Recently released prisoners face a lack of access to technology, putting them at risk of poverty and unable to access social services. The crisis is becoming increasingly acute due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Former prisoners are often disconnected from modern technology, putting them at a disadvantage in finding jobs and educating their children, experts say. A recent study, for example, found that many women released from prison often lack access to the internet, rely on mobile phones for online tasks and know little about protecting their privacy.

“Once these women are released from prison, they go back into this rapidly changing digital media environment,” Hyunjin Seo, a journalism professor at the University of Kansas and one of the study’s authors, said in a telephone interview. “They were isolated for a significant period of time, sometimes 10 or 15 years, without access to technology. The effect can be traumatic.”

The needs of ex-convicts are growing. More than 10,000 ex-convicts are released from U.S. state and federal prisons each week. Many more are being released from local jails. And the coronavirus means many prisons and jails are accelerating the release of inmates to prevent outbreaks.