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Monitors No Substitute For Jail: Sheriff

May 13th, 2009
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sheriff-simon-leisA political fight that erupted last week at Cincinnati City Council over buying more ankle bracelets to monitor low-level criminal offenders obscured a basic truth, according to the Hamilton County OH sheriff.  Even if the city and the county purchase electronic monitoring units by the hundreds, it’s only a temporary fix.  Report from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

“No amount of EMU’s can replace the 800-bed jail we had to close,” Sheriff Simon Leis Jr. said. The bracelets, he said, relieve just some of the problems … Budget woes forced the sheriff to close the 800-bed Queensgate jail last year, reducing the jail system’s capacity by a third …

The fight began after some Cincinnati council members wanted to use part of $1.2 million in stimulus money given to the city by the U.S. Department of Justice to lease 75 electronic monitoring units, a tool that allows a suspect or convict to be monitored while living at home. But Mayor Mark Mallory sent that proposal to committee, meaning it will likely die without a hearing. Those new units would have come on top of 75 electronic monitoring units the county plans to lease with its own $1.2 million in stimulus dollars. Those would be on top of the 440 units already in use.

In Leis’ view, 75 or even 150 units won’t have a major impact. “It is just a temporary stop-gap,” he said. “There’s just no way this criminal justice problem can be solved without jail beds.”

What pushed the issue out front last week was the arrest of Miciah Black, a 20-year-old who was repeatedly ordered jailed on minor offenses, but repeatedly released due to overcrowding. While out, he is accused of raping a teenager in Lytle Park in downtown Cincinnati.   Since Jan. 1, the sheriff said he has had to release 8,571 prisoners, either immediately after arrest (the person is told to go to court), by telling people to come back and serve their sentence later, or by releasing them before their sentence is up.

Most counties [in Ohio] use at least a few electronic monitoring units. Warren County court officials say more than 600 offenders were supervised on electronic monitoring in 2008. Clermont County uses 10-20 units on any given day but hopes to use more in the future, officials there said. Butler County uses about 25 of the devices at a time … Hamilton County uses about 300 each day …

Last Tuesday, three judges went to council’s law committee meeting and begged for council’s help, saying closing Queensgate emboldened criminals who know unless their crime is serious there’s a good chance they’ll be released right after arrest and possibly not ever serve a sentence.Hamilton County Municipal Judge Bernie Bouchard, one of the three judges who testified before council, said the monitors are not the long-term solution, but they are the “best solution right now.”

jakking Early Release, Economic Issues, Electronic Monitoring, GPS, OH Clermont County, OH Warren County, RFID

Indian State Plans Jail Modernizations

February 17th, 2009
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mapofindiaA comprehensive plan to enhance security inside jail premises across West Bengal has been approved by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, as reported by Express India.

The Rs 10 crore-modernisation plan [approx US$2.1m] will pave way for installation of radio scanners, metal detectors, more surveillance cameras in all the six central jails and sensitive district jails of the state by the end of April this year.  The decision to enhance surveillance and checking of inmates, as well as jail employees, has been taken following the seizure of cellphones, DVDS, marijuana and other incriminating materials from inmates and employees of Alipore and Dum Dum jails. In all, six mobile sets had been recovered from Alipore central jail during surprise raids on January 25 which was conducted jointly by Kolkata police and jail authorities …

He also said that out of the Rs 10 crore sanctioned about Rs 3 to 4 crore [US$620,000-700,000] will be spent on computerisation of records. Incidentally, during the clash between inmates and guards at Howrah jail in the last week of December, several important papers were burnt and that led to a delay in the release of several prisoners.


jakking Asia, Electronic Monitoring, INTERNATIONAL, India, Offender Information, RFID

Brunei Prisons To Build OMS

February 16th, 2009
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brunei-chiefThe Borneo Bulletin reports that the Brunei Prisons Department is to build its own Offender Management System.

“The roles and functions of the Prisons Department are facing many challenges. Requirements and preparations therefore need to be readjusted,” said Prisons Superintendent Hj Md ‘Isamuddin Abdullah Juna, the Prisons Department’s Head of Public Relations and IT.   “We also believe that technology plays an important role in redefining the correctional administration and can be utilised to reform inmates more effectively” … In line with the Brunei government’s vision of establishing an e-Government, the Prisons Department recently took steps to implement IT as an important organisational tool.  An Inmate Management System (IMS) is being developed for the department and will be built from the ground up …

IMS is a new system for correctional institutions in Brunei, which will incorporate core correctional inmate management modules with the latest Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in tracking inmates to achieve optimal security and effective penal administration …  “It will also incorporate a live 24/7 tracking module for the inmates – a first in the Southeast Asian region. The system is designed to integrate all available data concerning inmates and their rehabilitation during imprisonment in the correctional facilities …

The system is also designed to interface at a later stage with other law enforcement agencies, such as the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Royal Brunei Police Force and the Narcotics Control Bureau, among others, which will improve interdepartmental communications and data-sharing in a virtual integrated justice system.

Currently, IMS is in the System Development Stage and estimated to be completely operational sometime in July this year.

jakking Brunei, Electronic Monitoring, INTERNATIONAL, Offender Information, RFID

The Growing Use of RFID

May 19th, 2008
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Though commercial applications are driving the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, the technology is developing a niche in U.S. correctional facilities.

Correctional facilities in California, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio and Minnesota have deployed RFID tracking systems to help manage inmates. This spring, the Minnesota Department of Corrections is deploying an RFID tracking system in its 1,300-inmate, minimum- and medium-security facility in Lino Lakes that houses sex offenders.  The 87 minimum-security Lino Lakes inmates will be fitted with an RFID device to ensure they don’t escape. Because they have no secure fence around their living area – because it’s minimum security – they have the opportunity to leave illegally if they choose to, and we want to prevent that from happening,” said David Crist, a Minnesota Department of Corrections assistant commissioner. “The offenders wear either an ankle bracelet or a wristband, and if they go outside that radio frequency perimeter, it sends a signal back to a computer at a security station telling us someone has left the radio frequency perimeter.”

The system helps security but doesn’t save on personnel.

“We’re not reducing any staff and we’re not making any other operational changes,” Crist added. “In fact, as an operating system goes, it adds expense because we have to buy new wrist and ankle bands, replace batteries, and at some point we’ll have to upgrade the computer software”… The Lino Lakes deployment is expected to cost about $500,000.

Tracking is the key to the system.

Each transmitter constantly sends off a unique signal that’s captured by the antenna and then processed through the computer system, which determines where the subject is at each two-second interval. “That allows us to know where everybody is at any given time,” Greg Oester, president of Alanco/TSI Prism, an Alanco Technologies subsidiary that supplies RFID systems, said. “So if I’m looking for someone, I don’t have to go out in the facility and hope I can find them among 500 or 2,000 inmates, or whatever it is.” The system also makes investigating an incident easier because the system shows exactly who is involved – and where. “That shortens the investigative process because you don’t need to rely on reluctant or intimidated witnesses,” Oester said. “Say there was a guard or inmate assaulted. I know who was there, and the investigative team can focus on the guys who were around when the officer was assaulted.”

… Prison administrators can use RFID tags for other purposes, such as keeping rival gang members away from one another. The system can be set up to trigger an alarm whenever rival gang members get within 10 feet of each other.

Government Technology gives a lot more details.

jakking California, Electronic Monitoring, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, RFID, Virginia

Australian Prison Uses RFID

April 23rd, 2008
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The building of the first prison in Australia’s Capital Territory (ACT) is 90% complete, and the authorities have inked a deal to use RFID for tracking.

The Alexander Maconochie centre is designed to function as an “open plan” prison, housing young offenders, male and female prisoners of varying degrees of security all within the same facility, without substantial physical security to separate each section or razor wire barriers. “Without this technology a prison without razor wire would be far more difficult to manage,” said ACT Corrective Services IT manager Andreas Wullen.

According to Wullen, prisoners will be fitted with an RFID bracelet upon entering the facility, enabling guards to track their location every two seconds if necessary. In a deal already exceeding AU$1 million, the RFID system will be used to monitor physical separation, and to control prisoners’ movements between various sections of the prison. Using this technology will provide prisoners with greater freedom of movement, allowing them to go to certain sections without being escorted,” said Wullen.

The system also has its uses for staff, who will be equipped with an RFID device fitted with an alarm for personal safety.

RFID inmate tracking is already used in a number of European countries including Sweden and the Netherlands, as well as US penitentiaries in Michigan, Illinois, and California.

jakking ACT, RFID