Kane County saves money and battles tough economy with efficient jail management
special bond call and New World Systems software gives the County jail more control over inmate population
Troy, Michigan - Monday, August 31, 2009
Kane County, Illinois is now saving close to $2 million a year with the help of new Corrections software that has been operating for less than 12 months. Utilizing New World Systems integrated Aegis/MSP® Corrections Management and Data Analysis and Mapping Software, the Kane County Sheriff’s Office has safely and efficiently reduced their jail population by 100 inmates in one year. This considerable reduction in prisoners has saved Kane County nearly $50 a day per inmate.
“At this time last year, we had 711 inmates,” said Executive Director of Information Technologies Roger Fahnestock. “We were paying to out-place more than 200 of them. Adding to the problem, we would have someone in jail on a lesser, non-violent offense whos bond was set for $500. If this person could not post bail, they would end up sitting in jail for weeks until their court date, costing the County a thousand dollars.”
According to Fahnestock, Kane County wanted to find a way to search for these individuals in the system, and set up a special program to release them on bond until their trial.
The County selected New World Systems’ Aegis/MSP Public Safety Software suite in early 2008 as part of an overall effort by County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay and Kane County Sheriff Patrick Perez to improve public safety and ultimately save money by streamlining jail management. In addition to the new software, the County moved into a new, much larger correctional facility. Almost immediately after implementation of New World’s software, Kane County was able to begin a special bond program to combat the growing inmate population.
“New World Systems’ Corrections Management and Data Analysis and Mapping software has been instrumental in improving the management of the Kane County jail population,” said Commander Patrick Keaty, Kane County Sheriff’s Department Adult Corrections.
New World’s software plays an important role in locating inmates within the County system who are eligible for the special bond call. Using New World’s Data Analysis and Mapping reporting capabilities, a dedicated Assistant State Attorney runs daily reports to find inmates sentenced within a certain bail amount and specific crime codes who qualify for release on bond.
“Our old system would just tell us who was in jail,” said Fahnestock. “With New World’s software we are collecting classifications and a history of incarceration, and users can drill down into any individual’s information in the exact way that we need to for this program to be successful.”
Less than a year from the beginning of the special bond call, Kane County has already reduced their jail population to 631 inmates. With the additional room, the County is now able to take in inmates for the U.S. Marshall and receive additional revenue for their housing.
“You could account for this dramatic decrease of inmates by saying people aren’t committing crime anymore, but that is just not the case,” said Fahnestock. “It definitely has to do with the ability to get accurate jail population information out of our software and the State Attorney’s office implementing this special bond call.”
The County credits much of the success of this program to the ease of pulling information from New World’s software. It has allowed them to accomplish the efficiency gains and cost savings that agencies nationwide strive to achieve.
“It is amazing to think about everything the Sheriff’s Office has accomplished with the jail in this past year,” said Fahnestock. "The move to the new facility gave us an additional 140 beds, but the biggest change has been the reduction in inmates. We are no longer out-placing, our inmate population fluctuates daily below 650, and we have put software in place to allow the State Attorney’s office to report on the information they need. New World’s software is definitely saving the County money.”
New World Systems, a public sector software company in Troy, Michigan, has provided software solutions for public safety and public administration organizations since 1981.The Company designs, develops, markets, supports and implements the fully integrated Logos® Public Administration Suite for local governments and the Aegis® Public Safety Suite for Law Enforcement, Fire and EMS. New World Systems has more than 750 customers comprised of more than 1,500 public sector agencies across the United States.
New World Systems is a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner
