CHOWCHILLA, Calif. — Jacob Smith has been in prison for two decades, but he and other incarcerated people are still taking regular trips to far-flung, exotic locales—through virtual reality headsets that transport them without passports. Smith described his first experience with a grin, saying, “I went to Thailand, man!”
A Los Angeles-based nonprofit, Creative Acts, is bringing the technology to California prisons with the goal of providing a brief escape and, more importantly, exposing incarcerated people to real-world scenarios meant to prepare them for reentry. During a weeklong program last month at Valley State Prison near Fresno, incarcerated men sat on metal folding chairs in a common area as staff fitted them with headsets resembling opaque goggles.
As the high-definition videos began, Smith and others shuffled in their seats and smiled while their journeys started. Some participants watched scenes such as Bangkok, while others took part in more practical simulations, including job interviews that pair trainees with virtual interviewers designed to be both “easygoing and hard-nosed” as they practice employment conversations for life after release.
For Smith, the job-interview rehearsal comes as he prepares for parole eligibility in 2031 and, in the meantime, volunteers to help other inmates navigate the VR experience. “For a lot of us, the workforce has changed and things are different with the application process,” Smith said. “It’s a nerve-wracking experience going to sit in front of somebody and telling them why I’m good for the job.”
After the sessions end, volunteers work with participants to process emotions or traumas that bubbled up during the experiences. Sabra Williams, founder of Creative Acts, described the VR devices as a “hope machine,” linking the program to an earlier prison arts project she ran that incorporated theater, music, poetry, dance and painting.
Williams said she had watched incarcerated people become engaged in artistic pursuits and began to consider other ways to “bring the outside world inside.” She also said she heard from people who had left prison describing how technology had passed them by, including basic tasks such as pumping gas, checking out at a supermarket, or using an ATM—and she said those accounts described a sense of not belonging outside custody.
She said her group initially dug for footage on YouTube to recreate everyday activities, and then created its own videos focused on travel, constructive scenarios, civic engagement, conflict resolution, art and even meditation “to blow their minds and also educate their minds.”
Nancy La Vigne, the dean of Rutgers-Newark School of Criminal Justice in New Jersey, said such technology could play an important role in rehabilitation and reintegration. She said she envisions incarcerated people who have not been in the real world for a long time using VR to act out tasks such as navigating the DMV or figuring out how to take a city bus.
La Vigne also pointed to research published by the American Psychological Association that she said found incarcerated people who viewed short nature videos showed reduced levels of aggression and faced fewer discipline reports—suggesting VR may help calm stressed participants. But she warned about what she called the “practical realities,” saying unintended consequences could occur for those who might be left out of the experience. “You can’t just hand them out or sell them at commissary,” she said.
A former inmate, Richard Richard, first used a VR headset about six years ago when the program was launched and since his release has become a volunteer for Creative Acts. Richard said he was impressed with how far the technology has advanced and with how fellow inmates use the devices as they deal with trauma and emotional issues, adding, “You may physically be here, but mentally, spiritually you can actually transcend this environment.”
Creative Acts runs the program using 100 Oculus headsets donated by Meta, in both general population and solitary confinement, and says youth offenders are also eligible. It currently runs three times a year at four California prisons, and Williams said she hopes to expand it throughout the state and across the country.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement Friday that it “welcomes innovative approaches that help keep our communities safe.” The department said when it introduced VR at the California Men’s Colony prison in San Luis Obispo County last August that the usage has the potential “to heal trauma, regulate emotional response, and prepare for a safe, successful reentry into society.”
Williams said the introductory two-minute trip to Thailand is often emotional for many inmates, some of whom had “never been off their block, let alone out the country.” “And so many times people would take off the headsets and they’d be crying,” Williams said. “Because they’d be like, ‘I never knew the world was so beautiful.’ ”