Indiana’s new jail management system tracks offenders from arrest through sentencing and supervision
By Mary L. DePrez, Executive Director • Office of Court Technology
Over the past two decades, Indiana courts, prosecutors, public defenders, and supervision agencies have transitioned to statewide systems that share and exchange critical data. These systems have improved efficiency and transparency in the justice system. But we are still missing a critical component: statewide jail data.
Jail data can provide valuable insights into various aspects of the criminal justice system and public safety, and jail management is critical to both justice and safety. INjail—Indiana’s new jail management system—bridges the gaps between arrest, prosecution, conviction, sentencing, and supervision; tracks offenders; and provides real-time jail data to policymakers at local, state, and federal levels.
Why jail management?
The idea to build a jail management system designed specifically for Indiana was inspired by two separate initiatives: the 2019 Jail Overcrowding Task Force created by the Indiana General Assembly and the ongoing joint project to improve the completeness and accuracy of the criminal history records information system (CHRIS) maintained by Indiana State Police.
A key recommendation from the Jail Overcrowding Task Force report was that
“All jails should be required to provide clearly defined, specific, real time data relevant to the jail population. Real time jail data should be communicated via interfaces with the Odyssey Court Case Management System, the Indiana Prosecutor Case Management System, the Public Defender Information System, the Supervised Release System used by community supervision agencies, and the Department of Correction.”
At the time the report was issued in December 2019, there were over 25 different jail systems in use throughout the state and none of them could comply with this recommendation. These systems were not interconnected, nor were they connected to other justice partners statewide.
For two decades, prosecutors and courts have been working hand in hand with the state police to improve the completeness and accuracy of criminal history records. Despite significant progress, the missing link for a complete criminal history for each arrest was a unified jail system tailored for Indiana; a jail system connected to the fingerprinting machines, prosecutors, courts, and the state police. The continued absence of a connection to the jail management system could result in delays or uncertainty in verifying whether arrest records were successfully submitted or failed to reach CHRIS.
Securing funding
With the support of the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association, the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, and the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, the Indiana Office of Court Technology applied for Department of Justice funding to support the development of a new jail management system. The proposed system would comply with the recommendation of the Jail Overcrowding Task Force and would significantly improve the completeness of arrest records with dispositions at state police.
Approximately 40% of arrests at CHRIS lack a disposition, and many criminal cases where a conviction is entered have never had fingerprints sent to state police.
At the end of 2024, IOCT had successfully secured four grants to support the development and deployment of the new jail management system, called INjail. The primary purpose of the funding is to build a system that will connect with those used by prosecutors, courts, and state police to improve the criminal history records maintained by state police. As INjail is developed, the recommendations of the Jail Overcrowding Task Force and compliance with federal and state rules and regulations are being prioritized.
How it works
A jail system is critical for many reasons. In addition to having the ability to safely house and manage sometimes hundreds of inmates in a facility, the jails play an important role in ensuring the criminal history records maintained by state police are accurate and complete.
To initiate a record in CHRIS, the fingerprints of the arrested individual are captured via a livescan machine. In addition to the physical capture of the prints, the jail officer must enter personal information as well as the preliminary charges.
The livescan then transmits this information to the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) maintained at state police. AFIS scans and digitizes fingerprints and will match new fingerprints with known fingerprints. AFIS may reject fingerprints for various reasons. If accepted, the arrestee is assigned a state ID number that is unique to each individual in the AFIS system, and the record is sent from the livescan machine to CHRIS.
Once the CHRIS record is created, the statewide prosecutor system will update the arrest record when and if charges are filed. Upon disposition of the court case, Odyssey, the statewide court case management system, will update the arrest record with the court disposition, completing the record.
Other highlights of INjail
In addition to building a jail system that can track and report data in real time, INjail has been developed by and for Indiana jail commanders and staff. The connection between INjail and the livescan machines minimizes duplicate data entry and ensures the creation of more accurate arrest records. Additionally, as part of the pre-release check list, the system provides information on whether fingerprints have been accepted by CHRIS, enabling timely reprinting if necessary.
Beyond its critical integration with livescan machines to enhance CHRIS records, INjail introduces unprecedented connectivity. For the first time, jails using INjail are seamlessly linked to Odyssey for case information, as well as to prosecutors, public defenders, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Correction for victim notifications, the supervised release system, the public defender system, and the protection order registry.
INjail is now operational in four counties: Martin, Grant, Elkhart, and Warren. The deployment schedule in 2025 includes Putnam, Fountain, Hendricks, Morgan, and Jennings counties.