Real-Time Language Translation for People in Custody
What it is for
Translation & Language Access
- Provides real-time, two-way conversation translation across 92+ languages — including localized dialects and slang — to enable communication between people in custody, visitors, and correctional staff.
Safety & Security
- Supports language accessibility within correctional facilities, helping to ensure that people in custody and visitors can communicate meaningfully with staff regardless of language. The system supplements — not replaces — qualified human interpretation services.
- Run by
- Department of Correction (DOC)
- Where
- No fixed location
- Kept
- No data retained
- Shared with
- Not stated by the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation.
- Your copy
- You cannot see the data it holds about you. What you can do
What it is for
Pocketalk is a two-way translation device used by the NYC Department of Correction to support real-time conversations across more than 90 languages between people in custody, visitors, and staff. The system is currently in a small-scale pilot and is intended to supplement — not replace — qualified human interpreters. No identifying information about users is collected or retained by the device.
What it collects and what happens to it
Data taken in
Biometric
Anonymized data
- Audio recordings of spoken conversations captured by the Pocketalk device during translation sessions. According to the register, no identifying information is collected or disclosed; audio is processed transiently for the purpose of translation.
Processing
Speech & Audio
- The core processing technique: speech-to-text transcription followed by machine translation and text-to-speech synthesis, enabling real-time two-way conversation across 92+ languages using multiple translation engines.
What it does
Sensing (Perceptive AI)
Human decides
- The device captures spoken audio from participants in a conversation and processes it to produce transcription and translation. Human operators initiate and guide each translation session; the AI processes the audio signal.
Creating (Generative AI)
Human decides
- The system generates spoken and written translations of captured speech in the target language. Each translation utterance is newly synthesized content produced by the system from the original audio input.
Outputs
Generated content
Anonymized data
- Written and spoken translations of captured conversation in the specified target language. Output is displayed on the device screen and/or spoken aloud; no identifying personal data is embedded in the output.
Run by
Department of Correction (DOC)
- The NYC Department of Correction deployed Pocketalk as a limited pilot to assess real-time translation efficacy in correctional facilities, intending to supplement qualified human interpretation services for people in custody and visitors.
Built by
Pocketalk
- Pocketalk is an off-the-shelf two-way translation device vendor. The device utilizes multiple translation engines to provide translations across 92+ languages, including localized dialects and slang. Training data is proprietary to the vendor.
Kept for
No data retained
- The register states that no identifying information is collected or disclosed. Translation sessions are processed transiently; no personal data is retained after the session ends.
- Duration: Not retained
Shared with
Not available to me
- No identifying information is collected or disclosed by Pocketalk. Individuals affected by the system do not have personal data they can access, as none is retained.
Stored
Not stated by the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation.
How to read the colours
Can it identify you?
- Anonymized data
- Data about people with the link to who is broken. Stripped of identifiers, blurred, aggregated, or noised so this system can’t reasonably tie a record back to an individual.
- Pseudonymous data
- Each person’s data is tied to a token (hash, ID, template) that lets this system recognise the same person across events, but the token itself doesn’t reveal a name. Reidentification is possible with extra information.
- Identifiable data
- The data either contains a direct identifier (name, address, account name, recognisable face or voice, plate number) or carries a token this system uses to look up legal identity during processing.
Who completes the loop?
- Human decides
- This mode suggests; a person decides what to do next. The AI is always advisory — a human is in the loop on every decision. Example: a triage tool ranks cases for a clinician who chooses which to see first.
- Human executes
- This mode decides; a person carries out the result. Example: an optimizer plans the day’s trash-collection routes, and drivers run them.
- Autonomous
- This mode decides and acts on its own. No person reviews each decision or carries out the resulting action.
Definitions from the DTPR standard. Amber is about your data, violet about who decides. The fuller the shape and the deeper the colour, the more identifying the data or the less a person is involved.
- AI registerNYC Automated Decision Systems Use Case Register — Pocketalk (2025)NYC Department of Correction, Division of Programs and Community Partnerships. Reported CY2025. First used January 2025.
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- AI registerNYC AI Use Cases Register — Pocketalk (2025)
- Register entryPublished by the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation. Reference 28e091fa. This disclosure was drafted with AI assistance.Schema: ai@2026-05-06-beta
What you can do
Ask about this system
Questions go to the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation, not the vendor.
Your rights
- Right to Be Informed of AI UseIndividuals interacting with Pocketalk devices in correctional facilities should be informed that a translation device — not a human interpreter — is being used. The NYC Department of Correction's use of this system is publicly disclosed through the City's AI use case register.
- Right to Algorithmic TransparencyThe NYC Department of Correction has disclosed publicly that Pocketalk uses multiple translation engines to support 92+ languages. Training data is proprietary to the vendor and not disclosed. Members of the public may consult the NYC AI Use Cases Register for additional details about this system.
Risks and safeguards
- Societal & cultural harmMachine translation errors or cultural misinterpretations could lead to miscommunication in high-stakes correctional settings, potentially affecting outcomes for people in custody.Safeguard: The Department explicitly states the system supplements — not replaces — qualified human interpretation services. A limited pilot (6 assessments) is underway to evaluate efficacy before broader deployment.