Georgia’s Floyd County jail is getting a biometric access control system, according to a Rome News-Tribune article by Alan Riquelmy. Implementation of the system is part of a larger modernization and digitization effort, the SPLOST (special-purpose local-option sales tax) project will cost the county $1.9 million.
The biometric system will require guards to scan their fingers in order to gain entry through certain doors, and, according to the article, the system will also “ensure the deputy has a heartbeat before granting access.” Other upgrades to the jail system include video visitation, electronic grievance filing for inmates, smart toilets that shut down when inmates attempt to flood them, and centralized control stations for the guards.
The introduction of biometric access control into a correctional facility would seem to be a perfectly logical application of the technology, which seems to be deployed more often to keep people out of secured places than to lock them in. Given how law enforcement authorities have been embracing biometric technology for deployment in the field and to help with investigations, though, it was only a matter of time before it started finding its way into correctional facilities. Other kinds of biometric systems may prove popular too, as in the case of a Florida correctional facility using a light sensor-based system to detect offenders’ blood-alcohol levels.
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March 5, 2015 – by Alex Perala
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