Fulton County Jail to use wristbands to track inmates

An upgraded inmate tracking system is coming to the Fulton County Jail. 

On Wednesday, the Fulton County Council gave Sheriff Travis Heishman its blessing to upgrade to a tracking system utilizing wristbands and software provided by Guard1, a brand of TimeKeeping Systems.

Heishman noted the jail already uses a Guard1 system, the PIPE, to track security rounds, however, this upgraded version will better help staff identify inmates and log movements. 

"They're going to have wristbands on them that's going to be encoded with whatever information we want in there," he said of inmates. "Specifically, we're looking at names, photos, any allergies, keep separates, gang affiliations, anything like this."

He stressed the importance of upgrading the system due to holding more federal and out-of-county inmates. As of Thursday, roughly 65 percent of inmates at the Fulton County Jail were being held for other agencies. Of 125 inmates, 66 were being held for Grant County, 14 for the U.S. Marshal Service and one each for Starke and Miami counties. 

Heishman proposed using revenue generated by holding such federal and out-of-county inmates to upgrade the tracking system. He noted the upfront cost was just shy of $23,000 and there would be an annual maintenance fee of $6,900. The council unanimously agreed with the proposal. 

The upgrade was initially suggested to Heishman by Jail Commander Cathi Collins and Asst. Jail Commander Marty Ehlinger, following a demonstration in 2023.

Prior to approval, Council President Ron Dittman questioned what would happen if an inmate intentionally removed their wristband. Heishman noted staff would quickly be made aware, adding the wristbands are tamper-resistant. In the case that a new one would need printed, a nominal fee is to be applied to the inmate. 

According to Guard1's website, the wristbands are printed with a strong polymer material meant to last for months and be unaffected by showers, heat, food and other stresses of daily life. Additionally, beacon tags are to send a signal once per second to receivers within the facility.

Officers will sign in to mobile devices to see a task list of all upcoming checks. They'll then complete and log rounds and inmate activities, with data uploaded in real-time and an electronic log available for reports.

Mobile devices can scan RFID tags that are mounted on walls or equipment, or they can scan tags that are in wristbands.

Such inmate tracking is used for gauging staff performance, increasing safety check accuracy, accreditation and to provide defensible evidence in the case of an incident or grievance, as correctional facilities open themselves up to liability without an electronic record of officer rounds and inmate activity.