Putting Technology Behind Bars
The maximum-security Fourth Avenue Jail in Phoenix, Ariz., uses a wide variety of technologies to keep the facility secure and ensure that none of its 2,000 prisoners escape. From the beginning, security experts were involved in the process of developing the jail, which opened its incarceration area in April 2005.
The facility uses an iris scanner for purposes of access control and identification of jail staff and inmates, with Jail Planning Coordinator Captain Charles Johnson noting that one advantage of biometric technology is that it cannot be stolen, lost, or demagnetized, as access cards can.
Touch-screen consoles provide control of all of the components that make up the security system, including doors, cameras, readers, pagers, and audio devices. Digital cameras are located throughout the facility–in each holding cell, elevator, booking area, courtroom, interrogation room, and corridor–and the building has two initial-appearance courts that are protected by security guards, CCTV, and metal detectors.
Operators who review camera footage of jail incidents can use a special tracking feature that allows people or items to be tracked from one frame to the next, by outlining them with a tracking box.
The exterior of the facility does not have the traditional fences and barbed wire of other maximum-security facilities, opting instead for an unobtrusive exterior consisting of red brick, glass blocks, and stainless steel.
A state-of-the-art electronic video-conferencing system allows visitors to visit inmates remotely, and the inmate’s visitation booth is in the inmates’ living quarters, meaning that officers can avoid the risks involved with transporting inmates to traditional visiting areas.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from Security Management (07/05) Vol. 49, No. 5, P. 48; Roberts, Marta .
