Young Beginnings
Co-Founders Jessica Hicklin and Chris Santillian met at Potosi Correction Center before both of their 18th birthdays. They were sentenced to life without parole and told they would die behind bars.
Education Against the Odds
They both maximized their circumstances, spending years tutoring others to pass their GED/Hi-Set exams and organizing victim empathy and anger management courses for the community. Despite residing in a facility without access to formal education for over 25 years, they were determined to make a positive impact.
Coding for Change
With limited resources, Jessica and Chris both taught themselves how to code without the internet. They dreamed of a day when they could create a solution for ways to track rehabilitation and educational programs on the inside.
Establishing Unlocked Labs
Their lives took a turn when a Supreme Court declared life sentences for juveniles unconstitutional. Released in early 2022, Jessica and Chris teamed up with Haley Shoaf, who shared and helped them expand upon their vision, to form Unlocked Labs, a non-profit dedicated to consulting and developing products addressing challenges within the justice system.
UnlockED: A Vision Realized
Teaming up with external partners, they developed UnlockEd, a non-profit, open source education access and program management system providing free education to incarcerated individuals across the country, fulfilling a long time dream, and bringing the project full circle.