An informational network that is designed to help crime and rape survivors in West Virginia check an offender’s custody status has expanded to include all regional jails in the state.
TheWest Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation has widened the reach of its Victim Information and Notification Everyday network, or VINE.
VINE is a free service that allows survivors to anonymously check an offender’s custody status by phone, internet and mobile app. Survivors can also receive real-time alerts of changes to an offender’s custody status via app, phone, email and text.
VINE now includes all ten regional jails in West Virginia. Prior to the expansion, the service only covered the state’s prisons.
In a press release from the Division of Corrections, Tonia Thomas, a team coordinator with the West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said the expanded service will help survivors “rest easy at night knowing where the perpetrator is.”
The service also allows victims to prepare and take extra safety precautions when their perpetrator is released.
West Virginia began to expand VINE services to the regional jails in May.
More than 23,000 West Virginians have registered to use VINE services.
