By: Joe Dorsey, equivant Corrections Account Executive
Safety is paramount in jails. From key stakeholders to those peripherally involved in the justice system, keeping staff, officers, and inmates safe is a top priority. While disciplinary measures, adequate staffing, and streamlined procedures and security all contribute to jail safety, perhaps the most overlooked way to keep those within your jail’s walls safe is a robust custody management system.
Below are five ways the right custody management system can improve your jail’s safety:
- Quality Data at Your Fingertips: A custody management system that provides important inmate information front and center without unnecessary clicks is key to keeping staff safe. When officers have all the information related to an inmate at their fingertips and can easily pull it up before getting an inmate out, they can quickly know how to transport them, who they can be around, and high-stakes mistakes can be avoided.
- Proper Inmate Classification: Whether your custody or jail management system includes a classification management system, or you have a separate classification software that connects to your jail management system, this is key to keeping those within your facility’s walls safe. Classification management systems that are easy-to-use, fast, and accurate can help properly place inmates. This ensures that high-risk individuals are never with lower-risk individuals in any setting—and that officers trained to interact with specific inmate types are assigned accordingly. When your classification management system seamlessly talks to your custody management system, essential information related to the safety of everyone is readily available.
- Wide Variety of Assessments: Custody management systems that come with a wide selection of assessments and questionnaires can help your staff recognize inmate mental health and other issues early. Being aware of how an inmate is struggling can help employees appropriately adjust their responses and interactions. Information is power and the more information that can be gathered about an inmate, the better equipped your staff is to help the inmate and avoid unnecessary altercations because of an unrealized issue.
- Notifications and Alerts: The right custody management system will aggregate data from a variety of sources and create appropriate alerts and notifications available right when an officer pulls up information about the inmate. This feature—and its immediacy—are critical in letting officers and staff know what they may be facing in real time.
- Time Savings and Mental Clarity: A well-organized and intuitive custody management system saves officers and staff time and frustration. With less information gathering and technology hassles, they can conserve their energy for their mission-critical tasks. It frees up brain power and energy reserves to be increasingly alert when making decisions, enacting important pivots, and interacting with inmates.
A jail is a multi-faceted ecosystem requiring hundreds of strategic and quick decisions every day to ensure the safety of officers, staff, and inmates. A custody management that presents the right information at the right time in the right way can save lives. If your custody management system is not helping in your facility’s safety initiates, let us show you a different path forward.
