USE CASE: PRISON REFORM
Humans and AI working together to improve lives

Novus is the largest secure-training provider in the UK prison system. Novus coordinates education and rehabilitation services for over 60,000 prisoners in England & Wales.
Delivering consistent, high-quality provision across 34 prisons generates a lot of admin for front line-staff. Tutors lose up to 60% of their working week on administrative tasks associated with diagnosing learner needs, tracking progression and recognising achievement. By freeing tutors from the burden of administration, could Novus buy tutors more time with students?
Our team set-out to help Novus embed document-understanding AI into these vital processes. The project forms part of a wider initiative to introduce large-scale digital-transformation in the prison system.
Collaboration objectives:
Coordinate assessment standards across the secure estate
Deliver better, more targeted support to prisoners
Automate formative assessment and progress tracking activities
Enhancing these processes can make a big difference to people’s lives. Every improvement in diagnosing learning needs equates to better planning decisions for those students. Simplifying the process of recognising achievement increases a prisoner’s life chances upon release. Improving the quality and consistency of provision leads to better, more reputable qualifications. Every minute saved in admin equates to a minute more quality time that can be made available to students.

Simplified AI-training
Making it easy for subject-experts to train AI
The task of getting data-ready can seem daunting. Prison work is completed using pen and paper, which complicated the task of developing a Novus data lake. Our team developed an accessible process for converting paper-based work into machine readable text before allowing tutors to train the AI to reflect their logic and values.
- Turned AI-training into an accessible, non-technical process
- Systematic approach for generating reliable predictive models
- Aggregating and moderating feedback from multiple tutors
AI-assisted document feedback
Novus-specific feedback, in 32 seconds
Time is a precious resource for tutors. Following the AI-training work, predictive models were connected to Fluence’s document-feedback service. When a new piece of work is submitted, the system automatically generates dozens of predictions (as trained by the tutors themselves). Tutors can add colour-coded actions to the system, which triggers when a specific outcome has been predicted on a document (e.g. if ‘score’ is greater than 4, trigger action ‘Well done’ in green).
- Autonomously track multiple learning needs at once
- From ‘work-submitted’ to ‘detailed-feedback’ in 32 seconds
- Put students in charge of their own education
- API framework to embed Fluence conclusions into any business processes
Automated analytics
Evidencing that just happens
As part of Novus’ ongoing work to deliver digital transformation in prisons, we have succeeded in turning the tedious task of assessing work into a passive process that runs automatically in the background. Tutors can gather actionable intelligence about any individual or group they are teaching simply by logging onto the system.
- Pinpoint learning needs and education priorities
- Obtain trended analysis of needs, abilities and performance
- Understand patterns of behaviour on an individual, group and prison level
Data control
Understand precisely how decisions are made
AI is only useful if operators can trust the decisions it makes. Together with Novus, the team audited the precise capabilities of the AI, including defining how AI-derived decisions were made. Service allows leadership teams and front-line staff to build-up trust in the algorithms.
- Ongoing maintenance of predictive models
- Track outlier cases
- Understand how different inputs influence the model
- Identify bias and inconsistency in the data
- Train-out unwanted influences from predictive models
Curriculum oversight
Big-picture curriculum understanding
After connecting student work to Fluence’s Consul suite, the team was able to audit curriculum performance across all participating prisons. The system was used to understand the relationship between the curriculum and student performance. For example, the weakest ‘terminology’ responses were all linked to ‘Financial Planning.’ Developing concrete answers to qualitative questions allows education leads to rethink processes and to make strategic adjustments to their education plans.
- Understand strengths and weaknesses in curriculum offer
- Obtain trended analysis of needs, abilities and performance
- Understand patterns of behaviour on an individual, group and prison level
With our thanks to the Ufi VocTech Trust for making this project possible.