Sacramento, CA…Yesterday, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR) Office of Victim and Survivor Rights and Services (OVSRS) announced they will begin using the new Automated Email Notification Services to better serve and communicate with crime victims starting in December 2016. The new Automated Email Notification Services will allow for a 90-day in advance email notification of release to crime victims whose offender is in CDCR custody. The system will also be able to immediately email victims and notify them of an escape or death of an offender. With the addition of this new service, CDCR will discontinue sending notifications through the Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE) service effective December 31, 2016.

In an effort to streamline notification requests and offender updates, CDCR began providing more electronic tools and services to victims and their family members over the past year. For instance, during this year’s National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, OVSRS unveiled the new e1707, Request for Victim Services web form, which gives victims and their family members the option of using online services from their smartphone or any computer. This electronic service allows the victim to update their contact information and change requested services quickly and on their own time. Also, the CDCR Inmate ID Locator, http://inmatelocator.cdcr.ca.gov allows victims and other members of the public to confirm an offender’s CDCR number and current prison location any time of the day.

Currently, CDCR delivers more than 20,000 notifications every year to victims of CDCR offenders. CDCR has approximately 117,000 offenders in its 35 institutions and another 14,000 offenders in its out-of-state correctional facilities, community correctional facilities and conservation camps.

If you or a family member is a victim of a crime, it is vital that you register for available services provided by CDCR. Registering with the department will allow you access to a menu of services including notification of release, escape or death of an offender, collection of court ordered restitution, assistance with the parole hearing process and requests for special conditions of parole. Also, if you have been a victim in the past of an offender that is currently in a CDCR prison or has been under the jurisdiction of CDCR in the past, OVSRS may have collected restitution on your behalf. Please contact our office toll free at 1-877-256-6877 or via email at victimservices@cdcr.ca.gov.

Crime victims can register for services online at https://e1707.cdcr.ca.gov/.

For all other non-victim-related services, you can contact CDCR Inmate Locator at (916) 445-6713 or access the online service at: http://inmatelocator.cdcr.ca.gov.

For more information about CDCR’s Office of Victim and Survivor Rights and Services, visit CDCR’s website at http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/victims.