overview

Is jail overcrowding an issue in your county?

Do you know that for many counties the solution may lie in analyzing data that already exists?

Jails are the most visible and active components of the criminal justice system, processing approximately 15 million arrestees per year. Many jail facilities face a serious issue in which inmate population exceeds the rated capacity on a regular, long-term basis. This results in overcrowding emergencies, significantly increased costs and potential public safety issues.

 

Jail overcrowding impacts the overall local criminal justice system. The financial and non-financial costs can include:

• Excessive inmate housing expense
• Unsafe conditions for inmates and jail staff
• The potential for federal and state litigation that can result in intervention and costly fines.
• The need for local governments to house offenders in neighboring jails at costly daily rates, compounding security and budget concerns.
• Increases in staff turnover and overtime pay for jail personnel.
• Clogged jails impeding the judicial process.
• Loss of taxpayers confidence in a system where jails are forced to release offenders into the community.

In an overloaded system Jail administrators struggle to manage the growing number of offender populations held in jail without adequate resources and court administrators must manage the large flow of offenders as they process through the judicial system.

 

To help alleviate the pains associated with overcrowding and inmate population management Dataspace developed JPASonline, a measurable, cost effective Business Intelligence tool. Every day JPASonline gathers data from the jail management systems, integrates it, massages it and provides the analyses necessary to understand and proactively manage jail populations.

 

Successes

We have helped Jail and Court administrators produce the following results:

• Reduce average sentenced length of stay for inmates in the jail
• Reduce pending Circuit court dockets up to 38%
• Predict and reduce overcrowding emergencies
• Reduce the number of low-bond inmates in jail
• Reduced pre-trial length of stay
• Deliver on-demand reports to judges and court administrators
• Provide alerts to anticipate and avert overcrowding situations
• Enhance judges' understanding of how their sentencing practices and pre-trial efficiency impact jail population
• Improve accuracy of data entered into all of the jail systems by deputies during the booking process
• Sharply increase state reimbursements through Diverted Felons Program
• Public relations ‘wins'

Interested?
For more information or to schedule a JPASonline demonstration, click here.