Jail and Prison Information Network
From 1995 through 2001, ASG developed a network to maintain core data for incarcerated persons in South Carolina. Local jails, county detention centers, sheriffs’ offices, and the South Carolina Department of Corrections participated by transmitting electronic files to a central system. The project included development of a local jail management software, which could transmit inmate data to the central system.
Project Inception
In 1995, ASG was awarded grants from the South Carolina Department of Public Safety (DPS) and SCDC to develop a statewide jail and prison information system, the Jail and Prison Information Network (JPIN). The plan was to develop a central database that tracked persons who were incarcerated in South Carolina jails, building on the massive South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) database tracking state prison occupancy and incorporating inmate databases maintained by large S.C. jails.
JPIN established a network so that criminal justice personnel could electronically transmit data to the central database, which was developed using Oracle software. The database resided on a 4-processor IBM RS/6000 J30 SMP computer running the AIX operating system. The server could receive data by high-speed modem over toll-free telephone lines or by Internet transmission. Jails and prisons could transmit jail and prison occupancy and release data on a daily basis.
Secure Website
To attract jails to participate in transmissions and to make the system more useful to judicial and law enforcement personnel, ASG designed a secure web interface to the inmate database. Using the website, authorized users could access crucial criminal data through a secure Internet connection. With a password and web browser, a user can search inmate profile data stored in the database.
For example, a user could need to search for outstanding information on an arrested person with the last name "Johnson." After typing the name, the user could view a list of every incarcerated "Johnson" and then click on a particular entry to view the file for that person.
Any jail that transmitted inmate data was given a password to access the system, but the jail was required to find its own Internet service provider. The system gave a complete profile of each inmate but did not contain non-public data such as medical, relative, visitation, automobile, and personal effects information. A record is not removed from the CRIS database after the inmate is released so that a user may make historical searches.
The inmate database was later linked to an expanded website, where information was integrated from multiple types of justice agencies, including summary and central courts, sheriffs’ offices, probation and parole offices, and others. This pioneering web system was called the South Carolina Integrated Criminal Records Information System (SCI-CRIS).
Local Support
Although the purchase, design, and continuing operation of the inmate database were the most important parts of the project, it was essential that all jails had individual database systems, including hardware, software, training, and support, to manage jail occupancy. Otherwise, data could not be collected in a form that could be transmitted electronically.
Thus, a second part of the program was to develop local management software, purchase computers, and distribute the software and computers to all jails and detention facilities that needed systems.
ASG designed the management software using Microsoft Access and interfaced it with ProComm communications software for data transmission to the central database. The software was designed to be easy to use, requiring the user simply to click a button to transmit data.
ASG distributed Gateway Pentium personal computers with built-in modems, Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printers, and pre-installed Microsoft Office Professional software to participating sites without computer systems. This package was designed to allow for broad support of the jail sites and later enhancements to JPIN.
Approximately forty-five sites received initial hardware and software. ASG audited these sites on a periodic basis. The management software was later expanded to incorporate summary court and warrant management and became known as the Jail, Magistrate, Warrant (JMW) system.
ASG continued to upgrade and install the JMW software at criminal justice agencies across the state. Some jails use other management systems but participated in JPIN using data export and transmission procedures provided by ASG. ASG regularly held training classes at USC. By the end of the project in June 2001, SCI-CRIS included more than 500,000 total jail and prison inmate records.
ASG Project Support
- All maintenance for inmate database and SCI-CRIS, including hardware, software (UNIX, Oracle, ARC/INFO, SAS, and ASG programs), communications (modems, terminal servers, toll-free data lines, and Internet access), and secure housing with constant power
- Improvements in the entire system, especially the identification and repair of software bugs
- Site visits and audits every three months
- Training seminars and workshops at individual sites and at the University of South Carolina
- Toll-free telephone number for users needing help with problems and questions
- User documentation and on-line information for system training and support
- Assistance in installing ASG software onto site hardware
- Assistance in writing field headers for data export from existing local database systems to the central database
