A few years into my role as a facility superintendent, I helped lead a tablet implementation project. The platform was solid. The contract was signed. Leadership was confident.
What nobody had adequately answered was: how are we actually getting this signal inside the building?
We did the heat mapping. We installed the access points. We thought we were ready. We weren't. Coverage gaps opened up the moment we went live. Incarcerated individuals filed grievances. Staff got questions they couldn't answer. The go-live slipped. We went back, did a deeper assessment, added more equipment, and eventually got there, but it cost us time, credibility, and more than a few hard conversations.
That was a tablet project. Not a full OMS implementation.
I tell this story because it's the kind of thing that doesn't show up in procurement checklists, and it absolutely should.
There are actually two connectivity problems. Most agencies only plan for one.
The first is getting internet to the facility. Rural institutions face real constraints here — limited fiber access, aging T1 lines, bandwidth that was never designed for cloud platforms. Satellite internet, including low-earth-orbit options like Starlink, is a legitimate answer for some facilities. Federal agencies, including CBP, are already using it in remote environments for exactly this reason.
But solving the backhaul is the easy part.
The second problem is getting signal inside the facility, and this is where implementations stall. Concrete, reinforced steel, narrow corridors, corrections facilities were engineered to stop movement, and they stop wireless signals just as effectively. You need specialized site surveys, hardened access points rated for corrections environments, and often significantly more equipment than any commercial installation would require. Maintenance inside housing units means tool-control protocols, custody coordination, and timelines that have nothing in common with commercial IT SLAs.
A cloud-based OMS assumes users can reach it from wherever they need to work, a housing unit, an intake area, a supervisor doing a facility walk. If the signal doesn't reach those places, you've paid for a modern platform and built the same bottleneck as the system you replaced.
Five questions to ask before you sign anything
These aren't hypothetical. They're what should be in your infrastructure assessment — and what Mi-Case walks through with every agency before we put a go-live date in a contract.
1. What's your current WAN bandwidth at each facility, and what will the system require at peak load?
Include concurrent tablet use, video visitation, and staff devices. If there's a gap, what are the options to close it, and what's the realistic lead time?
2. Have you done an actual RF survey inside the facility?
Not a coverage estimate from a floor plan, a real survey accounting for wall composition and signal propagation. This is non-negotiable.
3. Who owns the internal network?
In many facilities, a telecom vendor (ViaPath, Securus) controls the Wi-Fi under a contract tied to tablet services. If your OMS needs to ride that network, understand the bandwidth allocation, and whether the vendor's contract allows it.
4. What's the maintenance plan for equipment inside housing units?
Repairs in secure environments don't run on commercial timelines. Build realistic service restoration windows into your planning.
5. Does your go-live timeline account for infrastructure upgrades?
If connectivity isn't ready on Day 1, the date isn't real.
This is solvable. It just needs to be planned.
None of this is meant to talk you out of moving to a modern platform. The operational gains, real-time data, mobile workflows, and configurable systems built for evidence-based practice are real. They're increasingly necessary.
But connectivity is a precondition, not an afterthought. The agencies that treat it as a core dependency from day one, budget for it explicitly, and ask these questions before procurement, those are the ones that go live on time.
At Mi-Case, this assessment is built into how we scope every implementation. Before we commit to a date, we want to know the infrastructure is ready, not because it protects us, but because a go-live that fails in the field isn't a success, regardless of what the contract says.
If you're heading into a procurement and want to talk through what the infrastructure assessment should look like, reach out. We've learned some things the hard way, and we're glad to share them.
About the Author
Al Cormier is Director of Thought Leadership at Mi-Case and a 30-year corrections practitioner. He has served as a correctional officer, probation/parole officer, facility superintendent, and Chief of Operations. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
