Carmen Rodgers
Elmore Autauga News
Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin says the temporary removal of the county’s online jail roster is part of a planned system update aimed at combating scams targeting inmates’ families.
“If you’re going to try to scam an inmate’s family, we’re going to make it real hard to do that,” Franklin said.
He said scammers have used information from online inmate rosters to identify inmates and then contact their relatives while falsely claiming to be law enforcement officers, jail employees or bonding agents in an attempt to obtain money.
Franklin said the updated system had originally been scheduled to be operational Wednesday. However, the project has been slightly delayed.
The changes come after sheriff’s offices across Alabama reported an increase in scams involving publicly available inmate information.
“We did it to stop those scammers,” Franklin said.
Franklin said the updated roster will include a disclaimer explaining the scams before users can access inmate information.
The disclaimer states that several county jails across Alabama have experienced an increase in scams targeting family members of incarcerated individuals. It explains that scammers have used online inmate rosters to impersonate law enforcement, jail staff or bonding agents in attempts to steal money from victims.
The revised inmate roster will restore public access while limiting some identifying information.
Instead of displaying an inmate’s full name, age and hometown, Franklin said the roster will display only the individual’s last name and criminal charges.
Franklin said the changes are designed to make it more difficult for scammers to identify inmates and locate or contact their families while still allowing the public to access basic booking information.
Franklin also said restoring the online jail roster helps reduce calls to the sheriff’s office from people trying to determine whether a friend or family member has been booked into the jail. Instead of calling the jail, he said, the public can check the online roster for that information.
Franklin said he expects the updated jail roster to be back online within the next few days.
