IPS_Innovative Prison Systems (IPS) and Virtual Rehab (VR) have established a partnership to support inmates’ rehabilitation through the use of virtual reality.
The partnership agreement entails working together in prison systems towards the spreading of rehabilitation solutions powered by cutting-edge virtual reality technology.
The services enabled through this partnership include formal education, vocational job training, and psychological rehabilitation. Along with the psychosocial rehabilitation of inmates, the virtual reality tools developed by VR are also directed at prisoners who struggle with substance abuse disorders, be it drugs or alcohol.
Being a recognized concept in psychology, virtual reality therapeutics is based entirely on virtual simulation exercises, thus offering a number of advantages when compared to conventional therapeutic methods, as it provides a fully immersive and engaging real-life experience as well as objective outcome measures of therapy efficacy, and analyzable data.
Pedro das Neves, on behalf of IPS, declared that it was with great enthusiasm that this partnership with Virtual Rehab has been achieved: “I have no doubts that virtual reality is the present and the future of learning and rehabilitation in prisons, as it is in other sectors”. Additionally, “the immersive experience provided by the new learning environments will allow inmates to experience new skills in situations that would not be possible to perform inside prison”, IPS’ CEO stressed. Furthermore, he stated that “Virtual reality also opens new frontiers regarding the training of staff in critical situations that are normally difficult to simulate in real life.”
In return, VR’s founder and CEO, Dr. Raji Wahidy, has highlighted the fact that this partnership will allow Virtual Rehab to reach to the next level in its operations: “Having a strategic business partner as IPS shall further support and expand our reach across the European market. This is most definitely a key milestone for our transformational efforts”, he stated. Dr. Wahidy also stressed that the tool will be offered in multiple languages in order to meet the needs and demands of the addressed markets.
Based on real-life scenarios, virtual reality enables inmates to enhance their skills, which, in return, will further allow them to better reintegrate into society and be an effective part of the community, rather than being seen as a burden.