A Prisoner’s Rights to VR

Abstract

This case study explores the ethical and legal implications of Virtual Reality (VR) technology in prison rehabilitation and visitation through the fictional case of Lulu Ramirez, an undocumented immigrant incarcerated in San Quentin. Ramirez’s lawsuit challenges the prison’s decision to deny him access to VR-based mental health services and family visitation, raising constitutional questions under the First, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. The case situates VR within a broader debate about the tension between deterrence and rehabilitation in the U.S. penal system, particularly in the context of mass incarceration and the disproportionate imprisonment of racial minorities and the mentally ill. Evidence suggests that VR-assisted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (VRET) and virtual visitation may improve mental health outcomes and reduce recidivism. However, access to these technologies may be unevenly distributed, reinforcing systemic inequalities. The case asks whether VR access in prison could become a contemporary standard of care and explores how immersive technologies complicate the spatial and social logics of incarceration. Ultimately, it interrogates the contradictions of using a technology rooted in freedom and presence within a system of confinement and control.