Jail to use new digital tracking system to monitor inmates
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) – The Hamilton County Jail will begin using a new digital tracking system to monitor inmates, how often jail staff check on them and what inmates are doing during those checks.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports (http://bit.ly/1EhV8xr) jail staff will start using the radio-frequency identification system called Guardian RFID on Wednesday.
Chief of Corrections Joe Fowler says state standards require jail staff to look in on most inmates twice every hour.
Before the new system, jail staff logged those checks with pen and paper. Now, officers will log each by using a handheld device to scan a chip mounted near the door of the cell.
Sheriff Jim Hammond says the Guardian system will be rolled out in phases, and should be fully up and running by the end of November.
