RFID Bracelets to Track Inmates in L.A. County

Roland Piquepaille writes "According to RFID Journal, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is about to launch a pilot program to track 1,800 inmates using RFID devices. If the test is successful, the technology will be deployed for the 18,000 inmates of the L.A. county jails. With this system, inmates carry a wrist bracelet which issues a signal every two seconds and is caught by RFID readers installed everywhere in the prison. Officers and staff also carry a RFID device attached to their belts. And a central server keeps track in real time of the position of all prisoners and guardians. Besides tracking locations, the system also intends to reduce violence within the jail and to avoid escapes. If this system works as its promoters think, the potential market to equip all federal, state and county jails in the U.S. exceeds $1 billion. This overview contains other details and references, including a picture of a wristwatch transmitter worn by inmates."

Comments

You will...

[admactanium]

great! now i can walk straight out of my local grocery store without the inconvenience of having to stop and pay for my prison inmate!

Not a good idea

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't like the concept of wireless inmates.

Just make them a fashionable yellow...

[gringo_john]

Make them out of plastic, and yellow. Then all the inmates will want to wear them!

I'm all for knowing whewre prisoners are

[deft]

but isn't it just slightly weird they dont know where they are now?

jail currency?

[thedustbustr]

This is marked by a sudden decrease of the value of Penthouse rags while tinfoil becomes a precious metal.

Rights abuse!

[IntelliTubbie]

Using RFID to track inmates? What are they trying to do, turn our jails into prisons?

Cheers,
IT

What, no magnetic boots?

[payndz]

Didn't they have this system in Face/Off?

And what happened to the magnetic boots? Can't run a future prison without magnetic boots!

Preventing escapes

[Anonymous Coward]

Now all they gotta do is rig an explosive charge to it so that it'll go off if the prisoner strays beyond the prison perimeter... ... oh wait, that was Running Man...

"Here is your Sub Zero, now, just plain Zero!"

blocking Roland Piquepaille stories..

[joeldg]

this article reminded me I need to make up a greasemonkey script to block all stories submitted by Roland Piquepaille

thanks

Oh I get it now.

[commodoresloat]

TFA says that an inmate was able to pass through the prison and stalk another inmate who was then murdered. this is supposed to help track inmates more efficiently

So this is supposed to make it easier for inmates to stalk each other using RFID technology. Great plan.

this is a very bad idea

[milimetric]

Ok, so check out what's going to happen. A dude is going to chop off like 20 people's hands and toss them down laundry chutes, catapult them over fences, attach them to radio controlled cars, etc. just to simulate as if these people are escaping. Then he/she is going to escape quietly via some other route when the guards are all chasing hands. Or am I crazy?

Linked

[OgGreeb]

And then link every two inmates together, so that if they ever get separated, both get fried!

That might make a good movie.

Re:In other news...

[Wyatt Earp]

Makes my 3 days in Dewey County South Dakota small tatters ;)

Re:Purpose of Prisons?

[flacco]

Try jacking off in front of a primary school, and see how readily you are able to use your body as you see fit.

i just wanted to commend you for using the grammatically correct "jacking off" instead of the common vernacular "jerking off" which, sadly, has become so prevalent in the popular culture.