Boosting Mental Health Awareness with MERP’s Inmate Needs Assessment System

- Authored by Rajitha Nair, Business Development Manager, MERP Systems

Inmate mental health awareness and management are critical to maintaining a well-functioning justice system. Addressing mental and physical health needs during and after incarceration not only ensures inmate well-being but also reduces recidivism rates. MERP Systems, Inc. has developed the InMate Needs Assessment System, powered by Dynamics 365 and Power Apps, to streamline these efforts.

Success Factors

One of the biggest challenges in correctional facilities is efficiently identifying the unique mental and physical health needs of inmates. The InMate Needs Assessment System overcomes this hurdle by enabling comprehensive screening, documentation, and reporting processes. It allows administrators to efficiently score and analyze screening results, ensuring inmates receive tailored interventions. With custom workflows and real-time dashboards, facility staff can track inmate needs throughout the system, manage cases effectively, and refer inmates to appropriate services within the system.

Value-Added Features

What sets MERP’s solution apart from others is its seamless integration with existing jail systems. The InMate Needs Assessment System ensures smooth data management and eliminates time-consuming manual data entry. Additionally, MERP’s platform allows for secure, real-time data tracking, helping correctional officers monitor inmates both during incarceration and after their release.

Key features include:

• End-to-end case management with progress tracking, helping facilitate case closure.
• Facilitator tools for program management and monitoring.
• Real-time dashboards to give administrators an immediate overview of individual and group assessments.

Challenges Addressed

Many current systems suffer from inefficient risk and needs assessments. These systems lack personalized intervention strategies and rely heavily on manual, time-consuming data management processes. With MERP’s InMate Needs Assessment System, these challenges are minimized:

• Personalized intervention strategies are developed based on systematic screening and scoring, making sure each inmate receives the care they need.
• It addresses the challenge of limited post-release monitoring, enabling continued support and reducing recidivism.
• The system provides real-time insights and a standardized workflow for handling complex cases, which is often lacking in traditional systems.

Moreover, the limitations of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products are well-known. Pure COTS solutions typically incur higher licensing costs and offer limited flexibility. Customers often pay for features they don’t need and lack the customization necessary for their specific use cases. MERP’s approach blends the best of both worlds by adapting core product features to meet customer needs without the hefty costs of custom-developed software. This ensures a faster deployment and minimal risk.

The InMate Needs Assessment System and similar solutions by MERP Systems can be utilized by a variety of organizations beyond correctional facilities. These include:

1. Mental Health and Rehabilitation Centers – To assess, track, and manage the needs of individuals in treatment, ensuring personalized care plans.
2. Juvenile Detention Centers – For monitoring the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of minors, providing tailored intervention strategies.
3. Social Services Agencies – To manage case assessments and offer appropriate services for individuals at risk or in need of mental health support.
4. Probation and Parole Offices – For monitoring individuals post-release, ensuring successful reintegration with real-time tracking and support.
5. Substance Abuse Recovery Programs – To assess and track the progress of participants, offering personalized recovery plans and seamless case management.
6. Veterans Affairs Programs – For addressing the mental health needs of veterans, ensuring they receive the right services and follow-up care.
7. Nonprofit Organizations – Focused on rehabilitation, mental health awareness, and post-incarceration support, providing individualized care and resource allocation.

These institutions can benefit from streamlined case management, real-time data access, and personalized intervention strategies, enhancing overall outcomes and service delivery.

How MERP Stands Out: COTS vs. Custom vs. Accelerator

Unlike pure COTS solutions that require organizations to change their business processes, MERP adapts its core product to match customer needs. This ensures that features and functions align with the unique requirements of the correctional facility. With its flexible and scalable platform, MERP provides a solution that can rapidly evolve, ensuring long-term value.

Call Today to Learn More

Ready to enhance mental health awareness and inmate care in your facility? MERP Systems is here to help. Learn how the InMate Needs Assessment System can streamline processes, improve outcomes, and make a difference in inmate rehabilitation and post-release care.

Call (703) 501-3443 Visit MERP Systems Email us at [email protected]

MERP Systems, Inc. employs the Microsoft Power Platform, which not only boasts a wide array of features and capabilities but also provides a scalable and seamlessly extensible foundation. Power BI empowers business users to craft visually compelling, drill-down dashboards, while Power Apps facilitates the creation of feature-rich model-driven applications with highly intuitive low-code apps and custom pages that seamlessly blend the functionalities of both approaches, offering a hybrid solution. Advancements in AI/ML integration can be seamlessly achieved through the Power Automate framework, presenting a compelling alternative to Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Additionally, deploying virtual agents and chatbots is made straightforward using Power Virtual Agents. The potential for the Dataverse platform to interact with ChatGPT opens up uncharted possibilities in the marketplace. Whether it involves modernizing legacy applications, upgrading retiring ones, or completely revamping large-scale systems, the Low Code SWAT approach provides a pragmatic and successful path.