JailTracker Database Project

[vvthompkins]

What problem are we trying to solve?

An accurate understanding of jail populations and recidivism rates is key to understanding mass incarceration in the US, and developing evidence-based policies that promote criminal justice reforms. Counties typically lack research departments that can aggregate and report on jail data, however many counties do publish up to date custody records online through various tools such as JailTracker. This project aims to scrape and aggregate historical and current jail records available through JailTracker county websites, creating a database that can be used for future analysis.

Who will benefit (directly and indirectly) from this project?

Directly, criminal justice researchers and academics will benefit from having a direct and current source of data that can be used to better understand what is happening in jails across the country, from calculating recidivism rates to the percent of people incarcerated for inability to pay fees or fines. Activists and advocacy groups will benefit from the progress that is made as the result of analyzing this data, and will be better able to identify and support policies that address the true nature of the problem of mass incarceration. Criminal justice system-involved individuals will also benefit over time, as reform efforts continue.

Where can we find any research/data available/articles?

The JailTracker website hosts a list of counties that use their tool. Here is a direct link to the JailTracker for Adair County, Kentucky.

The most recent report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics jail survey, which provides some additional context.

ProPublica undertook a similar type of project in Cook County, Illinois last year.

What help is needed at this time?

I have experience with HTML web scrapers, however JailTracker uses JavaScript and I would be grateful for assistance or advice as I expand my skills set. Any and all help is welcome!

What are the next steps (validation, research, coding, design)?

Depending on who is able to help out, there's a bit more research to be done, but I think it's almost at the coding stage.

How can we contact you outside of Github (list social media or places you're present)?

Twitter: @vienna_valencia
Slack: vienna

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Project management

Checklist for NEW ideas 👶

Hey, you're official! You're now part of the growing Progressive HackNight community. Here's a few things to get started (a couple you've probably already done).

• Create this idea issue
• Flesh out the who, where, and what questions above
• Start the conversation about this new idea on Slack (this project uses #jailtracker )
• Respond with at least one update on this issue within the next month

Checklist for ACTIVE projects 🔥

Let's get this project started! When this idea starts taking off, the Progressive HackNight Team will start helping this project's lead(s) out with project management and connecting you to resources you may need. To get there, please complete and check off the following:

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[onlyunusedname]

Hello. I'm not really a GitHub user (as you could see from my profile. :) I’m afraid I’m just a selflishly clone-to-desktop lurker ) I recently joined Progressive Hack Night group but I haven't actually attended anything yet. Not sure how to get word to you. If this is messy and/or a lapse in GitHub protocol, please feel quite free to delete it.

I don’t know what stack you are using for this project, but I’m pretty sure I could either: a) build a way to scrape JailTracker sites; or b) point you in the direction of doing it yourself. The optimal solution may vary based on your stack, but in a nutshell, you want to find a scriptable headless browser. Look perhaps at PhantomJS and CasperJS. Also, Google maintains Headless Chromium and there is a supercool GitHub repo here: https://github.com/graphcool/chromeless which can (amongst other things) run Headless Chrome on AWS Lamba, which is a pretty great platform-agnostic solution.

Anyway, good luck with this project. It sounds like a potentially very useful resource for good things!

[vvthompkins]

Thanks @onlyunusedname!

Will you be at the next HackNight on Tuesday? I plan on attending and getting to work on this - I'm also on the Slack (vienna) so feel free to shoot me a message if you're in there too.

@schuyler1d was kind enough to put together this gist to get me started and also raised a concern regarding potential session quotas, suggesting that it might be worth reaching out to JailTracker for permission given the purpose is research. I'm hoping to decide on a plan of action and get everything set up next week, and I'd be more than happy to have your help!

[clayms]

jailtracker base url
https://jailtracker.com/jtclientweb/(S(mulnvzadhnvdszy32kyare55))/jailtracker/index/
e.g. for Midland County MI
https://jailtracker.com/jtclientweb/(S(mulnvzadhnvdszy32kyare55))/jailtracker/index/Midland_County_MI

[moajzashahab]

Goggle Sheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R0TdnXLoUWr7dWNVWQGGC43Mk1C0CEk4enYdtkfKesw/edit?usp=sharing

[ibrand]

This project had some great progress made, and @viennav told us a little while ago that she couldn't support it at that time. This would be a great project to pick up if there is a Python lead looking to own it.

[vvthompkins]

This project had some great progress made, and @viennav told us a little while ago that she couldn't support it at that time. This would be a great project to pick up if there is a Python lead looking to own it.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm still working on this on the side even though I've moved out of state - the nonprofit where I work now is considering picking this project up, which I'm open to as long as the de-identified data is made publicly available.

[ibrand]

Sounds good. If a python lead comes along who's interested we can connect you all, but otherwise good luck and let us know if we can support you!

[vvthompkins]

Thanks @ibrand!

[eenblam]

Hi! Not sure if anyone in this thread is still working on related issues, but I just pushed out JTT, a simple JailTracker tracker. I had previously written it for bfeldman89/jail_scrapers, but we decided to break the project out so that folks outside of Mississippi could leverage the JailTracker component.

It's still a very simple bit of code, but it works! Right now it's only good for dumping JSON, but I'll be adding some additional utilities for different storage options (AirTable and SQLite) shortly. Contributions welcome! :)