Corrections Information Sharing

Almost 2.3 million Americans are incarcerated in local, state and federal prisons. Another 7.1 million are under some form of supervision.** Every year, close to 650,000 people are released from state and federal prisons and more than nine million are released from jails. Corrections information is often incomplete or underestimated but, given the huge numbers of people that the criminal justice system is responsible for, it is crucial that corrections information be shared among law enforcement, courts, community supervision, and human service and private sector providers.

Corrections agencies maintain offender records that include Health Information, Needs Assessments, Relationships and Gang Associations, Education and Treatment Progress, Institutional Behavior, Special Needs, and Supervision Restrictions. This information is valuable to a variety of audiences and can generate a wide range of benefits. Timely access to accurate information can enable successful strategies for lowering the prison population, reducing recidivism as well as the high costs of supervision—ultimately resulting in more accurate and more effective management of risk and of dangerous offenders at key points in the decision-making process.

Currently, most corrections agencies rely on manual, paper-based methods to exchange information with others in the criminal justice system. Some agencies have implemented automated interfaces, but the vast majority of agencies use independent application interfaces they have developed from scratch. As a consequence, standardized information sharing between correctional agencies and other justice agencies and service providers is a daunting task.

As correctional agencies develop and implement offender management information systems, it is essential, not to mention cost-effective, that they are cognizant of existing standards and the expanding need to share information across stakeholder audiences. National standards—like the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM), Global Reference Architecture (GRA), and the Global Federated Identity and Privilege Management (GFIPM)—are tools that can be used to enhance and expand information sharing capabilities. Moreover, using these national standards accelerates development and implementation efforts, encourages and enables reuse by others implementing comparable information sharing, and helps foster greater agility in operating and maintaining information systems.

The IJIS Institute is currently working on numerous initiatives to overcome the gap in information exchange capabilities between corrections, criminal justice, public health, and other service providers. We have engaged with a number of our member companies to help share information about offenders among local law enforcement, public safety agencies, and relevant service providers in ways that are designed to reduce victimization. Our ultimate goal is to facilitate a standards-based information sharing capability.

Current Projects/Efforts

SAVIN Technology Assistance Project (S-TAP)
Reentry Information Sharing Pilot Sites
Corrections Committee White Paper: Value of Corrections Information: Benefits to Justice and Public Safety (Pending)
FBI National Data Exchange (N-DEx): Increment 2/Corrections, Increment 3/Probation and Parole
Justice to Health Information Exchange

Completed Projects

Statewide Automated Victim Information & Notification (SAVIN)

Sponsors (Current and Past Projects)

Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)

Accomplishments

Supported and/or developed numerous reference data exchanges (IEPDs) to support information sharing between jail case management systems and community service providers in support of reentry
Provided support to federal agencies and initiatives via the Corrections Committee
Managed several pilot implementations, projects, and work groups in collaboration with the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) and American Probation and Parole Association (APPA), with funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance
Developed numerous white papers and technical reports
Implemented SAVIN Provider online community

Deliverables

Correction Reentry Service Specifications
SAVIN Guidelines and Standards (2006.10.16)

**Federal and State data source: Pew Center on the States, Public Safety Performance Project; Jail data source: US DOJ, BJS, Jail Inmates at Midyear 2011 – Statistics Table

This Web site is funded in whole or in part through a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this Web site (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).

IJIS Institute member companies, including Analysts International and Tetrus Consulting, have played an integral part of the Services Task Team (STT) for the JRA project. The STT committee provides steering support to the JRA Project.

The IJIS Institute, working in collaboration with the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), SEARCH—The Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, and the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR), has performed project planning and management, and will be developing service specifications that conform to the JRA Service Specification Guideline.

IJIS Institute member company and selected subcontractor, Analysts International, provided critical resources and expertise to the development of the JRA Service Specifications.