The Corrections Technology Association (CTA) is a public, non-profit network of professionals actively involved in leveraging technology in the field of Corrections. Members of our association consist primarily of Chief Information Officers, IT Directors and operational and administrative staff from State and Provincial Departments of Correction, as well as from Federal, county and local correctional agencies.
Since 1999 CTA has provided a forum to promote exchange of information, experience and knowledge among correctional agencies. Through the years, the association has actively led development of standards and promoted collaboration and sharing of data and systems across states. CTA's annual conference offers its members an unsurpassed opportunity to learn of new technologies and, above all else, affords corrections technologists the opportunity to network with their peers.
Coming Soon: Kiosks
CTA, in conjunction with NOREX, will be hosting a teleforum on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 1:30 Central/2:30 Eastern Time.
We at the CTA are entering what I believe are exciting and opportunistic times. There are several national initiatives that CTA has become involved with since the conclusion of the conference in Colorado Springs in May 2008. Included among these are the National Information Exchange Model initiative and the federal effort to more actively engage the Corrections Industry in providing resources and data to facilitate the many Law Enforcement Fusion Center operations that are underway across the nation.
Toward that end, CTA President-Elect Kathy Gattin (Arkansas), CTA NIEM Committee Chair-Person David Koosis (NY City) and I recently participated in a BJA-sponsored two-day workshop in Arlington Virginia on those subjects.
CTA was invited to participate by Mr. Robert Greeves and Mr. Michael Dever from the Federal Bureau of Justice Assistance. Both of whom have supported an active role for CTA in this area. Our representation at this important meeting was instrumental in helping to shape the dialogue around these initiatives at this national forum and our participation also helped to cement additional relationships for CTA with the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) and the Integrated Justice Information Systems (IJIS) Institute, both of whom are working collaboratively with BJA to further develop these initiatives.
As these efforts continue to blossom we are proud that our colleagues at BJA have sought the expertise that CTA has to offer and we look forward to our continued participation in these and other initiatives that we believe will have a positive impact on the Corrections Industry.
For more information on CTA’s position on the subject of Fusion centers, please review the CTA Whitepaper on this subject which has been posted to our website.
Thomas J. Herzog, CTA President
CIO, New York State Department of Correctional Services
