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$19 million computer system can't even count inmates

By MICHAEL A. BELL
mbell@sunherald.com

GULFPORT --

Sheriff's Capt. Walter Pitts, once a staunch supporter of the MASP, hopes the sheriff will ditch the system and return to the old "green screen" technology from the mid-1980s, which allowed officials to run queries.

"The old system worked perfect," Pitts said.

Officials still occasionally use this mainframe computer system because the MASP's software is so poor, he said.

"The system is just slow," Pitts said. "It's ridiculous."

'Green screen' technology

Before signing on for the MASP in 2002, Harrison County officials could retrieve critical jail data in seconds, such as the total number of inmates booked there, or the number charged with felons.

Officials then were using what's known by Coast law enforcement as the "green screen," a mainframe computer system that officials still use because the MASP's software is "not up to par yet," Sheriff Brisolara said.

Pitts wrote the original jail program with software guru Curtis Anderson, a former county employee.

"I didn't quite understand why they wanted to do something else," said Anderson, who lives in Tennessee. "You know as long as it works and it's solid, I didn't see a need of change."

Pitts wants the sheriff to return to the "green screen" and expand applications. But he said it would cost the county about $15,000 to fix what the MASP "screwed up."

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MICHAEL A. BELL