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Aminah Elster
- December 8, 2025
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The landscape of reentry is shifting. While traditional workforce programs still teach basic computer skills and job readiness, a new reality is emerging: the most meaningful career opportunities in 2026 will require fluency with artificial intelligence. For justice-impacted people, this presents both an unprecedented challenge and an extraordinary opportunity.
Most reentry programs prepare people to survive in the workforce. But what if we could prepare people to lead it?
The Gap That No One Is Talking About
California is investing billions in bringing AI into K-12 classrooms, yet adults who were excluded from digital education: particularly those impacted by incarceration: risk being left behind again. The irony is stark: while elite institutions and major corporations transform their operations with immersive technology, the very communities that could benefit most from these innovations remain systematically locked out.
Traditional workforce development for formerly incarcerated people focuses on compliance, basic life skills, or narrow vocational training. These programs teach individuals to use technology as consumers, not to create, lead, or innovate with it. This approach perpetuates a cycle where justice-impacted people enter the workforce prepared for service roles, not decision-making positions.
The data tells a different story about what's possible. Through programs like the Participatory Action Research Leadership Program (PARLP), Unapologetically HERS has trained 25 incarcerated leaders across five cohorts since 2022, investing over $10,000 directly in participant stipends. These community researchers have produced toolkits, legal guides, podcasts, and policy proposals: demonstrating that given the opportunity, justice-impacted people become innovators, not just participants.
"PARLP gave me the confidence to know my research and voice can create change," shared one cohort participant. This transformation from seeing oneself as a statistic to recognizing oneself as a changemaker represents exactly the shift that AI fluency can accelerate.
What AI Fluency Actually Means for Reentry
AI fluency extends far beyond knowing how to use ChatGPT or recognizing when a photo might be AI-generated. For formerly incarcerated people navigating reentry, AI fluency means having the confidence and capability to leverage cutting-edge tools strategically, rather than feeling intimidated by technological changes that occurred during incarceration.
True AI fluency involves understanding what AI can and cannot do, identifying where it creates real value, and applying critical judgment to its outputs. This matters immensely during reentry because success increasingly depends on being able to integrate AI thoughtfully into workflows from day one, rather than treating it as an external add-on to existing processes.
Consider the difference between these two scenarios: A formerly incarcerated person enters a nonprofit role and spends months learning basic office software while watching colleagues use AI for grant writing, data analysis, and program evaluation. Versus: That same person enters the role already fluent in prompt engineering, AI-assisted research, and critical evaluation of AI outputs: immediately contributing to strategic initiatives and demonstrating leadership capacity.
The Liberation Lab workshops at the Central CA Women's Facility in Chowchilla, CA exemplify this leadership-focused approach. Over 40 participants have joined sessions on facilitation and public speaking, with participants creating peer-led work groups on life without parole (LWOP) advocacy and resentencing. One participant reflected, "Facilitation is bigger than I thought. It's not just for groups in prison: it's a real career skill for supervisors, facilitators, and even consultants."
The Next Frontier: Immersive Learning for Justice-Impacted Leaders
Recognizing the limitations of traditional workforce training, Unapologetically HERS, led by Executive Director Aminah Elster, is developing a Learning Lab in partnership with Proximate Strategies Consulting’s Transformative Investing Institute, which Elster also leads. Together, UAHERS and the Transformative Investing Institute are pioneers in workforce innovation for justice-impacted people. This first-of-its-kind immersive learning platform uses virtual reality and artificial intelligence to train justice-impacted professionals as AI-fluent leaders, digital creators, and workforce innovators.
The Lab addresses a critical gap: while carceral VR programs in Colorado, Alaska, and Utah teach basic tasks or reentry skills, this collaboration is designed to train justice-impacted professionals to use, navigate, and command AI systems within virtual reality environments. Participants practice AI fluency through prompt engineering, output evaluation, workflow automation, and digital content creation: all within trauma-informed, immersive simulations.
The pilot phase will launch in community-based settings outside prison to establish proof of concept, with a planned pathway to adapt and make it available to people still inside.
The platform combines experiential learning with healing-centered design. Participants engage in VR simulations focused on team facilitation, conflict navigation, and workplace communication, followed by coaching circles that integrate experiences and build leadership confidence.
This represents a fundamental shift from preparing people for low-wage roles to preparing them for decision-making, innovation, and entrepreneurial opportunity. As the partnership brief states: "We're not waiting for a seat at the table. We're building a new table: and preparing justice-impacted innovators to lead it."
Building the Infrastructure for Success
Individual skill-building alone cannot address systemic exclusion from emerging technologies. The success of UAHERS programs demonstrates the power of combining direct investment in justice-impacted leadership with innovative program design and peer mentorship.
Programs like PARLP, which has served 25 incarcerated leaders to date, with $500 stipends each, show that when incarcerated people receive compensation, training, and recognition as experts, they produce remarkable outcomes. From legal toolkits to policy proposals to peer education initiatives, these programs generate lasting impact because they treat participants as leaders, not beneficiaries.
The hiring of PARLP alumna Angela Zuniga as Program Coordinator exemplifies the leadership pipeline these programs create. Rather than training people for external opportunities, UAHERS demonstrates how organizations can grow their capacity by developing and promoting formerly incarcerated talent from within their networks.
This approach: combining direct investment, innovative programming, and systematic leadership development: provides a blueprint for how AI fluency training should be designed and implemented.
The Urgency of Getting This Right
The AI revolution is happening with or without justice-impacted communities. The question is whether formerly incarcerated people will be passive observers of technological change or active architects of the future of work.
Current workforce development approaches, focused on basic skills and narrow training, will not prepare justice-impacted people for an economy increasingly driven by AI fluency. The window for building inclusive AI education infrastructure is closing rapidly as tools become more sophisticated and workplaces integrate AI into core functions.
But the opportunity is extraordinary. Justice-impacted people bring unique perspectives, problem-solving experience, and resilience that are valuable assets in workplaces navigating technological change. When combined with AI fluency, these strengths position formerly incarcerated people not just for employment, but for leadership.
Organizations seeking to build AI-equitable programs should contact Proximate Strategies Consulting (PSC) to learn more about evidence-based approaches to justice-impacted workforce development. For partnership opportunities related to immersive AI education, reach out to
am****@pr**************.com
.
The future of work must include those who were left out. In 2026, that future starts with AI fluency; and it starts now.
Invitation to Funders: Advance Digital Equity Through the lab
Funders are invited to support the lab pilot and scale-up strategy to accelerate digital equity for justice-impacted people. Priority investments include:
- Pilot implementation in community-based sites outside prison to validate outcomes and refine curriculum
- Evaluation design, data systems, and participant stipends to document effectiveness and ROI
- Adaptation for secure, trauma-informed delivery inside prisons after proof of concept
- Capacity building for peer-led instruction and employer partnerships
For funding inquiries and partnerships, contact Aminah Elster at
am****@un******************.org
.
