RFID Bracelets to Track Inmates in L.A. County 451
Roland Piquepaille writes "According to RFID Journal, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is about to launch a pilot program to track 1,800 inmates using RFID devices. If the test is successful, the technology will be deployed for the 18,000 inmates of the L.A. county jails. With this system, inmates carry a wrist bracelet which issues a signal every two seconds and is caught by RFID readers installed everywhere in the prison. Officers and staff also carry a RFID device attached to their belts. And a central server keeps track in real time of the position of all prisoners and guardians. Besides tracking locations, the system also intends to reduce violence within the jail and to avoid escapes. If this system works as its promoters think, the potential market to equip all federal, state and county jails in the U.S. exceeds $1 billion. This overview contains other details and references, including a picture of a wristwatch transmitter worn by inmates."
My rights? (Score:5, Interesting)
Finally, a reason for RFID to exist.
In other news... (Score:2)
Finally, a reason for RFID to exist.
Yes, and in other news tinfoil and microwaves have suddenly become more valuable then sharpened toothbrushes and cigarettes. Ah, what would Morgan Freeman have done?
Re:In other news... (Score:4, Insightful)
Unfortunately, if I know anything about human behaviour, the guards will disable these alarms instead of investigating them. And this will render this system worthless.
Re:In other news... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:My rights? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:My rights? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:My rights? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:My rights? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:My rights? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:My rights? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:My rights? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:My rights? (Score:4, Interesting)
Now, the extent of that tracking may be something to be debated. Right now, most of them just have to check in with their parole/probation officer on a particular schedule, and usually must let law enforcement conduct unannounced searches for contraband. Whether they should be tracked with more detail, such as with a GPS band or other similar instrument is worth discussing.
Re:My rights? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:My rights? (Score:3, Interesting)
But what's with the no-voting? That seems like a basic human right sort of thing to me. In US law, you're a felon if you may be imprisoned for more than a year, at least that's what I understand. So, if you could be sentenced for more
Re:My rights? (Score:3, Insightful)
You don't even see the contradiction in this, do you?
Re:My rights? (Score:3, Insightful)
Then the problem isn't the issue of removing the wristband, but the need to keep certain types of criminals locked up to protect society.
In my opinion, if we feel a need to "track someone for life" because they are such a menace, then why are they
Re:My rights? (Score:2, Insightful)
prisoners gave up many of their rights when they commited a crime against society - theft - murder - etc. personally i dont think a murderer should have the same rights i enjoy - though they should still be treated humanely
Smoking crack in the leisure of your own home is not a crime against society...
Downloading MP3s is not a crime against society...
Crime != murder/rape ONLY...
With more and more draconian laws being passed in the US these days, anyone has an increasing chance
Re:My rights? (Score:2)
Re:My rights? (Score:5, Insightful)
Only if you lose.
Re:My rights? (Score:5, Insightful)
At any rate, I don't see this as a particular invasion of privacy, you have to wear those wrist ID bands anyways, this one just identifies remotely.
Re:My rights? (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, speaking for the US criminal justice system, that is the assumption. At trial, one is judged to be guilty or not guilty. If one is judged to be guilty, then the assumption is that of guilt, is it not?
The percentage of wrongly incarcerated prisoners is small - vanishingly so. Small enough that when it's discovered that someone has been wrongly convicted, it's news. It's small enough that it's pretty sa
Yeah (Score:3, Insightful)
If we totally want to avoid guilty convictions, I guess we should abolish prisons then.
Re:My rights? (Score:3, Interesting)
Hey, I live in NZ.
I'll never forget my Dad explaining that Australia was settled by people to whom it was said 'sod you, you are going somewhere else' while New Zealand was settled by people by whom it was said 'sod this, I'm going somewhere else'
Re:My rights? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:My rights? (Score:3, Insightful)
Many drivers at 0% can be more impaired then people with 0.15% due to distractions. But irregardless, it is safer to EVERYONE if the limit is "if you drink ANYTHING, you don't drive", yes you might have to get a taxi ride home and pick up your car in the morning, but that's the consequence of going out to drink, deal with it.
Re:My rights? (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, you are allowed to leave the bar - just get a ride.
But I agree with you that 0.06 is too low. However, a DOT approved breathalizer is about $100 these days. Cheap insurance.
I was considering getting a commercial driver's license for employment possibilities, but found that in California, if you have a CDL your legal limit is 0.04 all the time (eve
Re:My rights? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:My rights? (Score:2)
Re:My rights? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:My rights? (Score:3, Informative)
Blacks in America also are being subjugated by a system that keeps them in an underprivileged position - the system keeps blacks committing crimes. It is a social predisposition, not a genetic one.
Mind you, I'm mostly white (heinz 57) and a quarter mexican - make of this disclaimer what you will.
Re:My rights? (Score:2)
I intend to live as a generally moral and law-abiding citizen. If I get in prison unjustly, then the problem is the unjust punishment, not the RFID tags once I happily walk in the prison.
Prisoners neither have nor deserve all the rights of citizens. That's like saying that prisoner's free speech rights are being violated.
And it's interesting that you consider black rights to be on par with prisoner rights.
Re:My rights? (Score:3, Interesting)
Preserving prisoner's rights because they either might not be guilty, or are guilty only in the minds of a limited number of jurors, is a distraction from the real problem: why the system imprisoned them in the first place.
If I was imprisoned as an innocent man, I'd be pretty pissed off regardless of whether they had me wearing a locating transponder or not. In fact, I can't imagine I'd care one whit.
Actually, as a basically non-aggressive person, I'd probably SUPPORT ev
Re:My rights? (Score:2)
It does if your're a guard (Score:2)
However it's a little disturbing the guards wear them as well. While I can see some useful things coming of this it makes you wonder how long before the prox-cards that get lots of people into work also track them as well. I don't like where that trend heads.
Re:It does if your're a guard (Score:2)
Sure - it makes escapes easier, if an inmate can get ahold of a guard's rfid.
Re:It does if your're a guard (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:It does if your're a guard (Score:2)
Re:My rights? (Score:2)
"I am not afraid!"
"Oh... you will be." [yodajeff.com]
- Some Muppet
Re:My rights? (Score:2)
Just because the US has more prisioners per capita than some other countries does not mean you are more likely to be a prisioner.
You will... (Score:4, Funny)
Just make them a fashionable yellow... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Just make them a fashionable yellow... (Score:2)
Re:Just make them a fashionable yellow... (Score:3, Informative)
See http://www.livestrong.org/ [livestrong.org]
Unfortunately there are a whole bunch of scams selling "fake" bracelets, or overcharging (note that the Lance Armstrong foundation sets a price of $1 each).
I'm all for knowing whewre prisoners are (Score:4, Funny)
Purpose of Prisons? (Score:5, Interesting)
(1) To punish them.
(2) To reform them.
Both of these purposes have been lost completely.
We punish the prisoners by secluding them from society, cutting them away for a period of time in proportion to the seriousness of their crime.
We reform them by teaching them new habits and skills that will help them survive beyond the prison walls without returning to crime.
What does this have to do with either? Absolutely nothing. I'd rather we spent our prison budget on working to enhance the education and reformation of the prisoners rather than keeping track of where they are at all times, something that we don't have a problem with right now.
Re:Purpose of Prisons? (Score:2, Interesting)
Note that no democratic state has such a large portion of it's citizens in prison than USA. US prison system is big business, and reformation of prisoners is not part of that.
Re:Purpose of Prisons? (Score:2)
Re:Purpose of Prisons? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Purpose of Prisons? (Score:2)
We can't remove alcohol and tobacco from our society, they are too much a part of it now. However, just because our great grandparents did a stupid thing, that doesn't mean we should start letting every man and his dog start shooting up.
In 100 years time, our great grand children will be pushing the same argument - "We should be legalising "Zoglanoff Red", because our parents legalised heroin and coke. An
Re:Purpose of Prisons? (Score:3, Interesting)
In fact to be stuck with a mind numbing job like watching a cash register and not be blotto seems like cruel and unusual punishment.
Oh and to the folks that poin
Re:Purpose of Prisons? (Score:3, Insightful)
people like you make me sick.
Re:Purpose of Prisons? (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm going to start off with an ad-hominem, because it's just too good to pass up: Judging from your abuse of lower case letters, when you get drunk, you come here and post on slashdot. Here's a nice summary [nih.gov] of 41 scientific studies! But it's from the NIH, so they obviously don't know what they're talking about.
marijuana is harmless. it doesn't cause addiction, it doesn't cause death, and when used properly i
Re:Purpose of Prisons? (Score:4, Funny)
i just wanted to commend you for using the grammatically correct "jacking off" instead of the common vernacular "jerking off" which, sadly, has become so prevalent in the popular culture.
Re:Purpose of Prisons? (Score:3, Insightful)
If marijuana should be illegal because it's harmful, then alcohol and tobacco should definitely be illegal too because they're much more harmful than marijuana. And probably coffee should be illegal because that's in the same harmfulness ballpark as marijuana.
Marijuana is an interesting case - it's the classic example of a currently illegal drug for which there is no good reason (not even the poor reason of "it'll hurt you!") for its illegality. It's mildly intoxicating and it's not addictive (perhaps h
Re:Purpose of Prisons? (Score:4, Insightful)
What the US's experiment with alcohol prohibition proved is that the effects of prohibition are likely to be worst than the banned drugs themselves.
Re:Purpose of Prisons? (Score:2)
Re:Purpose of Prisons? (Score:2, Insightful)
2. Sometimes, law enforcement doesn't even know what jail someone's in, where they need to be transferred to, when they need medical attention, or what their release date is.
A false sense of security (Score:5, Interesting)
From TFA:
So, if you lose some weight, you could slip it off, pass it to your buddy who gets it in contact with his skin within 15 seconds, go do your crime, and get away with it.Re:A false sense of security (Score:2)
Only if the jail is stupid enough to use it as their ONLY security measure. In the context of layered security, even defeatable measures can help. Each layer of security you have, increases the likelyhood of a desired outcome. I see this as a really good idea, as long as the guards splot check the prisoners with something that can pul
Re:A false sense of security (Score:2)
Re:A false sense of security (Score:2)
Re:A false sense of security (Score:2)
Re:A false sense of security (Score:2)
Re:A false sense of security (Score:2)
So
Not bloody likely.
Now if you'd said inmates who know Kung Fu may be able to slip off the bracelet, I'd offer a different response.
No more TV for you.
Most people would be unable to remove a simple plastic hosp
Re:A false sense of security (Score:2)
I'll bet it gets pushed into wide use. The prison system is a booming business.
Re:A false sense of security (Score:2)
A few years ago there was a story about a guy on home arrest with a tracking bracelet (part traditional home arrest system, part Lojack). The bracelet would detect the lack of movement over a certain amount of time along with leaving the house. So this guy gets the bracelet off and hooks it to his dog's collar. What seemed like a good id
Re:A false sense of security (Score:2)
I think you're talking about Battle Royale [imdb.com]. All of the "inmates" are kids who are taken against their will to an island. Brilliant film, go rent a copy.
Re:A false sense of security (Score:2)
Re:A false sense of security (Score:2)
That was Deadlock, starring the incomparable Rutger Hauer.
What a shitpile that movie was...
3+ movies featuring idea of RF collar (etc.) bombs (Score:2)
Wedlock/Deadlock [imdb.com]
Fortress [imdb.com]
Rights abuse! (Score:4, Funny)
Cheers,
IT
What, no magnetic boots? (Score:4, Funny)
And what happened to the magnetic boots? Can't run a future prison without magnetic boots!
Preventing escapes (Score:3, Funny)
"Here is your Sub Zero, now, just plain Zero!"
Get 'Em Young (Score:2)
blocking Roland Piquepaille stories.. (Score:4, Funny)
thanks
Re:blocking Roland Piquepaille stories.. (Score:2)
Hey, at least they story links aren't linking to his website anymore!
Ask and ye shall get.. (Score:3, Informative)
Marauder's Map (Score:2)
(Seriously, get like a tablet pc or a pda that can be voice activated, "I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good" and bang, a map of the (prison) comes up, with little footsteps and scrolls showing where everybody is)
High-Tech Fix to Prison Problems? (Score:3, Interesting)
It wasn't so long ago (months?) that inmates were dying at a rather alarming rate in L.A. Sheriff's jails too. I wish I had a link, but it was very news-worthy on LA public radio. (KPCC covers L.A. news great) The phrase "Sheriff's excessive use of force" never quite stuck.
I wonder what the resource requirements are for a system that "tracks convicts wherever they go in real-time" claim. Presumably thousands of reader devices always on and connected to some server. Is there a database backend? Or, does it just store locations temporarily. Could you
Slippery slope (Score:2, Insightful)
Then they RFID'd the paroles and probationers. I was not a parolee or probationer, so I did not care.
Then they RFID'd the sex offenders. I was not a sex offender, so I did not care.
Then they RFID'd the ex-felons. I was not an ex-felon, so I did not care.
Then they RFID'd everyone. There was nobody left to care about me.
Apologies to Martin Niemoeller.
Seriously, this does have utility in prisons and perhaps with high-risk parolees,
number of the beast (Score:3, Informative)
Of course not.
It has the number 616 on it instead.
Slippery slope falacy (Score:3, Informative)
What slippery slope? (Score:3, Interesting)
Your government is your friend... (Score:2, Informative)
Why, it'll become impossible to cheat on your spouse, as she'll only need to go to an online tracking system with her mouse, type in your National ID number, and see who you are boinking.
If your political views differs from the Status Quo, yes, your government will be
this is a very bad idea (Score:5, Funny)
You people are fucking nuts. (Score:4, Insightful)
They do not have freedom. They committed some violation of rules that society has deemed it neccesary that they be locked up. Away from society. It is VERY important to public security that their whereabouts be known at all times while in prison. It is also VERY hard to do with 18,000 inmates and only a few hundred (maybe thousand) correctional officers.
This is NOT the first step on a slipperly slope. The government doesn't really care that at 1PM every day, I go take a shit. There's no way even if they DID care that they could seriously mark every citizen with an RFID and track their whereabouts, Real-ID or not. They can't even keep track of how many illegal immigrants there are!
Remember, we still do afford a certain amount of control on our government. If they DID try to monitor every citizen's whereabouts, it would be shot down by the general public even if the only reason is their taxes would go up.
Please remove the tin foil hat, because in this case, it's too damn expensive.
Disturbed (Score:5, Insightful)
The 7-11 had a video camera recording everything, and now that the cops had my description and a video surveillance image to go off of, their chances of catching the criminal are pretty high (though I was told that it was highly unlikely that I'd ever see my phone, wallet, or the IDs in the wallet ever again).
Because of modern anti-theft measures, the man who stuck a gun in my stomach is most likely going to end up in jail. The fast-acting real-time monitoring of credit card usage, the ever present video surveillance, and the fast response time of the police from my initial 911 call all are aiding to the apprehension of this guy who, all told, ended up with about $30 in cash and a phone that can never be activated again.
And yet, the more I think about it, the more I'm deeply disturbed. Yes, it was nice to know that because of our modern world, the guy didn't end up running up thousand dollar bills on my credit card. And yes, I do take comfort knowing that it's highly likely the guy will go to jail.
But at what cost? Every day we are giving up more and more privacy under the auspicious of safety, yet nobody in any position of power seems to consider that perhaps the government and corporate organizations of America shouldn't have that much access to our private lives.
I asked myself the question: What if I was on the other side of that technological dragnet? What if the government was after me because I said something that the government didn't agree with, or saw as a "threat", despite my benign intentions? What if, say, I made a remark publicly that I didn't think the current presidential administration was pursuing policies that have America's best interests in mind? What if I was in a position where people respected what I had to say, and would take it to heart? What if the administration decided to find me and silence me?
Granted, these "what ifs" are generally the bread and butter of the tin foil hat crowd, but it does make me uneasy. When I was a kid, my parents had a chip put in my dog. Now they're putting them on wrist bands of prisoners. It doesn't take a genius to come to the conclusion that eventually all prisoners will have these, then all prisoners will have these implanted, then the citizenry will have them.
I can hear someone saying "Look, if you had a chip implanted in you with your ID and bank account information on it, you would have never been mugged, and you wouldn't have to be going through the hassle of getting your IDs and life back in order right now". Then again, the guy could have just shot me and dug out my chip with a dull knife. I'm not sure.
What I am sure of is this: We still live in a pretty good country. As misguided as I think their policies are, I still think most of the current government's activities are still in the best interests of the American people. But what is the otherwise respectable "done nothing wrong" citizen supposed to do if America's power is seized from them by people who don't mind trampling on personal liberties one bit to serve their own purpose? Things like RFID tags just adds to our impotency if the time comes when decent Americans have to raise up against our own government and set things right again.
I for one am willing to lose a little more money in a robbery, or have the knowledge that the chances that the guy who robbed me gets caught is lower in exchange for the safety in knowing that if things ever get really bad, I have some options in standing up to the government.
Re:Disturbed (Score:3, Informative)
I understand what you mean, but please note that none of the situations you mentioned had anything to do with private life.
1- Credit card. To use a credit card you are using the CC company's network. They let you use their property, but it's still theirs to use as they please within the terms of the contract.
2- CCTV in a shop. A shop is the property of the shop's owner (well quite often it
Linked (Score:3, Funny)
That might make a good movie.
And now for the other side of the coin (Score:4, Interesting)
The reason I'm posting this reply as an AC, something I normally never do, is because I've been on the other side. I'm an ex-con. And no, I'm not kidding. I did slightly over two years in prison, and then 8 years on parole, for credit card fraud. Now you know where my experience on this subject comes from.
In anything less than a maximum security prison, you'd be amazed at how easy it is to get somewhere undetected and do something bad (usually violent) to another inmate. And it can happen in front of 50 other inmates, and I'll bet you money that no one saw a thing.
Anything that could narrow the location of a particular inmate down to a room or a particular area, quickly, automatically and with a high degree of accuracy, would be a massive improvement over current systems. And it wouldn't necessarily save the lives of just inmates. Guards are around the inmates every day.
However, I do agree with a point a couple of others have already made. If these chips are in an arm-band or something of that nature, some smart guy with a lot of time on his hands (and everyone in a prison has lots of time to think) is going to figure out how to get the arm-band off. If they're going to do it, they need to do it right. Implant the chip under the skin upon the start of the prison sentence, and remove it upon the day of release.
You can sign me "been there, done that, got the black and white stripped t-shirt too".
jail currency? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Point? (Score:5, Insightful)
On the other hand, if you think prison is punishment, look at the transmitters as yet another way to make sure everybody is accounted for, and a way to gather evidence for crimes in the building.
Oh I get it now. (Score:4, Funny)
So this is supposed to make it easier for inmates to stalk each other using RFID technology. Great plan.
Re:Why not? (Score:2)
And what benefit will it have to spend $1bn on this? I'm sure this money could be put to better use, like schools.
Re:Why not? (Score:2)
>
>And what benefit will it have to spend $1bn on this? I'm sure this money could be put to better use, like schools.
Spoken like a taxpayer, not a lobbyist.
The $1B will benefit contractors who build the devices and related software, lobbyists who can expand the usage to children (to protect them while they'r
Re:Why not? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yet Another Miscategorized YRO Story (Score:2)
But that's just my opinion.
Re:They'll cut off their hand to remove it (Score:2)
Wasn't there a movie about a prisoner who had an EXPLOSIVE around his neck? 100 meters away from his (unknown) complement, and boom!
OMFG That's teh funneeee!!!eleven (Score:2)
Yes they are (Score:3, Interesting)
Tags without batteries are powered by a transmitter in the reader, which in turn activates a transmitter in the tag. (In one common system the tag doesn't technically "transmit" but modulates an antenna which absorbs the reader energy; this makes little difference in the operation.
Tags with batteries can be read tens of meters away. Passive tags can be rea