UC Santa Cruz Student Wins Top Prize for AI Tool Helping Incarcerated People
India-West News Desk
SANTA CRUZ, CA- Hari Raghavan, a UC Santa Cruz computer science junior, has secured the first-place technology prize at the 2026 Santa Cruz Launchpad business competition. The $5,000 award recognizes his development of Standby, an AI-driven platform built to assist incarcerated individuals and the organizations that serve them.
Standby functions as a phone-based legal aid tool. Incarcerated callers can interact with AI voice agents to receive plain-English information regarding their legal rights, bail procedures, and charges. The system also enables users to complete intake questionnaires conversationally; these responses are then automatically structured into transcripts and intake forms, which are delivered to a secure dashboard accessible by public defenders and reentry nonprofits.
The platform is intended to address accessibility challenges within the justice system, where traditional pen-and-paper resources are often difficult to use. According to the project description, more than 70% of incarcerated individuals read below a fourth-grade level, making standard legal forms challenging to navigate. By automating these workflows, Standby aims to replace lengthy manual interviews with a more accessible, phone-based system.
Joshua Logan, a technology-and-culture contributor for Good Times, described Standby after a startup showcase as his “absolute favorite of the night” and called it “a massive civil rights tool running on the most basic technology available.”
Sol Lipman, founder of startup accelerator Pi Fi and a veteran product executive, described Raghavan’s journey as “a masterclass in perseverance.”
Raghavan previously received funding through Pi Fi and the university’s Slug Tank competition. He said he plans to use the latest prize money to expand his team, strengthen product development, and scale the reach of the platform. He is also scheduled to present Standby at the Santa Cruz Works New Tech event on June 4.
