Corrections Initiative

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In the United States, more than 2.1 million Americans are incarcerated at the end of 2019 (1.43 million in federal and state prisons, 735,000 in jails).1 In addition, another 4.5 million people are on probation and parole, collectively known as community supervision (or community corrections).2 Approximately 600,000 individuals reenter our communities each year. Reentry into society of incarcerated people remains one of the most significant challenges facing the criminal justice system.3 Corrections agencies maintain offender records that are valuable to a variety of audiences and can generate a wide range of benefits. Timely access to accurate information can enable successful strategies for reducing recidivism, lowering the costs of supervision, and managing the risks of dangerous offenders at key points in the decision-making process. Corrections, law enforcement agencies, courts, and community-based service providers have much to gain from sharing offender information they have at their disposal. Historically, the sharing data across these stakeholders has been very limited or non-existent. The justice community has not communicated well concerning information of justice-involved individuals or other matters of mutual interest with other branches of the criminal justice system, let alone service providers in the community. There is much at stake, especially the short- and long-term safety and security of these agencies, as well as the communities they serve. As correctional agencies develop and implement offender management information systems, it is essential, not to mention cost-effective, that they are aware 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 and safeguarding capabilities. The use of 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 has worked to develop reentry information sharing solutions funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, to overcome the gap in information sharing capabilities between corrections, criminal justice, public health, and other service providers. We have worked with a number of our Member companies to help develop interoperable solutions to enable information sharing among local law enforcement, public safety agencies, and relevant service providers in ways that are designed to reduce victimization.

Other Key Initiatives

Reentry Information Sharing Pilot Sites

The IJIS Institute leads this combined grant effort working in partnership with the National Governors Association, the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA), the American Probation and Parole …

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RxCheck Hub

The IJIS Institute supports the RxCheck hub that facilitates the connections between PDMPs across state borders. The RxCheck hub is the baseline implementation of the …

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Supporting Health and Human Services Interoperability

The Health and Human Services’ Administration of Children and Families recognized that human services would benefit from having better coordinated and integrated services, and achieving …

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Child Care Background Checks

IJIS Institute is supporting the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Care with strategies to help states …

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Fusion Center Technology Assistance Program

The IJIS Institute partnered with the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security in delivering the Bureau of Justice Assistance-sponsored Fusion Center Technology Assistance (TA) Program. …

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Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative (NSI)

State, local, tribal, and federal partners, along with several national law enforcement organizations, collaborated to develop the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative (NSI), a national …

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