NCJ Number
185115
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 62 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2000 Pages: 54-70
Date Published
July 2000
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article describes some technological concepts currently in research and development stages that could be available within the next decade to achieve significant changes in corrections as well as other enterprises.
Abstract
Richard Baker, law enforcement technology program manager at the Space and Naval Warfare Center in North Charleston, S.C., is developing a personal health status monitor that, in its initial form, will use acoustics to track the heartbeat and respiration of a person in a cell; the appeal of this invention is that the monitor does not need to be located on the person of the inmate. Mistral Security of Bethesda, Md., in conjunction with researchers at the University of Maryland, is developing a single spray that will test for all drugs at once and may also include barbiturates and LSD. Test paper will turn different colors depending on which drugs the spray contacts; several positive results will be possible with a single use of the spray. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta have developed a set of easy-to-use radars that are useful for a variety of correctional applications. The hand-held radar flashlight can detect the respiration of a human in a cell from behind a 20-centimeter hollow-core concrete wall or an 8-inch cinder block wall. It instantly gives the user a bar-graph readout that is viewed on the apparatus itself. A personal alarm location system permits prompt emergency responses to persons who press a button on a transmitter carried on their person. This transmits a signal to a central location; the signal shows the geographic location of the person sending the distress signal. Four other new technologies are also described in this article.