Centralized offender management system for multiple jurisdictions

Abstract

An offender management system (OMS) is a system designed to help process information related to inmates of a correctional facility. Information about an inmate's behavioral history, history in the legal system, and the inmate's financial account are all tracked in an OMS. OMS have been housed on the correctional facility premises, and are proprietary based on the needs of the correctional facility. The current disclosure is directed to an OMS that is housed remotely in data centers and has comprehensive functionality and customizability based on simple guided user interfaces (GUIs). This allows correctional facility administrators to easily customize the OMS to suit the needs of their facilities while removing the overhead required to maintain such systems. The customizability also allows the OMS to serve multiple jurisdictions at once. The centralized OMS contains many novel abilities such as workflow creation, real-time status monitoring of prison processes and accounting processing functions.

1 . A method for operating an offender management system (OMS) within a correctional facility environment, comprising:
 receiving, from a client device, a first administrative interaction with a menu administration module, the first administrative interaction including a selection of software modules from among a plurality of software modules and graphical user interface (GUI) configuration data; and   receiving, from the client device, a second administrative interaction with a security administration module, the second administrative interaction including a user login and permission data associated with the user login, the user login including a username and a password, and the permission data including a list of fields from among a plurality of fields and a list of modules from among the selection of software modules,   wherein the GUI configuration data, the selection of software modules, the user login, and the permission data are stored in a user profile database.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the permission data further includes a set of allowed interactions for a field from among the list of fields, the set of allowed interactions including at least one of reading a content of the field, editing the content of the field, or removing the content of the field. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the client device, a username attempt and a password attempt;   confirming that the username attempt matches the username of the user login and the password attempt matches the password of the user login;   querying the user profile database for the GUI configuration data and the permission data;   receiving, from the user profile database, the GUI configuration data and the permission data; and   creating a session in the OMS associated with the user login indicating ongoing communication between the OMS and the client device, the session including a first GUI screen associated with a first module from among the selection of software modules,   wherein the first GUI screen is based at least on the GUI configuration data and the permission data.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 querying an inmate database for inmate data; and   receiving, from the inmate database, the inmate data,   wherein the first GUI screen associated with the first module is further based on the inmate data.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the GUI configuration data contains a list of panes and a side menu list, both associated with the first module, and wherein each entry within the side menu list has a corresponding module from among the selection of software modules. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein creating the session includes generating a virtual machine (VM) instance hosted on the OMS, the virtual machine instance including an operating screen that encompasses the first GUI screen and is visible by the client device. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the client device, an interaction with the operating screen, wherein the VM instance translates the interaction into a second interaction with the first GUI screen.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the client device, an ending interaction indicating that the session is to be terminated;   generating a state file that stores restoration instructions for initiating a second VM instance including the operating screen;   storing the state file on the user profile database; and   terminating the session.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 receiving, from a second client device, a second username attempt and a second password attempt;   confirming that the second username attempt matches the username of the user login and the second password attempt matches the password of the user login;   retrieving the state file from the user profile database;   creating a second session in the OMS associated with the user login indicating ongoing communication between the OMS and the second client device; and   executing the restoration instructions of the state file,   wherein the executing includes generating a second VM instance that includes the operating screen that encompasses the first GUI screen, and wherein the operating screen is visible to the second client device.   
     
     
         10 . An offender management system, comprising:
 a transmitter configured to transmit data;   a receiver configured to receive data;   a memory that stores user profiles, a plurality of software modules, and graphical user interface (GUI) configuration data; and   one or more processors configured to:
 receive, from a client device via the receiver, a first administrative interaction, the first administrative interaction including a selection of software modules from among the plurality of software modules and graphical user interface (GUI) configuration data; and 
 receiving, from the client device via the receiver, a second administrative interaction, the second administrative interaction including a user login and permission data associated with the user login, the user login including a username and a password, and the permission data including a list of fields from among a plurality of fields and a list of modules from among the selection of software modules. 
   
     
     
         11 . The offender management system of  claim 10 , wherein the permission data further includes a set of allowed interactions for a field from among the list of fields, the set of allowed interactions including at least one of reading a content of the field, editing the content of the field, or removing the content of the field. 
     
     
         12 . The offender management system of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 receive, from the client device via the receiver, a username and a password;   confirm that the received username matches the username of the user login and the received password matches the password of the user login;   querying the memory for the GUI configuration data and the permission data;   receiving, from the memory, the GUI configuration data and the permission data; and   creating a session associated with the user login indicating ongoing communication between the offender management system and the client device, the session including a first GUI screen associated with a first module from among the selection of software modules,   wherein the first GUI screen is based at least on the GUI configuration data and the permission data.   
     
     
         13 . The offender management system of  claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 query an inmate data for inmate data; and   receive, from the inmate database, the inmate data,   wherein the first GUI screen associated with the first module is further based on the inmate data.   
     
     
         14 . The offender management system of  claim 12 , wherein the GUI configuration data contains a list of panes and a side menu list, both associated with the first module, and
 wherein each entry within the side menu list has a corresponding module from among the selection of software modules.   
     
     
         15 . The offender management system of  claim 12 , wherein the creating of the session includes generating a virtual machine (VM) instance, the virtual machine instance including an operating screen that encompasses the first GUI screen and is visible by the client device. 
     
     
         16 . The offender management system of  claim 15 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 receive, from the client device, an interaction with the operating screen, wherein the VM instance translates the interaction into a second interaction with the first GUI screen.   
     
     
         17 . The offender management system of  claim 16 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 receive, from the client device via the receiver, an ending interaction indicating that the session is to be terminated;   generate a state file that stores restoration instructions for initiating a second a second VM instance including the operating screen;   store the state file in the memory; and   terminate the session.   
     
     
         18 . The offender management system of  claim 17 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 receive, from a second client device, a second username and a second password;   confirm that the received second username matches the username of the user login and the received second password matches the password of the user login;   retrieve the state file from the memory;   create a second session associated with the user login indicating ongoing communication between the offender management system and the second client device; and   execute the restoration instructions of the state file,   wherein the executing the restoration instructions includes generating a second VM instance that includes the operating screen that encompasses the first GUI screen, and wherein the operating screen is visible to the second client device.   
     
     
         19 . The offender management system of  claim 10 , wherein the memory is a user profile database. 
     
     
         20 . The offender management system of  claim 10 , wherein the first administrative interaction is received via a menu administration program running on the offender management system, and
 wherein the second administrative interaction is received via a security administration module running on the offender management system.