There is currently uncertainty in the research community as to how ICT can and should be designed in such a way that it can be convincingly integrated into the everyday lives of prison inmates. In this paper, we discuss a design fiction that closes this research gap. The descriptions and results of the study are purely fictitious. Excluded is the State of the Art as well as the description of the legal situation of prisons in Germany. The analysis of the fictional study data designed here thus refers to the real world in order to derive ethical guidelines and draw practical conclusions. It is our intention to use these results as a possible basis for further research. The paper presents results of an explorative study dealing with the design, development and evaluation of an AI-based Smart Mirror System, Prison AI 2.0, in a German prison. Prison AI 2.0 was developed for daily use and voluntarily tested by eight prisoners over a period of 12 months to gain insight into their individual and social impact, with an emphasis on its ability to actively support rehabilitation. Based on qualitative data, our findings suggest that intelligent AI-based devices can actually help promote such an outcome. Our results also confirm the valuable impact of (Psychosocial) ICT on the psychological, social and individual aspects of prison life, and in particular how prisoners used the Smart Mirror system to improve and maintain their cognitive, mental and physical state and to restore social interactions with the outside world. With the presentation of these results we want to initiate discussions about the use of ICT by prisoners in closed prisons in order to identify opportunities and risks.

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In the time of COVID-19, many measurements to contain the pandemic contributed to social isolation and loneliness. Older adults in particular experience various forms of ageism in this regard, for example by being stereotyped as digitally illiterate. Hence, we need to learn more about the aging discourse in the context of participatory approaches, as it is currently lacking. This article presents the results from two participatory research projects that were significantly affected by the 1st COVID-19 lockdown. We specifically focus on the ways the relationships and modes of cooperation with our older research partners, i.e. the positionalities, have been impacted. We draw on the projects’ results, reflecting on the possible implications for the involvement of older adults indesign and HCI research and specifically, technologies that are supportive and empowering for the individuals against the background of the pandemic situation.

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