Las Vegas NowExclusive: Technology Keeps Watchful Eye on Nevada Inmates

Exclusive: Technology Keeps Watchful Eye on Nevada Inmates

Inmates at one Southern Nevada prison are now being tracked 24 hours a day by radio transmitters permanently attached to their ankles. This technology is so advanced that only two other states are using it but Nevada is the first state to have this technology up and running in an actual prison.

Prison officials say the technology means better safety for staff and a better value for taxpayers.  At the Southern Nevada Correctional Center in Jean, inmates play a game of football during their recreation period.

Every inmate has one piece of equipment that is not easily visible.  It's an ankle bracelet that allows prison staff to track their every move.

"This is the Ammo Tech Trace 3 inmate monitoring system," said corrections Sergeant Adolph Stankus, who is the system supervisor.

"It's set up to track our inmates, give us full reporting of their whereabouts at any given time," Stankus said.

It is greatly enhancing security. "If we have an incident take place we know who, what ,where, why and how immediately."

The system can track each inmate everywhere in the prison from the courtyard to the shower.  It identifies inmates by name and updates constantly as inmates move from place to place.

"Prior to having something like this if you wanted to find an inmate for example we would first look where we think he may be, possibly his housing unit or a classroom or something like that. Then if you don't find him there you have to go out into the yard with a picture and start looking for him."

"What it allows us to do is to separate inmates that need to be separated from each other. It allows us to track backwards to determine if we had an incident who was involved in it," said Howard Skolnik, deputy prison director.

The system cost taxpayers about $800,000 and prison officials believe it will cut down on future staff expenses.

"The average staff member costs somewhere between $60,000 and $70,000 a year with fringe benefits. So if you figure we can replace, say, five or six staff with this we're going to pay for this system in a very quick, very short time.

And while cost may be important, safety and security remain the main function of the prison system.

"These are assigned to the staff members as they come in for the morning shift they will pick these up, attach them to their belts," Stankus said.  He adds it is an emergency transmitter so if there's trouble, it can act as a panic button.  The system can show the staff member's location.

"The bottom line is that this is allowing us to see and do things that were beyond my dreams when I got into this business," Skolnik said.

For now this technology is only being used at the prison in Jean, Nevada. If it is successful from both security and financial standpoints, the corrections department will consider rolling it out to other locations.

The system is so expensive it will take funding from the legislature to expand the program.