When Rick Benningfield was planning to open a new jail, he knew exactly what software program to use. David Ogles, the President and CEO of JailTracker, met with Benningfield and showed him the system, at which point the jailer learned that JailTracker offered more to him and was easier to work with than most systems.

Benningfield is the jailer at Taylor County Detention Center in Kentucky, a 204-bed facility that opened November 17, 2008. The JailTracker staff came to the site and trained Benningfield’s staff on how to use the program. He found they were very helpful whenever he called as well. “Any time I needed them they came to the detention center and helped us out whenever we had a problem” Benningfield added. He appreciates JailTracker’s ongoing support and involvement, whether it is one-on-one assistance or group training sessions.

At a recent session, the jailer was eager to have more of his staff members attend once he realized how helpful the training would be in teaching the new updates. “I want to make sure that everybody does everything just right.” Benningfield continues, “I don’t think that they’re going to have any problems with it because it seems to be simple. And that’s what JailTracker is; it’s simple to work with where you can just jump in and learn really fast.”

Since the beginning, JailTracker has made everyday functions simpler for the staff. “I’m on JailTracker every day,” says Benningfield. “I check it at home, which is a big plus.” JailTracker simplifies general reporting and sales, and has incident reports and forms available to print out. The scanning system for sales ensures staff of the date and time something was processed, and also eliminates the need to sort through paperwork when referencing the sale later.

JailTracker is invaluable to both the jail staff and the community. Benningfield continuously receives phone calls from the public requesting information on inmates at the facility. “I can just pop into JailTracker and it helps me to be able to answer their questions.” The program even enables him to search according to religion, if he wanted to know how many Methodists or Baptists were currently in the facility.

The advanced search possibilities JailTracker offers saves time and provides convenience. When faced with a lawsuit, Benningfield is able to pull up the specific incident in JailTracker and see which deputy wrote the incident report. He is then able to call the deputy and ask the questions he needs. “It is so helpful to be able to punch into the system and find what you need all the time,” praises Benningfield.

For the past year and a half, Taylor County has been running smoothly under the JailTracker program. The facility has had many jails visit to check out the system and ask questions. “I always give them an A+,” states Benningfield. “Come on in and check JailTracker out, because you’re going to love it.”

Kim Roberts is the Captain in charge of the Administrative Division at the Kenton County Detention Center. The facility is currently undergoing an expansion from 480 beds to 650 beds, but will still remain the third largest jail in Kentucky. A jail of this size needs to keep a large amount of information at its fingertips to track inmates and finances. For the past year and a half, they have discovered JailTracker to be the most efficient program for their needs.

Kenton County chose to switch to JailTracker after seeing the innovative technology it implemented that its competitors were not approaching, such as fingerprint identification. While their old program did not update their software or customize to each jail’s needs, JailTracker strives to meet every need, even before it is requested. Whether it is in the initial transition period, or just in day-to-day tasks, if something is missing it will be added to the program immediately. “Anything you ask for, if it’s programmable, they’ll do it for you,” adds Roberts. JailTracker accept input from everyone; if one jail needs something but another jail doesn’t, they will still do it, no questions asked.

JailTracker makes everyday processes simpler for the administrative department. Roberts is able to scan in regular documents and reports, which the whole staff is able to access, eliminating the mounds of paperwork previously necessary. All the information is contained in JailTracker, and employees know where to look for it. They no longer need to make phone calls or track someone down, because the information is available any time and is very user friendly, even for the computer illiterate.

In addition to being flexible in the programming, JailTracker’s technical support is extremely accessible and eager to help. During the training process they will stay as long as the staff needs them, and afterwards are reachable twenty-four hours a day by cell phone. With competitors, it often takes quite a while to get support, but with JailTracker the answer is available within a day or even a few minutes. Roberts says, “I have a really good working relationship with Dalton, one of the programmers. If I need a report, most of the time it’s on the fly. You know, ‘Give me ten minutes and I’ll have it to you,’ and most of the time he does. He’s always right there for anything I need.”

Roberts has found Dalton’s services to be invaluable on more than one occasion. During the recent expansion process, Kenton County Detention Center hired a consultant who was very demanding, requiring reports with information that was next to impossible to compile manually. It could have been a very tedious project for Roberts, but she was able to call Dalton and have him collect the necessary information. He never told her no and even followed up to make sure she got everything she needed. Roberts concludes, “I know they’re picking up more and more jails, but I still feel like I’m the only one. I don’t feel like I’m bugging them when I call. I love this company. I really do.”