Philadelphia will be the first region in Pennsylvania to implement an automated inmate release telephone notification. The service, which just covers local jails, will be available to anyone, not just crime victims, when it goes into operation in June 2007. The Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification (SAVIN) alert program will add the other counties over the next 18 months, and may later add state inmates.
The Houston Independent School District is the most recent Texas school district to post its payments to vendors online. Expenses can be identified by vendor but not by type of expenditure. Other districts have some payment information online as well.
A law under consideration in the Nevada legislature would prevent sealing of court cases involving high-profile litigants, which the judges had been doing, according to a survey by the Nevada Appeal.
Re: Philadelphia inmate release telephone notification:
This is a much needed and fantastic service! It needs to be implemented nationwide and also should include federal prisoners.
In fact, I have long believed that arresting officers in every case should be notified of prisoner release. As a former member of the NYPD working in a joint federal task force, I know of several high level federal prisoners who have sworn revenge on the police/agents who put them behind bars. It would be nice to know when they are out of jail. A simple centralized law enforcement registry would allow updates to officers/agents contact information, as we all change addresses and phone numbers over the years.
Just a thought.