International. A correction center made up of 12 buildings has more than 100 cameras to visualize in detail the emotions on the faces of prisoners, and generate evidence that extends the sentence of individuals involved in incidents.
With a ratio of 3 inmates to 1 guard, the Worcester County Office, Massachusetts, in the United States, has managed to ensure the safety of inmates and officials working in the prison, through close monitoring: penitential officers use megapixel cameras to zoom in enough to see the expressions of prisoners' faces during a conflict, acting before the event reaches larger scales.
In addition to detailed live monitoring, the prison uses material archived in investigations to identify parties involved in incidents and thus initiate charges against specific individuals to whom their sentences may be extended.
In one case, a video helped investigators identify known members of two rival gangs in the middle of a fight that ended with a stabbing. As a result, the participants were charged in a court of law and received an additional sentence.
"If someone is moving their hand to hit another, that emotion is captured and the video can show intent," said Maurice Myrie, director of information technology and information security officer for the Worcester County Office.
The prison camp has more than 100 axis Communications cameras, including megapixel and anti-vandalism models, making the facility a model for other countries. "Once the cameras were put on, we were able to discover almost every place an inmate could hide and use them to commit criminal acts," Myrie added.
In the future, material obtained from recorded incidents may also be used as part of a training program for new recruits, because by seeing sequences of real events, they can be shown how officers responded to a particular situation and help prepare them for the real world and teach them what to do or not do when faced with a similar situation.
