Every week we’re going to be choosing our favourite idea from the ones we’ve received and explaining what we like about it.

So the idea that’s been getting us all excited this week is the prison visits tool.

The basic thinking is that visiting family or friends who are in jail can be an incredibly difficult experience for people. Yet it’s really important for the well-being of both prisoners and their loved ones to keep in touch – as well as holding wider social benefits, such as reducing re-offending rates. Better generating and sharing of resources for those who are visiting prisons is a real social need which the current system is failing to tackle – we think the web can help.

Although not a fully-formed idea, what we really like about it is that it has great potential to demonstrate how social technologies can be used in unexpected ways and places.

The UK prison system is hardly something you’d associate with the transparency and user-generated input that social web tools are so good at creating, yet there’s room for the web to provide for a genuine need here.

We want your input in how this could work – add your comments and suggestions on the idea page.

So can you beat the Idea of the Week?

Send us your idea for a web tool to change the world.