S yscon J ustice S ystem s 2013

REDUCING THE COST WITHOUT

COMPROMISING SAFETY
A NEW SOLUTION FOR
THE GREATEST CHALLENGE FACING
CORRECTIONS AGENCIES TODAY
WHITEPAPER
2 R e d u ci n g th e C o st Wi th o u t C o m p ro m i si n g S a fe ty
Across the globe, advanced nations struggle with a common chal lenge: the cost of corrections
has reached a point of unsustainabil ity. Driven by increasing rates of incarceration and
persistent, high rates of reoffending, it is a problem which has gained the attention of al l the
actors across the justice and publ ic safety spectrum.
Legisl ators, the judiciary, corrections leadership, publ ic pol icy experts, and others are asking a
common, but urgent question: How can the cost of corrections be reduced without compromising
the safety of the offender, corrections staff, and the publ ic at l arge?
For the corrections agency executive, effectively addressing this question wil l be the number one
objective for the bal ance of this decade, and l ikely beyond.
A Two -D i m e n si o n a l P ro b le m
The high cost of corrections regardless of country or jurisdiction is a resul t of two
primary factors.
H i g h R a te s o f I n ca rce ra ti o n
For more than a generation, nations and local jurisdictions have adopted legisl ative and
judicial sentencing pol icies that focus heavily on incarceration as the primary means of hol ding
accountable those persons convicted of a criminal offense. Based on the bel ief that incarceration
woul d teach the offender a lesson and thus reduce his or her future criminal behavior, offenders
have been sentenced to jail or prison in greater numbers, for longer periods of time, for offenses
that are often non-violent in nature.
Al though pol icies have been crafted separately within each country or state, and implemented at
varying times, the impact has been dramatic and consistent. For example:
In Engl and, the prison popul ation more than doubled from 1992 to 2008
1
, and has shown no
signs of decrease since then
2

For the 25 years through 2009, prisons across Austral ia experienced a popul ation increase
of 98%
3

In Canada, the total cost of corrections doubled in just a five-year window from 2006 to 2011
4

In the United States, where the problem is most acute, state prisons alone experienced a
173% increase in incarcerated popul ations over a 20-year period from 1987 to 2007
5

With increasing numbers of offenders being sentenced to jail or prison, and with longer, and
more complex sentences being imposed, corrections agencies at every level have been facing
significant over-crowding chal lenges, driving the need for construction of new facil ities. Capital
costs, combined with the operational cost of housing, feeding, clothing, transporting and
supervising increased numbers of offenders have pl aced an unsustainable burden on publ ic
1
Do Better, Do Less: The Report on the Commission on English Prisons Today, The Howard League for Penal Reform,
London, England, 2009.
2
Story of the Prison Population 1993 to 2012: England and Wales, UK Ministry of Justice, London, England January 2013.
3
Australian Crime: Facts and Figures 2010, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 2010.
4
Prison Costs Soar in Last Five Years: Report, National Post, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July 18, 2011.
5
1 in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008, Pew Public Safety Performance Project, Washington, DC, USA, 2008.
3 R e d u ci n g th e C o st Wi th o u t C o m p ro m i si n g S a fe ty
budgets. This comes at a time of global economic uncertainty, and fal l s on governments that
are struggl ing to find the necessary funds to support other publ ic goods, such as education,
transportation, and infrastructure reinvestment. A hidden, but very significant component of
the cost increase for corrections is the real ity that longer sentences for more people produce
an aging prisoner base, which introduces more complex heal th care requirements. It has been
estimated that heal thcare expenditures for prisoners over age 55 are nine times greater than the
cost of younger prisoners, and most jurisdictions are il l -prepared to manage either the patient
needs or the associated costs.
6

H i g h R a te s o f R e o ffe n d i n g
Incarcerating more
offenders for longer
periods was intended
to del iver a tangible,
long-term publ ic safety
benefit in the form of
reduced crime, and
thus lower rates of
incarceration. But
across counties, states,
provinces and nations,
the stark real ization is
the same: some twenty
to thirty years on, those
benefits simply have not
been achieved.
Instead, rates of
recidivism in many nations continue to hover between 40% and 50%. In Engl and, for example,
nearly 50% of adul ts reoffend within the first year of their release from prison.
7
For young
offenders in the country, the resul ts are even more staggering: 75% of those sentenced to
youth custody commit another crime in less than twelve months from release.
8
In the province
of Manitoba, Canada, which currently has the countrys highest rate of incarceration
9
, the
recidivism rate for young offenders, measured quarterly since 2002, has never dropped below
75%.
10
Often those guil ty of reoffending have not actual ly committed a new crime per se, but have
committed a technical viol ation of the terms of their release, such as a missed appointment with
a parole officer. Yet, in many instances, that technical offense resul ts in a return to a custodial
environment, with al l its associated costs.
6
Number of Older Inmates Grows, Stressing Prisons, The New York Times, New York, New York, USA, January 26, 2012.
7
Breaking the Cycle: Efective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Ofenders, Policy Paper presented to
Parliament by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice by Command of Her Majesty, London, England,
December 2010.
8
Ibid.
9
Mia Dauvergne, Adult Correctional Statistics in Canada, 2010/2011, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
October 12, 2012.
10
Tom Brodbeck, Reofending Rates Are Staggering, Winnipeg Sun, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, March 2, 2010.
4 R e d u ci n g th e C o st Wi th o u t C o m p ro m i si n g S a fe ty
It is this seemingly intractable combination of high rates of incarceration and persistent,
high rates of reoffending that have forced elected official s, corrections experts, publ ic pol icy
researchers and others committed to justice and publ ic safety to find new ways to efficiently
and safely manage criminal popul ations. As evidenced through various surveys and reports
11
,
there is considerable publ ic support for change as long as there is no compromise to offender,
staff, and community safety. New pol icy initiatives, such as those presented in Michigan
12
, The
Netherl ands
13
, and Engl and and Wales
14
, put forward innovative thinking and approaches to the
management of correctional popul ations. In each jurisdiction, there is an emphasis on reducing
incarcerated popul ations, which drive so much of the escal ating cost of corrections, in favor of
community-based management of non-violent offenders, improved rehabil itation programs, and
a more graduated response to technical viol ations for those who have been released.
However, the impacts from a generation of publ ic pol icy cannot be reversed overnight. Achieving
positive outcomes wil l take time, col l aboration, and patience.
S o ftwa re S o lu ti o n s H a ve a R o le to P la y
Publ ic pol icy, and the broad structural changes which are necessary to reduce the cost of
corrections is not the domain of a software vendor. That is the clear responsibil ity of elected
official s and corrections experts to define and implement. However, software vendors, especial ly
those with a long-term commitment to the corrections profession, do have an obl igation to
del iver technological innovation to assist agencies around the worl d as they wrestle with the
chal lenge of safe, intel l igent cost reduction.
Software vendors with a strategic understanding of the issues facing corrections, and a long-
term sol ution roadmap, wil l instinctively understand where and how they fit in.
First, there are two driving real ities that face every agency, and neither can be favored over
the other.
1. The cost of corrections has to be reduced, immediately and sustainably.
2. Sol utions to reduce the cost of corrections cannot resul t in compromises to safety of the
offender, of correctional staff, or the general publ ic.
Second, there are mul tiple business level s at which comprehensive, integrated sol utions can
del iver val ue.
11
Public Opinion on Sentencing and Corrections Policy in America, Pew Public Safety Performance Project,
Washington, DC, USA, March 2012.
12
State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of Americas Prisons, Pew Public Safety Performance Project, Washington,
DC, USA, April 2011.
13
DJI Master Plan 2013-2018, Custodial Institutions Agency, Ministry of Security and Justice, The Hague, Netherlands,
March 2013.
14
Breaking the Cycle: Efective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Ofenders, UK Ministry of Justice,
London, England, December 2010.
5 R e d u ci n g th e C o st Wi th o u t C o m p ro m i si n g S a fe ty
C o rre cti o n s O p e ra ti o n s
The worl d is most complex at the operational level of corrections. With so many moving parts,
with safety and security as paramount concerns, with myriad regul ations regarding offender
treatment, and tens of thousands of daily interactions between offenders and corrections staff,
the need for proven, wel l -defined pol icies and procedures is essential .
Moreover, the need
to understand each
offender in detail , to
know who the offender
is and the risks he
poses, is of fundamental
importance to the
correctional officer.
Critical information,
such as risk to staff or
other offenders, length
of sentence, gang
affil iations, and mental
and physical heal th
are but a few of the key
data points that create
the offender profile.
However, at the operational level , it is not enough to simply know who the offender is. It is just as
important to understand how to manage that offender safely and efficiently.
In a typical custodial environment, offenders and corrections staff engage in countless daily
transactions. Some are routine, such as ordering items from the commissary, selecting meal
preferences and exchanging l aundry, while others are more complex and inherently riskier,
such as arranging for a visit with a family member, moving to and from court proceedings, and
attending cl asses. Even within a single facil ity, let alone a complex national network of jail s and
prisons, thousands upon thousands of transactions take pl ace every day. Each one has a defined
process, each one must be recorded in some fashion, and each one takes time. The longer each
transaction takes, and the more manual its nature, the greater the cost of that transaction.
The knowledge of how to conduct that transaction must be taught to every staff member. That
takes time. And when staff members are reassigned or retire from service, training must be
del ivered to the repl acement staff.
6 R e d u ci n g th e C o st Wi th o u t C o m p ro m i si n g S a fe ty
For years there have been offender management systems (OMS)
15
in use in every type of agency
jail , prison, probation and parole and these systems perform effectively in the capture and
retrieval of offender information. However, because they are defined by the business processes
they automate, often just mimicking an historical , paper-driven process, a legacy OMS does not
del iver the accelerated efficiency that a cost-heavy environment requires.
If every transaction between an offender and an officer has a cost, and if the number of
incarcerated offenders is increasing, and final ly, if the typical offender is serving a longer
sentence, the cumul ative cost of undertaking those transactions is extraordinary. More
importantly, those transaction costs are a major contributor to the very real fiscal predicaments
that every corrections agency must resolve.
Software sol utions for corrections must focus on reducing the time it takes to complete
every transaction if sustainable operational efficiencies are to be gained. Many of the tasks in
managing an offender popul ation stil l involve paper processes today. Through intel l igent use of
software and supporting hardware, it is quite feasible to shorten the time it takes to complete the
transaction, thus reducing cost and increasing efficiency, without compromising the integrity of
the task or the safety of the offender and the officer.
The opportunities for operational efficiency are numerous. For example, in situations of higher
intake vol umes, an intuitive web-based tool guides the intake officer through a very specific set
of essential tasks while backlogging lower priority ones, ensuring statutory intake times are
achieved. A housing unit supervisor makes use of a wireless tablet for automating counts, which
provides a series of operational benefits, such as reduced time to complete the task, el imination
of redundant data re-entry, and the avail abil ity of real -time information. For the community
corrections officer, the use of a wireless device for schedul ing meetings with a parolee or
recording workpl ace verifications ensures greater time in the fiel d and improved abil ity to
manage a greater number of offenders in the community.
These are but a few of the innovations that agencies can util ize to reduce transaction times,
and lower costs, at the operational level . Lower costs against the tens of thousands of daily
transactions in a typical custodial facil ity resul ts in a better use of resources and a lowering
of aggregate operational expense. Across the entire facil ity network within a single agency
structure, the benefit can be substantial and sustainable.
Its not enough for a software sol ution to automate the process. Rather, it is imperative that the
sol ution enable del ivery of ever greater level s of speed and efficiency into operation, al l the while
maintaining safety and security.

15
Ofender management systems are generally regarded as mission-critical applications used in the capture,
management and retrieval of essential information about the ofender: identication, demographic and biometric
information; ofenses and sentences; physical and mental health; classications and risks; programs; visitation
permissions and restrictions; property and nancials; and release date.
7 R e d u ci n g th e C o st Wi th o u t C o m p ro m i si n g S a fe ty
C o rre cti o n s Ag e n cy M a n a g e m e n t
If the correctional facil ity is where the daily operational machinery grinds on and on, twenty-
four hours a day every day of the year, it is at the level of agency management where strategic
pl anning and the consideration of al ternative approaches takes pl ace. It is here that seasoned
professional s ask long-range questions and consider changes in correctional practice to hel p
them run a more efficient business.
In their regul ar interactions with legisl ators and the funding bureaucracy, corrections agency
executives are constantly pressed to defend their expenditures, expl ain their outcomes, and
articul ate their pl ans for improved agency management. As many executives wil l attest, it is
one of the most stressful aspects of the job defining how a complex agency with constrained
resources can operate more efficiently without compromising safety, in a profession that is
fraught with risk at virtual ly every turn.
To meet this need,
agency management
requires easy access to
operational data so they
can analyze activities
and understand where
efficiencies might be
gained. They need the
abil ity to pose what if
questions against that
data, such as What
if time credits were
calculated differently for a
certain class of offender?
Would that reduce
populations to such a
level that a housing unit
could be closed? They need information to hel p justify the modification of a business process,
and then capture revised operational performance metrics to monitor improvement. Like their
counterparts in the private sector, corrections agency managers require access to proven,
flexible reporting and business intel l igence tool s.
Unfortunately, the typical OMS in pl ace in todays operational environment l acks the reporting
and business intel l igence sophistication required. The abil ity to share relevant information with
agency management in a timely manner is heavily constrained. With a primary focus on data
inputs, legacy systems were designed with very l ittle consideration of information outputs.
Certainly with enough time and enough resources, skil led analysts can find the data, but just
as time and resources are in short supply at the corrections operations level , the same can be
said of the agency management level . Yet when a legisl ator or justice minister asks a business
question of an agency executive, the expectation is that the answer is only a few hours, or
perhaps days, away.
8 R e d u ci n g th e C o st Wi th o u t C o m p ro m i si n g S a fe ty
To enable a more comprehensive and insightful understanding of the business, corrections
agency management requires a sol ution which ful ly integrates proven reporting and business
intel l igence capabil ities directly into the OMS. They require an approach which inherently
understands that the outputs are just as important as the inputs, that they are easy to access,
and can be easily presented in any format, from static reports to real -time dashboards.
Without business visibil ity at the agency management level , it is virtual ly impossible to drive the
changes necessary to produce safe, sustainable cost reduction for corrections.
J u sti ce a n d P u b li c S a fe ty S p e ctru m
Across the spectrum of justice and publ ic safety agencies whether at the county, state,
provincial or national level the focus on sustainable, safe cost reduction is ever-present.
Legisl ative pol icy drives cost. Judicial interpretation of pol icy drives cost. Corrections agencies
drive cost through their management of offenders, business processes and facil ities.
In the same vein, these agencies and the professional s that run them care greatly about publ ic
safety and ensuring positive outcomes for society. They are committed to reducing offender
popul ations, and reducing reoffending without compromising safety and security.
To achieve these outcomes, agencies across the spectrum recognize the benefit of sharing
relevant information securely and efficiently. The abil ity to share specific information about
certain cl asses of offenders, such as gang members or sex offenders, is fundamental to
improved security and publ ic safety. The abil ity to easily identify non-violent offenders who
are suitable for early release, and rel iably share that information with community corrections
officers is an essential task in the more efficient management of an integrated correctional
agency. In many jurisdictions around the worl d, such information sharing is a legal requirement,
and the fail ure to do so can resul t in significant financial penal ties for the del inquent agency.
Historical ly, this has been a difficul t mandate for any agency to ful fil l , despite the clear benefits.
Lack of easy access to system data, competing data formats, and l ack of time and skil led
resources have proven to be formidable obstacles.
Emerging standards for data exchange and system interoperabil ity provide the means for
knocking those obstacles over. In the United States, Canada, and the European Union, the
National Information Exchange Model (NIEM)
16
has gained traction in numerous justice and
publ ic safety agencies to facil itate a standards-based approach to simpl ify information exchange.
To support ever-increasing information exchange requirements, sol utions providers must
embrace the NIEM standard and stay current with its evol ution. A mission-critical OMS
appl ication that l acks this commitment pl aces an unnecessary and costly burden on the agencies
which rely on it.
16
www.niem.gov and www.ijis.org
9 R e d u ci n g th e C o st Wi th o u t C o m p ro m i si n g S a fe ty
A N e w S o lu ti o n fo r a C o m p le x C h a lle n g e
For years, the success of offender management systems was defined by their ease of
information capture and the breadth of business processes they automated. In a worl d in which
offender popul ations were rapidly increasing, it made sense to focus on efficient information
capture and retrieval .
But that is not todays worl d.
Syscon Justice Systems, a leader in the design and del ivery of comprehensive offender
management systems for more than three decades, understands clearly how the worl d has
changed, and that a new generation of sol utions is required to meet a more complex set of
corrections chal lenges.
I n tro d u ci n g th e Wo rk flo w F a m i ly o f C o rre cti o n a l S o lu ti o n s
Buil ding on a comprehensive understanding of
corrections business process at al l level s
jail , prisons and community corrections
in al l jurisdictions county, state,
provincial and national Syscon
del ivers a new, innovative offender
management sol ution with a
simple, but powerful objective:
Hel p our agency partners to
reduce the cost of corrections
without compromising safety.
The Workflow Family
combines our three decades of
OMS experience with a modern
technology framework and
flexible appl ications that are
tailored to the specific needs
of jail s, prisons, and community
corrections agencies. Del ivered as
a Commercial -Off-The-Shel f (COTS)
offering, it provides every agency with
an easy-to-use sol ution that wil l address
correctional needs wel l into the next decade.
1 0 R e d u ci n g th e C o st Wi th o u t C o m p ro m i si n g S a fe ty
F le xi b le Ap p li ca ti o n s o n a C o m m o n Arch i te ctu re
The Workflow Family del ivers specific functional appl ications WorkflowJAIL,
WorkflowPRISON, and WorkflowCOMMUNITY for each segment of the corrections market.
These appl ications, guided by in-house corrections experts and with input from our international
cl ient base, provide comprehensive business process automation, such as Intake and Reception,
Cl assification, Movements, Legal Cases and Sentence Calcul ation, Visitation Management,
Programs and Services, and Release and Discharge, to name a few. The abil ity to efficiently
configure business processes ensures that the agency can adapt the appl ication to meet
business requirements, and move correctional staff and the offender more quickly through any
given process.
Each offering in the family rel ies upon a common service-oriented architecture, enabl ing
efficient integration with other corrections appl ications, and administration of user rights,
auditing, security, reporting and document management. Del iberately designed to be
database agnostic, the Workflow Family ensures that existing technology assets can be
leveraged, or even retired, if costly l icensing requirements represent an opportunity for
improved cost management.
U se r-fri e n d ly a n d I n tu i ti ve
As an appl ication ful ly designed for the Web, the Workflow Family embraces proven standards
for an efficient user experience. With an intuitive and consistent design paradigm, the appl ication
caters to a new generation of corrections professional that has never known a worl d without
l aptops, browsers and smart devices. The clean design of every interaction screen in every
business process moves the user quickly through the task at hand, an essential requirement in
high-vol ume offender environments.
D e si g n e d fo r B u si n e ss Vi si b i li ty a n d I n fo rm a ti o n E xch a n g e
The Workflow Family util izes Oracle

BI Publ isher to integrate best-in-cl ass reporting and

business intel l igence capabil ities. The sol ution del ivers operational reporting across each
business process, as wel l as advanced query and analysis capabil ities. Agencies wil l benefit from
an improved understanding of operational performance, as wel l as a far easier abil ity to analyze
information to support long-range, strategic initiatives for cost-reduction.
Buil t in ful l support of the NIEM standard, the Workflow Family stands at the forefront of OMS
offerings in support of efficient cross-agency and cross-jurisdictional information sharing.
1 1 R e d u ci n g th e C o st Wi th o u t C o m p ro m i si n g S a fe ty
An y D e vi ce , An yti m e , An ywh e re
Within corrections, the use of wireless devices, such as smart phones, tablets, and other
handhel d computers is increasing at an impressive rate. Buil t around Syscons commitment to
reduce redundant, manual effort and paper-driven processes, the Workflow Family is designed
to intel l igently and securely del iver business process task flow to a wide range of wireless
devices. With tasks designed to render appropriately based on the device, agencies can equip
their staff with cutting edge tool s which wil l speed up data capture, el iminate errors and the
need for data re-entry, and enable corrections professional s in any setting to perform more of
the job they are trained to do.
S e cu re , S ca la b le a n d R e a d y fo r th e C lo u d
With ever-increasing data vol umes and demands for access to information, the Workflow
Family provides the security and scal abil ity expected of a mission-critical enterprise sol ution.
Designed for use in environments that feature high-vol ume offender intakes, l arge numbers of
simul taneous users, and high-vol ume data demands, the sol ution scales efficiently and del ivers
99.99% uptime rel iabil ity.
With corrections agencies around the worl d embracing secure, cost-effective cloud-based
deployment of appl ications, the Workflow Family is buil t to support deployment in the cloud or
in establ ished, on-premise data centers.
A C o m p e lli n g Vi si o n fro m a P ro ve n P a rtn e r
The Workflow Family of Correctional Sol utions benefits from a comprehensive understanding
of corrections, and a commitment to a long-term product roadmap, 100% focused on the needs
of corrections professional s.
We understand through experience that Offender Management Sol utions are at the very core
of corrections operations. By combining our proven abil ity to capture and manage al l aspects
of offender information with an investment in innovative new tool s and technologies to hel p
reduce transaction costs and better understand business performance, Syscon del ivers a new
generation of OMS sol ution.
With the legisl ative, operational and budgetary changes facing corrections, agency leadership
understands the importance of embracing forward-thinking sol utions to support intel l igent
and safe cost-reduction. The Workflow Family of Correctional Sol utions provides a powerful
new asset designed to support those changes. It is a sol ution that wil l enable every agency
to reduce the cost of corrections without compromising safety, and contribute to improved
corrections outcomes.
1 2
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Tel: +44 (0) 203 178 3148
www.syscon.net
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2009-2013 Syscon Justice Systems. Al l Rights Reserved.
R e d u ci n g th e C o st Wi th o u t C o m p ro m i si n g S a fe ty
Ab o u t S ysco n
Syscon Justice Systems hel ps corrections agencies to understand who they have incarcerated,
and how to manage them. We are the worl ds leading provider of offender management
sol utions. Proven over more than 30 years, the company has successful ly implemented mission-
critical sol utions for every major level of corrections, enabl ing our cl ients to run better agencies
and ensure publ ic safety.
As a trusted partner in corrections agencies around the worl d, Syscon combines unrival led
expertise with purpose-buil t sol utions for critical business process. We work closely with our
cl ients to ful ly understand their requirements and guide them in the most effective approach to
satisfy their needs, ensuring that we del iver effective project management and qual ity software
at every step.
Syscon is proud to partner with some of the worl ds most sophisticated and complex corrections
agencies, such as Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, National Offender Management
Service in Engl and and Wales, Corrective Services New South Wales, and Al berta Justice
and Sol icitor General , Correctional Services. Our sol utions meet the needs of agencies in
six countries on four continents, 15 states and provinces, and 12 US counties. Over 86,000
professional corrections administrators and l ine staff rely on Syscon to manage more than
410,000 offenders in over 500 secure facil ities.
Syscon is an active member in a number of leading organizations serving the global corrections
profession, incl uding the Corrections Technology Association (board member), International
Corrections and Prisons Association, IJIS Institute (technical advisory committee), and the
American Corrections Association.
The company is privately hel d.
www.syscon.net