The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) will benefit from the implementation of an electronic Jail Management System under the Ministry of National Security’s Security Strengthening Project (SSP).

The system, valued at over $117 Million, will eliminate the paper-based Jail Management System used by DCS. The initiative is in keeping with SSP’s mandate to support the Government’s effort to increase the conviction rate for murders and other violent crimes.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr. Courtney Williams, said the implementation of the system was timely as the Government sought to build sustainable partnerships to leverage technological tools and apply strategic data-driven measures to build trust with citizens and bolster crime prevention.

“Like many other agencies, the DCS is challenged with its current records management system. The processes are manual and paper-based and staff members spend copious amount of time manually completing forms to capture inmate information,” he said while pointing out that this process was cumbersome and open to human errors causing inaccuracy of the data captured and cannot provide real-time information.

The Jail Management solution – contracted to Synergy International Systems – is expected to improve data integrity and reports while providing seamless integration among the DCS, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), the Courts and other Ministry of National Security Portfolio Agencies.

Dr. Ashot Hovanesian, CEO of Synergy International Systems Inc. said his team looked forward to assisting the Government of Jamaica with strengthening its capacity in the correctional facilities across the island.

“We have vast experience in creating integrated systems, starting from police investigations to prosecution, Courts and the correctional services. This provides additional value because the information captured during the investigation phase is accessible to all agencies involved and there is much better coordination to carry out justice. Although we’re starting from the correctional services here, I hope one day the system will be linked to all agencies working to stem crime.”  

Synergy was chosen to undertake the development through a competitive bidding process and has over 20 years of experience in carrying out the design and development of information technology solutions for a broad range of development concerns for various local and international government agencies, as well as some of Jamaica’s international partners such as, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); European Union (EU); United Nations Development Program; and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

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