Metamorph: Rebuild Life After Incarceration

Helping Former Prisoners Rebuild Life After Incarceration

Inspiration

The fact that around a third of released inmates in Indonesia end up unemployed striked us as a big problem. Not only does it impact the ex-convicts themselves, but our nation also suffers a loss of productivity and funds. Watching the interview by NarasiTV about how former prisoner Gerhand Razaq helped his fellow inmates learn skills to equip them with the means to survive after release, we wondered if we could scale up the operation.

What it does

At its current version, Metamorph empowers returning citizens through 5 key features:

Goal Setting: Users can set a goal they want to reach. We keep users accountable by helping them build a system of habits to work towards their goals.
Programs: We provide a selection of self-improvement programs for users to join, such as rehabilitation, counseling, and workshops.
Courses: Users can upgrade both their occupational and personal skills. Those who do not know what they want to learn yet can take our aptitude and interest test to get course recommendations.
Career: Once users are equipped with the needed skills, they can also apply for jobs. Aside from job listings, we also offer an AI-powered resume builder to help users get started.
Community: Metamorph provides a place for people who have been through the justice system to connect with others who share their experience. Users can create community posts and engage in direct messaging with other users.

How we built it

We designed Metamorph using Next.js for the frontend to leverage its server-side rendering and static site generation capabilities, styled with Tailwind CSS for a consistent look and feel. We utilized FastAPI for the backend due to its high performance and ease of building APIs, while TypeScript was employed for static type-checking to enhance code quality. PostgreSQL served as our database for robust data storage and retrieval, and Clerk was integrated for secure user authentication and management. This combination of modern technologies ensures a seamless and scalable platform.

Challenges we ran into

Since every user's goal for a better life could vary, we had to incorporate a lot of personalization into our features, which didn't prove to be easy for us. Thankfully, NLP capabilities these days could provide us with some groundwork to develop those personalization functions.

Aside from the technical aspects, we also had to familiarize ourselves with how the justice system works and empathize with a demographic we had never worked with before. Ideally, we would be consulting experts, but for the purpose of this hackathon, we did our own research and literature study on the matter.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Although there is much room for improvement, we managed to finish one iteration of Metamorph, one that, at the very least, conveyed some of the ideas we were going for. As the quote we put on the onboarding screen of Metamorph says...the most important step is always the next one.

What we learned

After building Metamorph, we gained a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by returning citizens and the significance of community support in decreasing recidivism. We learned the value of incorporating NLP capabilities to provide tailored experiences for each user and the importance of community support in reducing recidivism. Additionally, we discovered the complexities of the justice system and the necessity of empathy and thorough research when designing solutions for this demographic.

What's next for Metamorph

Expand our partnerships with rehabilitation centers and employers
Introduce a mentorship program, connecting returning citizens with successful ex-convicts who can provide guidance and inspiration
Enhance our AI capabilities
Continuously improve support features