BI Incorporated Selected by Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for Renewal
Puerto Rican officials prescribe strict supervision, rehabilitation
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico renewed its contract with BI Incorporated, the United State’s largest provider of technology, treatment and prisoner reentry services for community-based corrections, to provide electronic monitoring equipment and services for community-based offender supervision. The three-year contract for electronic monitoring equipment and related services will help with local efforts to supervise approximately 1,400 community-based adult and juvenile offenders.
“Officials in Puerto Rico place a high value on strict community supervision to maintain public safety, and they have been proponents of using sophisticated technology to help them achieve their goals for a long time. We are pleased to partner with the department again to help achieve these results,” said Bruce Thacher, BI President and CEO.
BI has a 15-year working relationship with the Puerto Rico Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The products, services and support BI provides the department help to preserve prison bed space for serious criminals, support supervision efforts in the local community and provide a verifiable record of a person’s compliance to schedules and conditions of release for officials. Both pretrial defendants awaiting trial and inmates released to the community are referred to this electronic supervision program.
Under the agreement, BI will supply the following technology:
- BI HomeGuard® 200: This radio-frequency electronic monitoring system includes a tamper-resistant ankle bracelet installed on the offender, a receiver placed in the person’s home and a host monitoring computer. HomeGuard, the most widely used electronic monitoring technology in community corrections, ensures offenders adhere to court-ordered schedules and curfews.
The department will monitor individuals involved in the program in two ways. First, some supervising officers will employ the BI GuardCenter®, the company’s 24/7 monitoring center, which will provide Spanish-speaking monitoring specialists for this specific contract. In addition, some offices will use BI TotalAccess®, a single, consolidated user interface for BI products. With TotalAccess, users simply login in at www.bi.com to access all program and offender information, including managing schedules, curfews and alerts.
About BI Incorporated (www.bi.com)
Established in 1978, BI Incorporated is the leading technology, treatment and supervision company in community corrections today. BI contracts with approximately 900 governmental agencies nationwide, supporting them with a full continuum of intensive supervision technologies and community-based cognitive behavioral reentry programs for adult and juvenile offenders. BI’s ISO 9001:2008 certified national monitoring center, owned and operated by BI, provides 24/7 expert support supervision services exclusively for governmental agencies. BI works closely with local public corrections officials to cost effectively reduce recidivism, promote public safety, and strengthen the communities it serves using evidence-based practices in a community setting.
