Code for America selects Savannah as pilot city to deploy SMS-based technology to help reduce recidivism
In partnership with the Georgia Department of Community Supervision and its Savannah office — as well as Open Savannah volunteers — Code for America aims to increase the number of Coastal Georgia residents who succeed on community supervision
A whopping 4.7 million people are currently on probation or parole in the U.S., and that number is projected to grow in the coming years as criminal justice reform continues to spread. Across the country, community supervision departments are managing greater numbers of people, with limited resources.
Nowhere in the nation is this problem more pronounced than in Georgia. More than half a million Georgians live under community supervision in the Peach State, according to the latest count from the Bureau of Justice statistis in 2014. That makes Georgia handily the state with the highest probation population of any other in the nation, with a community supervision rate nearly five times higher than the national per capita average of 1.18 out of every 100 residents.
Better communication between case managers and clients
In collaboration with Open Savannah and the Georgia Department of Community Supervision, Savannah has been selected by Code for America as the third pilot city in the nation to deploy a new technology that aims at lowering probation rates and reducing recidivism. The technology is called ClientComm.
ClientComm lets case managers send clients text messages from their computers or mobile devices. The text messages are sent from one department-wide phone number, and are not attached to individual case managers’ phones. Conversations between manager and client are kept together even if the client changes phone numbers, and can be printed or exported to your case management system.
In addition to real-time texting, case managers have the option to schedule messages to be sent at a later date and time. Scheduling reminders 24 hours in advance is particularly popular. Case managers know that these reminders can help clients juggle the many requirements of their supervision, while often dealing with other things like unstable family, housing, transportation, and employment situations. ClientComm allows case managers to cut down on time lost playing phone tag and leaving voicemails. In minutes, case managers can remind, and have their client confirm, that they will be at their next court date, or attend their next treatment class.
Community feedback needed from Coastal Georgia residents who are or have been on probation or parole
The ClientComm team has been in Georgia onboarding offices in Atlanta for the past week, and will be driving down to Savannah at the end of the week, where they’ll be setting up office for the duration of the project.
In collaboration with Open Savannah, Code for America will be holding a research and feedback session at United Way Coastal Empire, 428 Bull St, for people in the Savannah area who are or were on probation to better understand how the experience could be improved to achieve better outcomes Sat. Mar. 3 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m..
The session should be fun, and informative for everyone involved. Lunch will be provided to all participants.
