A 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.

The Borneo Bulletin reports

“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.

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.

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.