System Tells Victims Of Attacker’s Release

When T.C. Clark’s boyfriend was released from jail after trying to stab her two years ago, she received no warning.

But with a new, automated victim-notification system up and running in Lexington, women like Clark now will get a call within 10 minutes of the release or transfer of their offenders.

The statewide implementation of this revolutionary system, to be completed in July, means Kentucky will be the first state in the nation to have fully automated intrastate crime-victim notification.

The automated system works in two ways to put the public a phone call away from information on inmates in the state’s 17 state prisons and 83 county jails.

First, by dialing a toll-free number, a person is asked for the prisoner number or name of a prisoner. A computer then relays where the prisoner is incarcerated, the phone number and address of that jail or prison, the date of the next parole hearing and when the sentence expires.

As a second benefit, anyone may confidentially register him or herself into the system by telephone at no cost. Within 10 minutes of an inmate’s transfer or release, registered persons are automatically notified by phone.