Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles Adopts Case Management System

ATLANTA -- The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles wanted to provide better access control, maintain data integrity, and improve the confidentiality of data in its nationally recognized Results-Driven Supervision (RDS) program. RDS, a computerized parolee case management system that keeps tabs on 22,000 parolees in Georgia, is updated and accessed daily by more than 800 parole board employees, staff at 58 district parole offices, parole board members and law enforcement agencies nationwide.

The Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles makes parole decisions determining which offenders should be released from prison prior to the end of their sentence. The board supervises parolees in the community, returning to prison those who fail to abide by parole conditions.

The board has chosen Securiant's SpiderISA integrated security appliance to secure, monitor and manage the state agency's internal and external communication networks.

RDS owes its success to analyzing the behavior of parolees who avoid returning to prison by completing specific intervention programs and to increasing the effectiveness of such programs, which focus on good job skills, substance abuse recovery, improved cognitive skills, and adequate education. The programs are supported by interagency collaboration and an extensive network of qualified volunteers from faith-based initiatives and religious communities.

"As a law enforcement agency, our mission is to provide public safety through the close supervision of offenders released from prison and to reintegrate them into society as productive citizens," said Nino Samuel, WAN engineer and Micro Systems manager for the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles. "Secure access control, integrity and confidentiality of data on our RDS system is critical as we need to track even the most obscure data more accurately, daily and quickly, both on laptops and online," he added.

"Securiant's fully integrated SpiderISA product more than met our needs and the benefits were immediate," said Alex Brown, network administrator at the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles. "The appliance is designed specifically to let network administrators keep control over their own information security infrastructure. We were able to replace two vendors with an integrated appliance that offered IDS, vulnerability management, firewall capabilities and network state monitoring functionality at 70 percent less cost. Plus, it was the fastest, least painful product installation -- under 30 minutes versus two months -- we've experienced to date," he continued.