The project
Replacing a legacy system with modern, accessible services
Digital Prison Services (DPS) is a collection of services designed to replace a legacy prison management system. The existing tech was difficult to navigate, slow to use, and poorly suited to the realities of prison environments, where staff need fast access to accurate information to make day-to-day operational decisions.
I worked on the Prisoner Profile, Home and Navigation areas, which were an integral touchpoint connecting more than 20+ prison and probation services across 7 service areas. DPS is now Live across prisons as a modern, accessible set of services, supporting frontline staff needs and reducing admin, duplication and lost data.
The challenge
A complex, high-risk setting
One of the biggest challenges was working in an environment where even small mistakes could have significant consequences, especially around the constraints of legacy systems and established processes across multiple nationwide prison sites.
- Highly regulated and safety-critical, with many operational edge cases, every design decision had to consider risk and compliance.
- Delivering value incrementally while keeping the longer-term vision in mind, balancing quick wins with sustainable solutions.
- Fragmented, inconsistent legacy data requiring careful redesign to consolidate and present information without disrupting established workflows.
Different prisons operate differently based on security category, population type, and local practice, design decisions that work in one context can fail in another.
What we did
Solving whole problems, not just interfaces
With service design, I ensured we were solving whole problems, not just building better interfaces and touchpoints to broken processes. I was responsible for design at service level and for the Prisoner Profile and Navigation.
- Research in operational context. I was involved in trauma-informed research carried out in live prison environments, observing staff as they carried out tasks and using short, focused conversations rather than long interviews, identifying gaps between documented processes and working practices.
- Mapping prison types. Mapping of how Category A, B, C and D establishments operated, showing that many inconsistencies were rational responses to specific pressures, for example, high-security prisons needed stricter checking processes and clear risk alert visibility.
- Designing for edge cases early. We used journey mapping to identify edge-case scenarios proactively, rather than discovering problems later and retrofitting solutions.
- Collaborative design within constraints. I worked closely with the DPS strategy team and ran regular design workshops with the Connect DPS team and stakeholders across 15+ teams.
“Aimee thank you so much for everything you’ve done for us here. You made such a huge impact on the Connect DPS team and our delivery of the Prisoner Profile, Homepage and Navigation.”
Harry Heath, Delivery Manager, Ministry of Justice
The outcome
Faster, clearer, and fit for the future
Ultimately we supported the Government roadmap ‘Transforming for a digital future’ to stop spending over £7m a year on a legacy system that wasn’t fit for purpose. Private beta rollout began across the prison estate, and the new navigation and prisoner profile made it quicker and easier for prison officers and admin staff to find the information they need and start important tasks.
- Officers could access prisoner information in seconds rather than minutes, giving them more time for direct supervision.
- Administrative staff spent less time reconciling data and more time on case management.
- Managers gained better visibility of their establishment without needing to request custom reports.
- New designs supported staff with accessibility needs, with more flexibility to add new information in the future.
- New opportunities and strategic priorities were created to enable better case notes and task management.
With the Lead User Researcher, I also brought the voice of prison and probation staff to the Strategy Team in a ‘Wider DPS Strategy’ findings report, and designed a workshop on ethics and behavioural archetypes.
Learnings
Reflections from this work
- Trust is designed, not assumed. In high-stakes environments, users only rely on a service once they trust it. Trust comes from a service that behaves reliably and honestly acknowledges its limitations, not from reassuring messages alone.
- Constraints are clarifying. Legacy data, policy requirements and operational pressure forced clearer, sometimes bolder design decisions. Some of the best design work came from designing around limitations rather than trying to eliminate them.
- Going to prison. Doing research in live prison environments was enlightening, seeing first-hand how prisons are run, and being reminded how empathy and patience are vital to elevating people’s voices.
- Embedding knowledge. For government, the solution isn’t always more documentation, it’s making knowledge part of how teams work day to day.
