For government partners
Every arrest sends a scared family searching for answers — and calling the jail with the same handful of questions. What Happens Now is a free page they reach from a QR code on the patrol car or the arrest paperwork, and a locked tablet in booking for the person arrested, that explains the next 24 hours in plain English and Spanish with facts your own staff confirmed. It is run by Project Jail Cell, Inc., a Florida nonprofit corporation applying for 501(c)(3) status, built by a former Alachua County booking deputy, and it costs the county nothing to start.
We are beginning in Alachua County, Florida. The asks below are small and specific, and the founder is a former Alachua booking deputy going back to his own former office — asking for permission and verification, not a purchase.
What we ask of each office
Sheriff’s Office
One afternoon confirming the facts on a checklist; the QR code on arrest paperwork and a few patrol cars; one tablet in booking, in guided access.
County Commission
Ten minutes at the public safety coordinating council, and a champion who wants the before-and-after numbers.
City of Gainesville
The QR code on police patrol cars and arrest paperwork — city arrests reach the same jail.
Public Defender and Pretrial Services
A review of the first-appearance and pretrial wording, and the office’s two phone numbers.
What we never do
- Name or recommend a bail bond agent, a lawyer, or a phone or commissary vendor.
- Collect names, case numbers, or the content of questions.
- Discuss what happened.
- Show a fact as verified until a person has confirmed it — until then the family sees a notice saying so.
What it costs
Year one: nothing. Hosting is free, and the pilot runs on a few hundred dollars of filing and printing costs we cover.
After a year of results, a small annual support agreement — under the county’s small-purchase threshold — or a crime-prevention grant keeps the facts verified every quarter.