Facebook Tests Re-Entry App For Newly Released Prisoners

Facebook is reportedly testing an app for people who are being released from prison in an effort to build more platforms for marginalized communities.

According to a Bloomberg report, a promotion for new software called The Re-Entry App was shared at the top of some users' Instagram feeds on Wednesday. The notification, proposing help with “preparing for life after prison with community support,” asked users to click for early access to try the app and provide feedback.

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“We’ve been exploring different ways to help close gaps faced by those in marginalized communities across our apps,” a Facebook spokeswoman said in a statement. “This was only intended to be an internal test and we took down the notice as soon as we learned it briefly ran externally.” Facebook often experiments with service and app ideas that never materialize or morph into something else.

Prisoners are banned from using any form of social media platform while in jail. They are allowed to email people outside of the prison.

As for now, we don’t know yet when this Re-Entry app will be available to the public, or if it ever will, but we do know that it’s something Facebook is testing as a way to resocialize prisoners back into society.