By Mary L. DePrez, Executive Director · Office of Court Technology
The Indiana State Police is charged by statute with maintaining the Criminal History Record Information System (CHRIS) for the state. In turn, CHRIS feeds the national criminal history repository maintained by the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal and state guidelines must be followed to ensure these records are maintained appropriately and accurately so those who use the information can rely on it.
CHRIS records are based on fingerprints, so when a person is arrested and detained, the local jail transmits to CHRIS the detained person’s fingerprints and other information about them. If the prosecutor files an indictment or charging information against that person, the clerk is duty-bound to report the court disposition to CHRIS within 30 days. When the clerk sends information to CHRIS, it must match the identifying information initially sent from the jail, including the person’s name, date of birth, and fingerprints.
Without this match, the arrest record will not be updated, and CHRIS will not reflect the case disposition—regardless of whether it was a conviction, dismissal, or any other outcome.
In 2011, the Indiana Office of Court Technology developed an interface between Odyssey and CHRIS so that disposition records could be sent electronically, instead of by mail or fax. This interface improved the speed and accuracy of the information, but it didn’t go far enough to catch potential instances of mismatched data.
For example, fingerprints are not always taken at the time of an arrest, or if they are taken, they may be rejected by State Police or the FBI for any number of reasons. In either instance, the defendant’s record for that offense would not be recorded in CHRIS. If the defendant is later convicted, the resulting disposition can only be recorded in CHRIS if the court orders fingerprinting as required by state law.
So in 2020—with the support of the Executive Directors of the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association and the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council—IOCT applied for and received a grant from the Department of Justice to build a jail management system that would address shortfalls in the existing process.
IOCT then formed a working group of subject matter experts from several sheriffs’ departments, including representatives from Dubois, Elkhart, Grant, Hendricks, Howard, and Vigo counties. IOCT also conducted a survey to identify the met and unmet needs of existing jail systems and used this feedback to draft requirements. The working group approved the requirements, and development has already started. The current grant will fund initial development and installation to three pilot counties by the first half of 2023: Elkhart, Grant, and Martin. IOCT is seeking additional funding to add enhancements identified by the working group and to deploy in more counties.
Dubbed “INjail,” the new jail management system will interface with multiple other criminal justice systems as well as the fingerprinting process. It will alert jail, prosecutor, and court staff if fingerprints have not been taken, if they are rejected, or if a mismatch occurs when a court disposition is sent to CHRIS. Staff can then resolve the issue to ensure the accuracy of the data.
INjail will not just manage a jail’s internal needs, it will also exchange data with other critical systems that need and use jail information. These include:
- Odyssey
- CHRIS
- e-citations
- protection order registry
- prosecutor case management system
- public defender case management system
- supervised release system (used by most supervision agencies)
In turn, this will allow critical functionality to be added to these systems. Because Odyssey will interface with INjail, criminal cases will display a flag alerting the judge if a defendant is currently incarcerated, and court staff will be able to run daily reports showing who is incarcerated. Because the Supervised Release System will interface with INjail, community supervision agencies will be alerted when an individual under supervision is arrested.
Sharing jail information with criminal justice stakeholders will not only bring efficiencies to their organizations, but will also benefit policy and decision makers at multiple levels. Jail data is a key component as our state continues to identify evidence-based best practices for recidivism reduction programs and community alternatives to detention.
Interested? Counties interested in adopting INjail should contact the author at [email protected] or 317-234-2604.