Florida corrections department completes money-transfer system upgrade
The Florida Department of Corrections announced on Tuesday that it successfully implemented a new money transfer management system from the government technology software vendor Tyler Technologies.
The transition to Tyler Technologies’ money transfer management is the first step for the Florida Department of Corrections’ to modernize many of its paper-based processes, according to a press release. The new technology is expected to expand disbursement services upon release from a correctional facility, improve court-ordered payments and minimize fees paid by friends and families who send funds to incarcerated people.
“Florida is an innovator in elevating its payments program and introducing critical new solutions in its facilities,” Elizabeth Proudift, president of Tyler Technologies’ digital solutions division, said in the release. “These solutions not only support incarcerated individuals while in prison, but more importantly, they help give them an advantage as they transition to life after release.”
Creating a cloud environment for the deposit system was the first phase of the Florida Department of Corrections’ modernization project. Once approved, depositors can send funds to inmates either online, through a mobile app or to a secure lockbox. The funds are stored on the incarcerated person’s commissary account. Released inmates can access remaining funds through prepaid debit cards.
In addition to payment processing, Tyler Technologies said it is also providing the Florida Department of Corrections with reentry software that connects inmates with local support groups to find jobs, locate housing and build community prior to release.
The Florida Department of Corrections is the third-largest state-run prison system in the country with more than 80,000 prisoners across 128 facilities. Tyler Technologies is the payment service provider for the State of Florida, including more than 20 state agencies, the state’s judicial branch and several local governments, according to the release.
In 2021, Tyler Technologies purchased the jail technology vendor VendEngine for $84 million. At the time of the sale, VendEngine’s suite of products included communications platforms and financial-management applications used by inmates of jails and prisons in more than 230 counties across 32 states. With that acquisition, Tyler Technologies has a suite of software products that the company says streamlines “the entire inmate trust management life cycle.”
Last May, Dallas County in Texas installed a new criminal case software system from Tyler Technologies for $11.3 million. Within a year, that software was criticized by inmates, attorneys and government officials after inmates reported getting “lost” in the system, the Dallas Morning News reported. Lawyers told the paper in April that the new filing system is unreliable and they often can’t figure out what crimes their clients have been charged with. As a result, they claimed, many inmates have been stuck in jail past their release dates and others have been released without going to court.
A report on Dallas County’s Tyler Technologies implementation from a consulting firm last December found that “lack of a clear governance structure has resulted in decisions being made or influenced without full understanding of the impact of those decisions, leading to increased costs and, in some cases, delayed or failed projects.”
A class action lawsuit filed last year in two North Carolina counties against their respective sheriffs offices alleged that people were spending more time in jail than they should, WRAL News reported. And in 2021, Kansas’ judicial branch withheld $1.2 million in payments to Tyler Technologies after “lingering information technology problems” with its eCourt case management system, which was implemented in all 105 North Carolina counties, the Kansas Reflector reported.
