Paulding County Jail gets inmate health monitoring system

PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. - The Paulding County Sheriff's Office is installing a new $600,000 high-tech monitoring system inside the county jail to track inmate health and prevent medical emergencies.

What we know:

Crews are currently digging into the ceilings at the Paulding County jail to build out a high-tech network of monitors. The devices will be mounted on cell walls to detect the movement, heartbeats, and breathing rates of inmates.

The project costs $600,000, but jail authorities say they are not using taxpayer money to pay for it. Instead, the sheriff's office is using opioid funding to cover the full cost.

Dig deeper:

The monitors are being placed in five dozen holding and medical cells, which officials describe as high-priority "trouble spots". These areas are often full of people facing mental health crises or detoxing from drugs and alcohol.

"Being in the corrections field for 22 years, technology is increasing daily," said Capt. Keith Thomas, assistant jail administrator. "Jails need this to combat opioid overdoses and suicide prevention."

The backstory:

The sheriff's office says that corrections is the highest liability a sheriff has. This technology is intended to keep inmates safe while keeping the jail out of legal trouble. Currently, the jail is at about half-capacity with roughly 300 inmates.

What's next:

While the current project focuses on 62 fixed monitors, the sheriff's office wants to eventually expand the program. Future plans may include placing these devices in every jail cell and adding wearable monitors for inmates to track health data in real-time.