About Ameelio

Ameelio is a technology nonprofit that builds software to combat mass incarceration. We’re disrupting the $3 billion predatory prison communications and education industry to create a more humane and rehabilitative corrections system for over 2+ million people incarcerated and their 27M loved ones. Our tools are built to power broadscale decarceration.

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Our story

Ameelio is a team of technologists, engineers, designers, lawyers, and advocates who are committed to fundamentally transforming the criminal justice system for the better. At the core of our work is an understanding that poverty is key driver of mass incarceration. 50% of prisoners have no earnings in the eight years leading up to their incarceration. In the year immediately preceding imprisonment, that percentage jumps to 80%.

Ameelio is one of the boldest and most innovative approaches to criminal justice reform not only because of our ability to build powerful technology to tackle the most challenging problems in the space, but also beacuse our tools are informed by the profund understanding that sustainable decarceration is only possible if we provide the incarcerated with the vital resources and pathways (educational equity, economic mobility, societal support, and more) that they lacked prior to incarceration.

Software is rapidly tranforming the world around us, we intend to use it solve one of society’s greatest social crises — mass incarceration.

Problem

Nearly 1 in 2 Americans has an immediate family member who is currently or has previously been incarcerated. 1 in 4 American adults has had a sibling incarcerated. 1 in 5 has had a parent sent to jail or prison, and 1 in 8 has had a child incarcerated.

The footprint of mass incarceartion is staggering. And worse yet, predatory prison companies backed by private equity and hedge funds have been exploiting this crisis and millions of Americans for decades.

The Predatory Prison Communications Industry

Mass incarceartion costs taxpayers $182 billion a year. It costs millions of families everything they have. Two predatory prison telecom companies generate obscene profits by charging extortionate prices to the incarcerated and their loved-ones simply to maintain contact.

Families spend up to $500/month just to stay connected with incarcerated loved ones. A 15-minute phone call run as steep as $25, and an email costs $1.50. This is driving 1 in 3 families into debt, and keeping recividism rates at staggering levels (55% within 3 years).  

Decades of research show that sustained family contact dramatically improves post-release outcomes and significantly reduces recidivism.

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Crisis &  Opportunity on the Horizon for Prison Education

Access to education while incarcerated is extremely limited. 64% percent of folks in state and federal prisons are academically qualified for postsecondary prison education programs, yet only 9% of incarcerated individuals completed college courses while in prison. Of the 960,000 incarcerated individuals eligible for college, only 86,400 will leave prison having completed a college course, let alone graduate. While a small handful of elite in-person prison education programs have been inspiring leaders in the space, they are geographically limited and small in size.

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We’re scaling fast

We're expanding fast! Get in touch and bring leading tech into your facilities.

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Our founders

Uzoma "Zo"

CEO & Co-founder

Zo is the CEO and co-founder of Ameelio. He holds a Masters degree in Criminology from the University of Cambridge, and JD-MBA from Yale Law and Yale School of Management. He is 2022 MIT Tech Review 35 under 35 recipient.

Gabe

CTO & Co-founder

Gabe is the CTO and co-founder of Ameelio. He holds a Computer Science and Psychology degree from Yale. He has worked at Facebook and Zippi. He was awarded Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business 2021.

Our team and culture

Ameelio is a nonprofit technology team headquartered in New York City, and New Haven, CT. We began as all volunteer effort until late-2020. Since, we have built an A-team that brings together best-in-class technical and criminal justice expertise. Our engineering and product team come from: Apple, Facbeook, Red Hat, Kickstarter and other leading tech companies.

We pride ourselves in having a no-ego culture.
We built one of the kindest and more dedicated teams in tech.

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Join our team

Software Engineer (Mid-Level/Senior)

United States | Remote OK | Full-time

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Director of National Sales & Government Partnerships

United States | Remote OK | Full-time

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Public Policy & Advocacy Manager

United States | Remote OK | Full-time

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Sales Development Representative (Mid/Senior)

United States | Remote OK | Full-time

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Devops Engineer

New York City, NY | Remote OK | Full-time

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Controller

United States | Full-time

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Get in touch

Having an issue or want to request a demo?

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