Department of Corrections: Victim Information System

Over the past decade, the public has become concerned with a serious imbalance in the criminal justice system between the rights of crime perpetrators and those of their victims. Some people believe that public officials care more about criminals than their victims. Inmates and their advocates have made heavy and continuous use of the courts to ensure that their rights are protected and that their mental, physical, and educational needs are adequately addressed. Typically, massive outlays of taxpayer dollars are used to address these needs. Efforts to correct this imbalance have focused on crime victim's compensation and on protecting victims from further emotional and physical harm. With respect to this latter goal, the capacity to get timely information to the victim whenever an inmate's status has changed has been a major impediment.

A unique solution to this problem, called the Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE) system, notifies victims anytime there is a change in an inmate's status, whether it is a release, facility transfer, court hearing, escape, or re-incarceration. VINE continuously polls the Corrections Department's computer for status changes. When one occurs, it calls registered victims' phone numbers at regular intervals until they make contact or reach a 48-hour threshold. After 48 hours, VINE generates a form letter that the subscribing agency mails to the victim. The system also has email and faxing capability. Registered victims may also take the initiative and call 1-877-329-7894 (toll-free) to obtain up-to-date status information on an inmate. This feature has the added benefit of potentially reducing substantial numbers of direct calls to the facility. Users can also use the VINELINK Offender Search to check the custody status of an offender.

Victim assistance is one of DOC's main priorities and it offers the VINE Program as a public service.