Offender
Management System | Offender Communication System
Probation
and Parole | Call-Track | OffenderConnect
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Weber
County Correctional Facility Upgrades Technology Without Taxpayer Expense.
Video Visitation and Call
IQ technology increase safety and security, but through special arrangement
with Digital Solutions / Inmate Telephone, Inc., cost taxpayers nothing.
Altoona, Pennsylvania
– August 31, 2009 - Weber County, Utah has some
of the latest technology in the corrections industry thanks to an innovative
solution from Digital Solutions / Inmate Telephone, Inc (DSI / ITI).
Through DSI / ITI’s novel “TIP”
program (Technology Incentive
Program), Weber County has been able to get video visitation and
Call IQ for their facilities without incurring any cost to the taxpayer.
“The Technology
Incentive Program or TIP,
allows our customers to take advantage of the latest in technological
advances at little or no cost to the facility,” said Anthony Bambocci,
President and CEO of DSI / ITI. “Many of our technology
offerings are designed to generate operational efficiencies within correctional
facilities which translate to long-term cost savings for our customers.”
The Weber County Correctional Facility has had DSI
/ ITI’s industry leading Jail Management System (JMS) software,
Offender
Management System, since 2000 and contracted with DSI / ITI for
inmate calling in 2004. In 2008, with their contract up
for renewal, Weber County Correctional Facility staff made a recommendation
to look into a longer-term renewal in order to secure some of the new
technologies that they had witnessed at the prior year’s User
Group meeting.
“Our new chief was very interested in video visitation,”
said Julia Richesson, Lead Accountant for Weber County Correctional
Facility “so Tony (Bambocci- DSI President and CEO) worked out
a package that gave us Call IQ and Video Visitation with no increase
in the cost of phone calls to inmates or their families.”
Staff at the Weber County Correctional Facility are
excited about the two new systems and the resulting capabilities.
“With Video Visitation we won’t need to use officers to
transport inmates to the visiting room,” said Richesson.
“Transporting inmates is always a safety and security issue and
by allowing inmates to have visitation directly from the housing pod
we will significantly reduce pressure on overworked staff. Further,
this will help to eliminate contraband issues, which are a concern even
with barrier visits.”
In addition to the increased security provided by the
Video Visitation system, the inmates’ family and friends benefit
as well, with longer visitation hours that can even be scheduled via
the web.
“We’re also very excited about Call IQ,”
Richesson stated, “it is a great investigative tool and we are
the only one in the state with it- it’s a great boon for Sheriff
(Brad) Slater.”
Call IQ is DSI / ITI’s most advanced call-monitoring
software package. The system has multiple advanced capabilities
including the ability to monitor calls for an ever-changing set of slang
or street terminology to better detect and prevent crime.
Richesson said that Weber County was excited to be
getting Call IQ as part of their package; “The phone system is
a great investigative tool- I’m amazed at what people will say
on the phone even though they know they’re being monitored.”
Though the “TIP”
program is relatively new, DSI / ITI officials have said that it is
being met with great enthusiasm. “Given the current level
of budget cuts enacted by many states, we are observing a significant
level of interest in the “TIP” program from facilities all
over the country,” said Bambocci. “Our “TIP”
program is one of the few ways that facilities can improve their technology
and security without investing a considerable portion of their budget
on new products and services.”
About
Weber County Correctional Facility.
The Weber County Correctional
Facility is forty miles north of Salt Lake City. The Weber County
Corrections Facility has two facilities housing nearly 1,100 county,
state and federal inmates. For more information about the Weber
County Correctional Facility, visit http://www.co.weber.ut.us/sheriff/index.php
About
Digital Solutions / Inmate Telephone, Inc.
Established
in 1984 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Digital Solutions Incorporated (DSI)
is a privately held technology company that specializes in automating
corrections agencies. Its sister company, Inmate Telephone Incorporated
(ITI), was founded in 1994 to create and maintain state-of-the-art inmate
phone systems for correctional facilities.
More than twenty years of successful implementations
in over four hundred agencies has enabled DSI / ITI to become the leading
provider of software solutions to the corrections industry. The
company attributes much of their success to the practice of involving
users in the design phases of the application development process -
input that is critical in enabling the company to continually improve,
while building a sense of ownership among the communities they serve.
For more company news and information visit http://www.dsiiti.comNews_and_Events.shtml
The DSI / ITI corporate web site can be found at http://www.dsiiti.com
This article is also available on
PRWeb.
Contact:
Thomas Brence, Director of Marketing
Digital Solutions
/ Inmate Telephone, Inc.
ph. 888.222.3081
fx.
814.949.3307
www.dsiiti.com
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