Software Solutions for the criminal justice sector

Our decades of experience have enabled Unilink to iteratively improve designs, enrich the user experience and innovate through new technologies. Our solutions are designed to enhance probation practice by integrating different business areas into a core suite of offender management services. Users benefit from intuitive user-friendly dashboards and components that reduce complexity, simplify daily tasks, and push workflow between probation teams and operational partners. 

Our software provides probation staff working in Court and management roles with better views of information, promptly and efficiently, which improves the accuracy, efficiency and reliability of information provided to the Court. The interoperability of our design enriches the various search functions, providing compliance & enforcement summaries, traffic light risk level badging, tool tips and searchable contact lists and ‘slide on screen’ document drawers, which together help Court staff and Senior Managers find the information they need, when they need it. 

Unilink is at the forefront of designing systems that embed fully- integrated risk assessment and sentence planning tools into case management. These systems can be in-house or third party. This innovation has had a transformative impact on probation practice by streamlining processes, eliminating repetition, reducing the burden on staff, and introducing common sense workflows to practice. The risk and need information are then embedded across the solution so staff across the whole organisation can be aware of any issues and work flexibly, safely and proactively with offenders. 

Our solutions support the scheduling, directory and delivery of interventions, from accredited programme groupwork sessions to more complex deliverables like community service. Unilink offers standalone solutions for interventions as well as options to integrate with services across a whole case management system. Our designs simplify complex business operations and logistics whilst offering the flexibility to manage the needs of different providers and service user profiles. Our software simplifies the administration burden by providing staff with simplified operational dashboards and screens that remove the difficulty of managing projects, placements and providers.  

Unilink is at the forefront of designing applications and leveraging the IoT to supervise offenders, increase efficiency, and reduce recidivism. Integrating mobile applications with our case management systems has led to transformative changes in practice with enhanced home visiting through the use of the google maps platform, better service user engagement through SMS & email messaging, vast organisational efficiencies through bulk upload, mass mailout options and simplified, user-led design of file and document management services. The ethical use of analytics, business intelligence & AI feature across our product range and there are additional integration opportunities for the optimisation and visualisation of data from remote monitoring, staff to FM services. 

U-Case guides correctional professionals from their first offender contact pre-sentence through to the completion of the sentence and successful re-entry into the community. From initial assessment of needs and risks, to setting goals and objectives tailored to those needs (classification), the development of detention plans, to the management of community interventions and supervision, and follow-up on the execution of those plans with continuous evaluation and adjustments.

U-Case provides real time access to critical management information and powerful operational support for efficient day-to-day management of offenders focussed on helping both correctional officers and offenders. U-Case automates and streamlines custodial processes to reduce administrative work and free prison staff’s time to spend working directly with offenders.

The transport module facilitates the planning and management of offender transportation from booking, creating vehicle routes, real time monitoring and reporting. The UI can be tailored to the specific needs of those involved – the agency administration and planning staff, control room staff and officers in the vehicle. 

U-Case enables management of schedules, curfews, monitoring & interventions. It can accommodate device and system agnostic location tracking and can integrate with any hardware and EM system provider. 

U-Case provides a dedicated analytics environment. The increased data being generated from digital solutions compared to a paper-based system provides greater tactical insights and strategic management information, which can support your decision-making processes. This module provides statistical reports and management information, trends analysis, correctional intelligence, and performance management. 

CMS uses biometrics for the enrolment, discharge, and positive identification of all individuals on the system. This significantly increases security, as well as preventing the misallocation of resources and property as a result of human error. With the Biometric Movements module, you can manage offender movements within an establishment, setting up automatic transit routes and timescales.

Our secure visits system uses biometrics to ensure accurate identification of social, official, and legal visitors before, during, and after their visit. This increases the security of the establishment whilst also reducing waiting times and increasing efficiency overall.

This device agnostic solution allows staff to access real time information about offenders and manage them from anywhere on site. When used with a device that has an integrated fingerprint reader, the added biometric functionality further helps to increase the security of the establishment and the safety of both staff and offenders.

CMS has individual modules for canteen shopping and submission of applications. The shop module is configurable, supports cash and cashless payments, and allows for a variety of shopping methods. It allows prison staff to have better oversight and finer control of retail inventory and distribution. The Applications module saves staff time by providing offenders with predefined applications, which can be automatically approved, scheduled and displayed in the offenders’ timetable. 

The CMS Scheduling module provides the functionality to manage offenders’ daily schedules, from employment, education to medical appointments. Schedules are fully configurable and can be templated to include default locations, requirements and more. Offenders can receive automatic reminders, and staff can easily add offenders to groups, and entire groups to scheduled activities. 

Unilink’s self-service system transforms prisons by automating and streamlining routine administrative tasks with offenders via self-service kiosks and in-cell devices. It reduces the administrative burden on prison staff whilst giving offenders the responsibility of controlling their own affairs, increasing accountability which is proven to have a rehabilitative impact.

Prison staff can manage, process and respond to any offender request quickly and easily using CMS, the “backbone” of self-service. Reducing the administrative burden frees up prison staff time, meaning more time can be spent with offenders, which reduces frustration, and increases the mental well-being of both inmates and staff.

Secure browsing of trusted or white-listed websites gives offenders digital skills and learning opportunities to help prepare them for a role in society.

Delivering offender education enables offenders to get familiar with the digital normal they will experience when they return into society. Prisoner Self-Service can integrate with existing or new learning management systems according to specific needs.

Prisoner Self-service enables access to eBook libraries, games and supports full streaming of multimedia content such as music, TV and movie-channels from external providers or internet-based resources. Available content, allowed access time and other applicable restrictions can be configured according to particular security regulations. Parameters can be applied to a specific individual or group, and all activity is logged and can be monitored.

The self-service solution is device agnostic – it can be accessed with in-cell devices such as tablets or laptops, or on biometrically enabled, wing-based kiosks, specifically designed to withstand heavy attack. 

Provides a fast, secure, and affordable alternative to posting letters. Friends, family, and professionals can use the two-way e-message to communicate with detained individuals. This helps to maintain relationships and prevent family breakdowns. E-message also eliminates potential for drug smuggling through drug impregnated paper and saves staff time in checking and auditing the post. All e-content is scanned electronically for banned words and phrases to detect suspicious activity.

Friends and family can send money quickly and easily to offenders with the secure, affordable online payment service. Offering full traceability of senders, it reduces cash, cheques and postal order handling and processing onsite. Prisons receive payments directly to their bank account reducing the opportunity for fraud and error.

Virtual/Video Visits allows offenders to connect with their family via a video call where physical visits are not possible. This service is used in Scottish prisons where a significant barrier to physical visits is the distance of the prison from their homes, the lack of transport and the costs involved in getting to the prison. The service has been particularly valued during the COVID pandemic, where all Scottish prisons adopted virtual visits.

Unilink’s VOIP telephony solution, designed specifically for custodial institutions, enables offenders to make affordable calls to their permitted recipients. The call administration portal enables complete account management and monitoring of calls with built in analytics and security monitoring features for intelligence and compliance purposes.

Unilink makes access control easy! Our systems provide secure access control within custodial establishments either natively, or by interfacing to 3rd party providers. We control entrance barriers, turnstiles, electronic doors and more. Access is controlled based on user type, location, and time of day. Access control can also be tied to security vending so that, as an example, staff are not able to leave the establishment while having security keys, radios, or alarms on their person.  

Our key and radio vending partnership with Traka was built on our experience of improving operational efficiency through digitising and automating processes. Staff can simply assign user groups access within Unilink’s CMS and the interface takes care of the rest. 

Unilink and our partner Traka have created an innovative solution for the onerous task of distributing “In possession” medication to offenders. Unilink enables staff to securely allocate and load medication into the Traka secure locker system. Offenders use fingerprint biometrics to access their medication in a secure, safe and decent manner. The system has proved extremely popular with medical and prison staff, and offenders. 

Unilink has provided effective and efficient interfaces to our Clients and 3rd party systems for many years. Experience counts in interface design and delivery and Unilink has plenty! We provide API and bespoke interfaces to National, State and local providers. Our latest products include an API layer which delivers flexibility and enables our clients to “plug and play” their 3rd party solutions.

Our experts work with clients to analyse, define and document the specific business needs, then build these into the environment in the form of automated extractions of a set of reports that can be published in the clients’ preferred format.

The insights environment can also be used, where there is sufficient data and experienced analysts available, to support more advanced analytics such as trend analysis and forecasting. 

Unilink can also set up the insights environment for analysis and reporting on behaviour and risks of individuals to support early responses and preventative measures. Based on a pre-defined criteria (provided by the client) early warnings and specific notifications can be generated to alarm prison staff (e.g. for potential suicide risk).

To enable insight in how the organisation is doing and optimise business processes, the performance management environment can be set up and used to measure the efficiency of specific processes and monitor specific performance indicators.