Page 35 - 254988_AJA_JF22_NEW-1

terminal interface, communicating personnel who could quickly On a smaller scale, heart
to the officer if there is a medical approve the administration of monitoring is commonly used and
problem or emergency. As the necessary medicines. available to the public in watch
officer transports an arrestee to jail, Diabetes is just one common technology (Grothous, 2020). The
she is intermittently watching the illness or disease. What if inmates merging of these technologies into
subject through the rear view mirror with other illnesses could wear handcuffs, or even wristbands,
for any signs of distress, but she a similar device capable of could save lives. But why stop at
also knows the “smart restraints” scanning and delivering necessary wristbands? This technology could
are watching the subject’s health medication for many other common possibly be integrated into jail cells
for them. Instead of a potential illnesses, such as asthma, high by way of bedding, the bed itself, or
tragedy occurring during transport, blood pressure, or MAT (medication the jail clothing.
the technology integrated into the assistant treatments like Suboxone Although there will be a cost to
restraints remove the guesswork or Methadone)? develop smart-jail technology, it will
that unknown variables can present ease burdens on staff and increase
from substance abuse and mental Artificial Intelligence their ability to provide better care to
and medical health problems. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the inmate population. In turn, this
This future technology could be a already being employed in custody could save counties from having to
highly effective warning system to settings abroad. China and Hong pay out large sums of money from
rendering aid before ever arriving at Kong recently announced that their wrongful death suits. Although AI
the county jail. governments are introducing new can be a critical part of enhancing
A look at a similar device proves AI technology to monitor inmates inmate safety, there is another issue
the technology exists but hasn’t every minute of every day in of even more importance.
yet been developed as a means some prisons. In Hong Kong, the
to better care for inmates. For government is testing Fitbit-like To Seek Out and Avoid the Perils
example the Continuous Glucose devices to monitor individual’s of Facility Deficits
Monitor, or CMG, has the ability locations and activities, including We would be remiss if we
to not only continually monitor their heart rates, at all times (Bala didn’t also look at the elephant in
the glucose level in the blood of a & Trautman, 2019). One prison the room: deaths in custody due
diabetic patient, but also to send a in mainland China is using such to a mental health crisis. How
text to a designated cell phone or devices to monitor and track the costly are wrongful deaths for
monitoring device with warnings movement of inmates in real- jails? In 2019 Mendocino County
when the patient’s glucose is low time, which then shares the data settled a wrongful death suit
or high. In addition, these monitors with software that can analyze for $5 million. According to the
can inject necessary insulin at the behavior and send an alert when coroner’s report, the decedent died
time of need. How does this work abnormalities are discovered. from methamphetamine toxicity
and not be turned into contraband? Following a similar AI model, associated with violent struggle.
When the device is tampered with correctional facilities in the United In 2018, a case that involved the
or not in contact with the patient, States could result in a more rapid Monterey County Jail cost $825,000
it can send an alarm. The needle in response to inmates in distress, for that county and the California
these devices is even smaller than a whether it is through self-harm, Forensic Medical Group.
thumb tac and the entire device is assault, or a natural crisis. A case in Lake County settled for
smaller than a watch face. To make Comparable monitoring devices more than $2 million, and a more
a weapon out of that would be have been in use since the 1960s recent case from Huntington Beach
difficult and the benefit outweighs with NASA, which was looking was filed in 2019 by the family of a
any danger. into and developing better ways to woman who claimed officers should
Just for a moment imagine remote monitor. In the 1970s, The have provided her with psychiatric
the use of CMGs in a county jail Kaiser Foundation International help during her time in custody. She
population. Gone would be the partnered with Lockheed Missiles died shortly after release. Although
multiple nurse visits with carts and Space Company to create a these figures are staggering, the
carrying medications and sharps remote monitoring system capable cost of human life should not be
to housing each day. Instead, a of providing healthcare delivery determined by our inability to care
diabetic inmate would wear a CMG that integrated into a rural location for those whom we incarcerate
that can inject medicine and capture limited medical services (Gruessner, due to lack of proper medical and
needed data. It would also send 2015). mental healthcare.
this data electronically to medical

AMERICANJails JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2022 | 33