US prisons are using virtual reality to help people in solitary confinement

The program takes place in common areas of correctional facilities, where special cages with a chair are installed. Inmates are placed in these cages and given a virtual reality headset that is programmed to work in cramped conditions.

During the seven-day intensive program, participants experience scenes from everyday life, as well as some more adventurous ones, such as traveling to Paris or paragliding, for four hours each day. At the end of each day, Creative Acts facilitators ask them to express the emotions that arise in these VR scenes through a variety of artistic exercises, including theater, poetry, and painting. “VR triggers, traumas, and emotions — and then the art is transformed,” explains Creative Acts founder Sabra Williams.

California-based Creative Acts relies on the arts as a resource for behavior change and practical reentry preparation. It runs VR programs at four institutions — Valley State Prison (VSP), Kern Valley State Prison, Corcoran State Prison, and the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF). The organization has received increasing requests from other California institutions to offer the VR program. Williams first began thinking about bringing VR to prisons five years ago. After founding Creative Acts in 2018, she said she was “so tired of hearing about people coming home after serving life sentences, after decades in prison, and literally landing on another planet.” She felt there was an urgent need for her organization to visually break through the concrete barriers that separate inmates from the outside world. “Because the world was constantly changing, and we were missing out on that,” added Creative Acts program coordinator Star Van Pool, who was previously incarcerated for 17 years.