While fingerprinting has played a
significant role in law enforcement and forensics
for more than a century, iris recognition is catching
on in the corrections environment, particularly
at the local level, where an inmate may be taken
in and out of a facility for inter-facility transfer
for medical attention, or to court on what may even
be a repeated basis over weeks.
Iris recognition from LG has proven to be a very
robust efficient tool to speed the book and release
process in jails. The value of the technology is
enhanced because it can provide real time identity
authentication to minimize the labor involved in
such inmate transfers, and to provide real-time
identification that will deter use of an alias,
as the system will reveal the name used in a previous
encounter with law enforcement that resulted in
booking.
York County Jail in Pennsylvania was one of the
first correctional facilities to use iris recognition
for inmate book and release and has upgraded to
IrisAccess 3000.
We have been using LG's IrisAccess technology
for several years now in our 2000 bed facility
for accurate inmate identification. We have
a database of over 35,000 inmates networked
between two separate iris identification stations
and can identify inmates being booked or released
in under a few seconds. We can register new
inmates very quickly and eliminate improper
releases of inmates once they have been processed.
The IrisAccess system is simple to use for
the operators and inmates. The speed of identification
is most valuable for individuals that return
to our prison as it helps to quickly identify
repeat offenders. We consider the technology
to be a vital tool in helping to safeguard
the facility and population and are exploring
additional uses of the iris technology such
as visitor check in and authentication.
