Prison systems adding body-worn cameras to security plans

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - More and more state prison systems are equipping guards with body-worn cameras, even in correctional facilities that are already covered by thousands of stationary security cameras.

Authorities hope the additional cameras will help reduce violence and hold inmates and guards accountable, although experts and unions have questioned their usefulness in addition to existing cameras.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction hopes to announce which of four companies has won an order valued at approximately $ 17 million per year by the end of the year.

The Ohio agency began investigating the issue after a California judge ordered body-worn cameras for guards at a San Diego state prison after allegations of abuse of disabled prisoners. California later expanded the cameras to five other prisons.

The death of an Ohio inmate in January during a scuffle with guards accelerated the investigation into the use of the cameras, although the pilot program was already in progress, said Annette Chambers-Smith, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

The system already has approximately 6,000 cameras in Ohio's 28 prisons. But there are blind spots as well as situations where a body camera helps learn the truth, including whether it was an inmate or a guard to blame, Chambers-Smith said.

"When you have cameras filming an incident, you don't have to rely on memory or maybe the tunnel vision someone gets when they tell an incident," she said. "You can just see the whole."

Two videos provided by the agency show the different perspectives that cameras worn on the body can offer. When a fight broke out between two inmates at the Ohio State Penitentiary on July 27, a stationary camera above the fight provided a clear view, but no sound.

A security guard's body-worn camera filming the same fight, along with sound, provided a more detailed view of the confused situation. "Lock the doors," a guard can be heard screaming and "stop" several times before another guard uses pepper spray on the inmates. In the body-worn camera version, it is also easier to see and hear a guard gesture to a colleague to have another guard remove one of the inmates first.

The union, which represents prison workers in Ohio, is skeptical of the cameras and says the money could be better spent on hiring more guards. This is especially true given the many stationary cameras that are already in place, said Christopher Mabe, president of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association.

"At the moment we are fighting because of the tight labor market to keep the staff in the correctional department," said Mabe. "Should we put more money into officer retention and recruiting and recruiting rather than spending money on technology that is simply redundant?"

The state penal system has around 6,130 prison officers, up from 6,660 in 2019. The number of prisoners has decreased from around 48,000 to around 43,000 over the same period.

The American Civil Liberties Union chapter in Ohio is keeping an eye on the state's plan, with issues like the circumstances under which guards are allowed to disable the cameras and how long the prison system will keep the video, said Gary Daniels, the top lobbyist in Ohio. The latter question is important given the state's two-year time window for filing civil lawsuits, he said.

The George Bureau of Prisons piloted the concept last year and plans to equip two prisons this year and two more prisons next year. Florida does not use them across the board, but since October 2020 it has equipped specially trained officers in its 35 prisons with body cameras that turn on automatically when these officers activate stun guns.

New York State began piloting body-worn cameras in 2016 and expanded the test with a federal grant of $ 835,000. The system, which costs about $ 4.2 million, has about 2,500 body-worn cameras in use in eight prisons, including the three women's prisons, with expansion planned.

Virginia plans to provide cameras to guards at high-security facilities, some members of teams entering cells to extract inmates, and leaders of patrol and drug-tracking dogs.

Wisconsin began equipping officers in its six maximum security prisons and one youth facility after lawmakers initially gave the agency $ 591,400 in 2017 in hopes of reducing attacks on staff and inmates.

The agency now has about 200 body-worn cameras in the six prisons and about 100 in the Lincoln Hills & Copper Lake Schools youth facility, costing about $ 895 per camera. Prison spokesman John Beard said one downside is that it sometimes obscures the view when taking close-up shots with an inmate, but the sound is easy to hear.

"Follow-up on allegations is easy by reviewing the incident and checking to see if an investigation is needed or if the alleged incident did not occur," Beard said.

Just as police officers' widespread use of body-worn cameras has not reduced the use of force, body-worn cameras are unlikely to have much of an impact in prisons, especially with so many stationary cameras, said criminal justice analyst Bryce Peterson.

Almost all incidents in prisons are already recorded, and blind spots don't usually exist in places where a guard is present to record illegal activity, including drug sales or brawling, said Peterson, a researcher at CNA Corp. who focuses on improvement Safety. He said changes in the use of force policies, better training and efforts to retain staff would be more likely to help reduce violence in prisons.

It's likely that in some prisons adding body-worn cameras "just because it's a new intervention is kind of a shock to the system and will have an effect," Peterson said. "But I don't think there is a long-term cure for these problems."

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