Dear Friends,
May 28, 2010 we were made aware that the Indiana Department of Corrections has canceled their contract with Appriss for Indiana SAVIN, Indiana Sex and Violent Offender Registry, and Alert Notification Services (VINE) effective June 30, 2010. According to the DOC they have been working with Information Strategies, a systems development company, to create the software necessary to move the VINE program in house. On July 1, 2010 the DOC will start notifying victims through the new software and DOC staff. It has been communicated by Brent Myers, Director of Registration and Victim Services for the DOC that the data transfer from Appriss on June 30 to DOC will be seamless as the DOC begins providing victim notification July 1.
We are sharing the following because we are very concerned about the process used to develop the new software and the transition from Appriss to DOC. It concerns us that at a stakeholders meeting hosted last week by DOC the following information was shared:
• According to the DOC and Information Strategies, they have been working on this project for 18 months and stated that they had included all stakeholders in the process; however, there was no victim services representation during any of the planning process. Since victim notification is a crucial component and VINE is for victims it seems critical that victim service providers would have been included in this process, but we were not informed or consulted during the 18 month process.
• DOC has not yet identified the phone number for victims to call and register. Additionally, no materials have been printed for law enforcement to distribute to victims with the new registration information or process, and law enforcement have not been notified of the change in the registration process and have received no training.
• It is the intention of the DOC to use three (3) existing staff to complete notifications Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and then rely on DOC control staff to conduct notification after hours and weekends. Currently DOC has indicated they are hiring additional staff; this decision may still result in inadequately trained staff by the time the call center goes into effect.
• There is not a clear and well defined training plan for DOC program personnel and no promise that it will transpire prior to July 1. In addition, little consideration has been given to how notification is going to be provided to Limited English Proficiency (LEP) individuals.
• The DOC states that they contracted with Information Strategy to save the state of Indiana approximately $500,000 annually; however, they never provided Appriss a true opportunity to reduce their costs. Since Appriss became aware of the cancellation of the contract due to funding, they proposed a revised agreement to the DOC which would virtual match that of Information Strategy, provide free enhancements and not create additional work that is necessary under the new contract to link all local jails.
• The system data transfer and new system have not been tested. This is concerning not only for the victim information that has already been transferred from Appriss and are ready for the notification system but additionally for the 11,000 victims who will not transfer and will need to be manually updated in the new system. The victims requiring manual updates will not be ready in the event notification is needed July 1st.
We share our concerns with you because you are working with victims who depend on the VINE program for their safety. It is our belief that the DOC is not adequately prepared, trained and or ready to transition victim notification on July 1. There are additional concerns from the Sheriff’s Department that many of the departments will not be online to handle the notification system. Based on all of this information please join us by contacting Commissioner Edwin Buss, Director Brent Myers, your legislators and Governor Daniels. Please tell them that we/you are concerned about the safety of women, children and men who have more than money at stake in this important project. If you need information on accessing your legislator use the following link:
http://www.in.gov/legislative/legislators
Eric Holcomb: Governor’s office at 317-234-4447 oreholcomb@gov.IN.gov
Commissioner Edwin Buss: EGBuss@Idoc.IN.gov
Director Brent Myers: BMyers@idoc.IN.gov
Sincerely,
Laura Berry, Executive Director, ICADV
Anita Carpenter, Executive Director, INCASA
Julie Marsh, Chief Executive Officer, Domestic Violence Network
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
