09/17/08 Bend
 
In this You Ask; We Answer, a viewer asks "Are prisoners answering phones for the DMV? And, do they have access to drivers' personal information?"
 
According to the DMV, the DMV was one of the first work programs in the Women's prison in Oregon -- and the first call center. The program has been in place since the late 1980s, and we even moved to Coffee Creek when the women's prison moved there.
 
About half the call center is there, and the other half is at DMV headquarters in Salem. The phone system automatically balances the call load between the two centers. They get over 1 million calls per year.  According to the DMV, it's a good deal for taxpayers and for the inmates and Corrections Department.
 
The DMV has even hired some Call Center inmates after they have been released from prison.  The call center will not employ an inmate who is imprisoned for a financial crime, ID theft, or anything related to that. However, drug use and even murder does not preclude them from a job there. Still, they are interviewed and trained, much as employees outside prison are.
 
There have been no security problems with DMV information at the prison call center. Inmates have access only to the public part of driver data -- your name and customer number, for example -- but not to sensitive ID data, such as Social Security number. In fact, SSN never comes up over the phone at DMV. The only time DMV requires an SSN is when you're in the office in person to get or renew a license or ID card.
 
The inmate call center does not have Internet access but instead has a copy of the DMV Internet stored locally so that they can help customers navigate the Web site over the phone.
 
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