At the heart of almost every corrections facility around the globe is an offender management system (OMS).  Designed to handle everything from an inmate's personal effects at intake to subsequent movements, the OMS is the conduit through which corrections information travels.

Not all systems are created equal, however, especially when it comes to the critical evaluation of an offender's risks and needs.  Most often, a prisoner's final risk assessment is a simple score derived from various risk factors including capacity for violence and education.  With traditional evaluation systems like this, the actual source of the score is absent, often leaving corrections personnel wondering why an offender was given a particular rating.

This is why Syscon Justice Systems, the world's leader in offender management systems, chose to incorporate into their OMS the Risk Management System (RMS), developed by Wisconsin-based Modeling Solutions.  The RMS uses example-based modeling, drawing from similar behavior patterns of 1,000 ex-cons, to quickly create a risk model that highlights critical factors underlying an offender's score.

Kevin Lorette, Director of Business Development at Modeling Solutions, notes, “With the 5th generation RMS our validation studies have shown over 85% accuracy in correctly classifying high and low risk offenders.”

Indeed, the RMS is instrumental during the entire course of an offender's time within the penal system, but its implications are particularly valuable for assessing what treatments will best curb recidivism.

“We can look at the RMS and quickly determine the most efficient way to assign treatment resources,” said Lorette.  “We can even simulate what-if scenarios,” he added.

After scoring an offender in the RMS' simple web-based interface, an agent (corrections officer, parole officer, psychologist etc.) is given raw data and graphics that plainly illustrate eleven areas that may pose notable risk.  If, for example, an inmate demonstrates a high need for emotional support in comparison to the needs of the sample, he or she would be recommended for therapy.

While the problem of inmates getting the same risk score for different reasons has been solved by Modeling Solutions' RMS, concerns regarding their methodology are notwithstanding.  Perhaps most glaring is the fact that the sample is of only 1,000 offenders, handpicked from a much larger group of over 40,000.  As the U.S. Department of Justice estimates that the total correctional population hovers just below 7 million, a sample of 1,000 inmates appears paltry.

This is, however, the nature of statistics: the assumption that a large enough sample of the population is representative of the whole.  In light of this, Modeling Solutions is currently working to update the sample to include the risk traits of 3,000 offenders.  They also maintain that their RMS tests well across jurisdictions and even in early tests within the juvenile justice system.

Does this indicate that the criminal mind is one in the same, regardless of age or culture?  Or maybe that we are all somehow connected through basic human behavior?  Because of questions like this, Modeling Solutions offers the disclaimer that agents should not look to the 5th generation RMS as a holy grail of sorts, but rather as a valuable asset for complex offender management. 

Syscon Justice Systems, at least, is convinced, and will be offering Modeling Solutions' RMS to its broad range of clients across the corrections spectrum in North America, Europe and Australia.