into U.S. prisons.
“We wanted to start with letters because we knew just how important of a communication method it was,” explains co-founder Zo Orchingwa, who was a Yale Law and School of Management student before taking a leave to work on Ameelio. “It was also the easiest way to break into this industry … it allowed us to connect with users right away.” Continue reading >>>
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