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How Technology Can Make Your Job Safer

NCJ Number
185114
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 62 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2000 Pages: 58-61
Author(s)
Steve Morrison
Date Published
July 2000
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Suit-happy inmates and "jailhouse lawyers" file suits almost daily for inattention to detail by corrections officers; in an effort to combat this type of incident and protect the officers and agencies that house inmates, the National Institute of Justice Office of Science and Technology has funded projects that not only protect officers physically, but also protect them from liability issues.
Abstract
Some of the projects are the "sticky shocker," which uses stun-gun technology to temporarily incapacitate a person at stand-off range; the back-scatter imaging system for concealed weapons, which uses a back-scatter imager to detect weapons and contraband; a body scanning screening system, a stationary screening system to detect nonmetallic weapons and contraband in the lower body cavities; face recognition technology for Internet-based gang tracking, which is a database software engine that will be integrated into the existing Gang Reporting Evaluation and Tracking infrastructure currently being used by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office; spoken language translation, which automatically translates spoken words into computer-spoken words in a second language; telemedicine, which facilitates medical diagnoses through closed-circuit television; a personal health status monitor, which uses current sensor technology to monitor certain vital signs of an inmate from restrained and unrestrained positions; a corrections technology information system, which is a clearinghouse for new technologies under development; and a corrections incident tracker, which is an Internet-based "lessons learned" database for use by agencies to report escapes and suicides.