ATLANTA — After months of delays, the Fulton County Sheriff's Office is starting to use wearable wristbands to monitor the health of county inmates.
“This particular pod right here, 100– we have 16 inmates in here who are wearing our inside the wall band technology,” Talitrix representative Ben Finley said
Finley added they are currently monitoring the health vitals of some inmates in the mental health ward. The wearable wristband sends real-time alerts to ensure the safety of inmates.
“Say they were trying to commit suicide or maybe they took some medication that was interacting with them or something, or maybe they had some unknown heart condition and their heart rate went down below acceptable standard almost to nonexistent, we would want to get in there obviously and get them to the medical unit,” Finley said.
In addition to monitoring health vitals, the band also physically tracks the inmates to help ensure they get “out of cell time” and make sure those who are not supposed to interact with each other don’t.
“Once this facility is completely built out, you will be able to track all the inmates from the pod, when they come in here to central and head over to medical. If they’re going out to the yard, you will be able to see where they’re at and where they’re going,” Finley added.
In April, county commissioners, approved a contract for $2 million in emergency funds, after an inmate was found dead in his cell covered with bedbugs. The contract was for 1,000 watches for Rice Street inmates, as well as the installation of the monitoring system, which should have been up and running in July.
In early September, Talitrix's CEO Justin Hawkins said they were still diligently working to get the system online, after encountering unforeseen delays due to jail conditions and staffing concerns trying to move inmates, so the system could be safely installed.
And, even though only 16 of the 1,000 bands are online– jail staff said the system is already making a difference.
“So far, it’s been very, very helpful to us, just helping us with an extra, extra level of making sure these guys are safe, and that they’re being taken care of the way they should be taken care of,” Fulton County Sheriff Captain Temeka Cherry said.
Officials said they have started the installation on the second inmate pod and hope to have more wristbands online next month.