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Optimizing Surveillance Systems in Correctional Settings Optimizing Surveillance Systems in Correctional Settings A Guide for Enhancing Safety and Security January 2021 Rochisha Shukla Bryce E. Peterson Lily Robin Daniel S. Lawrence urban.org This project was supported by Award No. 2015-R2-CX-K001, awarded by the US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice. The views expressed here are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the US Department of Justice, the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders. Funders do not determine research findings or the insights and recommendations of Urban experts. Further information on the Urban Institute’s funding principles is available at urban.org/fundingprinciples. We would like to thank staff from Minnesota Department of Corrections, Stillwater Correctional Facility, and Moose Lake Correctional Facility, who played a significant role working with the researchers for this study. We would further like to thank Victor Wanchena, Associate Warden of Administration of Stillwater Correctional Facility, for providing feedback on an earlier draft of this guide. Finally, we thank KiDeuk Kim, Senior Fellow at Urban, for his review and feedback on this guidebook. Cite as: Shukla, R., Lily Robin, Bryce E. Peterson, and Daniel S. Lawrence. 2020. Optimizing Surveillance Systems in Correctional Settings: A Guide for Enhancing Safety and Security. Washington, DC: Urban Institute. Contents PREFACE 1 STEP 1 – Identify a Facility and Unit for Improvement 2 STEP 2 – Assess Existing Camera Placement and Field of View 3 STEP 3 – Assess Existing Infrastructure 4 STEP 4 – Understand and Update Departmental Policies and Procedures 6 STEP 5 – Expand Camera Coverage and Minimize Blind Spots 7 Adding New Cameras 7 Repositioning Existing Cameras 8 Upgrading Cameras 8 Making Infrastructural Changes 9 STEP 6 – Make Other Hardware Upgrades 10 STEP 7 – Integrate Audio/Video Analytics 11 STEP 8 – Integrating Training Measures 12 STEP 9 – Continue Monitoring the System and Departmental Needs 13 CONCLUSION 14 REFERENCES 15 ABOUT THE AUTHORS 16 1 | Optimizing Surveillance Systems in Correctional Settings: A Guide for Enhancing Safety and Security Preface Rule violations in prison can substantially reduce Research on surveillance systems in other safety for staff and people who are incarcerated settings suggests cameras are most likely to be (Bottoms 1999; DiIulio 1987; Gendreau, Goggin, effective when actively monitored by trained and Law 1997; Toman 2019). Examination staff, strategically located, and integrated with of the 2011–2012 National Inmate Survey other technologies (La Vigne et al. 2011; Shukla found that 4 percent of people incarcerated et al. 2020). Despite such recommendations, in prison and more than 3 percent of those in there remains a lack of clear guidance about how jail will experience one or more incidents of to optimize and maximize the efficacy of sexual victimization during their incarceration surveillance systems in correctional facilities for (Beck et al. 2014), and that 14 percent of people preventing misconduct incidents or aiding their incarcerated in prison and 26 percent of those in investigation. Because there is already jail met the threshold for serious psychological widespread use of video surveillance in distress in the past 30 days, much higher than prisons and jails, this guidebook focuses on the 5 percent found in the general population optimizing these existing surveillance systems (Bronson and Berzofsky 2017). Furthermore, to improve institutional safety. survey data from 2007 through 2009 found that an estimated 58 percent of people To that end, this guidebook outlines nine steps incarcerated in prison and 62 percent of those for correctional agencies that are looking to in jail met the criteria for drug dependence or improve or enhance their surveillance systems. It abuse (Bronson et al. 2017). Given these rates, is grounded in current research and findings it is critical that correctional administrators from a recent effort to upgrade and optimize efficiently monitor and manage facilities the video and audio surveillance systems at two and implement strategies to promote safety state correctional facilities. Led by the Urban and curtail misconduct. To accomplish these Institute in partnership with the Minnesota goals, facilities have a long history of Department of Corrections, that effort focused implementing a wide range of security on enhancing the prisons’ surveillance systems, technologies and features. One study revealed addressing challenges and gaps, and improving that half of all surveyed corrections institutions facility safety for staff and people incarcerated. were using internal surveillance tools like To better understand the prisons’ needs, Urban closed-circuit television as early as 1989 (Travis, interviewed prison leadership and staff, including Latessa, and Oldendick 1989), and repeated wardens, correctional officers, and security scans of practice (e.g., Allard, Wortley, and leads, as well as information technology leads Stewart 2006) have confirmed that video involved in infrastructure and camera installation, surveillance is widely used in corrections configuration, and maintenance. We outline the settings, part of a growing movement toward lessons derived from that study in the following the integration of more sophisticated steps, which can help other correctional agencies corrections technology.1 identify surveillance goals, consider their systems’ limitations and constraints, and develop strategies for meaningful improvements. 1 “Technology in Corrections,” National Institute of Corrections, accessed July 14, 2020, https://nicic.gov/technology-corrections. 2 | Optimizing Surveillance Systems in Correctional Settings: A Guide for Enhancing Safety and Security STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7 STEP 8 STEP 9 STEP 1 Identify a Facility and Unit for Improvement Departments of corrections should begin placement of cameras needed for a dormitory- updating their surveillance systems by style housing unit would be different than for a identifying the facilities and units in which they cell-style housing unit. should target improvements. It may be best to first identify a facility, then determine which In addition, surveillance needs are largely specific units in that facility would most benefit governed by institutional safety. Departments from improvded surveillance. This may be should consider the number and nature of better than identifying problem “hotspots” misconducts by unit and facility before deciding throughout a facility because the necessary about surveillance upgrades. They should begin infrastructural changes needed for facility-wide by asking why certain units or facilities have surveillance upgrades would be much more significantly more misconducts than others and expensive than focusing on one or more units. identify where in the units these misconducts occur. Facilities and units with more misconducts Importantly, departments should identify could benefit more from an enhanced or facilities and/or units by assessing their optimized surveillance system. Still, surveillance current needs. They can do so by conducting needs in these locations may vary based on a walkthrough of their facilities and talking to numerous factors, like the locations and types correctional staff about needs and challenges. of misconduct incidents and the strengths and It may be helpful to begin thinking about weaknesses of the current surveillance system. facilities’ architectural layout. Different correctional facilities have different types By considering the above factors, departments of layouts with unique surveillance needs. of corrections can identify the units and facilities For instance, the number, types, and physical to target for improvement. 3 | Optimizing Surveillance Systems in Correctional Settings: A Guide for Enhancing Safety and Security STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7 STEP 8 STEP 9 STEP 2 Assess Existing Camera Placement and Field of View After identifying target units and/or facilities, Appropriate personnel, such as specialists in the departments can start optimizing their target facility’s or unit’s information technology surveillance systems by studying their existing system, electronic system, and physical design, systems (including strengths and weaknesses) should assess existing cameras. The assessment more carefully. For instance, administrators should focus on the cameras’ placement and should identify gaps by considering how fields of view to understand camera coverage appropriate a prison’s system is for its layout and clarity, identify blind spots, and determine and how effectively it has reduced misconducts whether other issues associated with the and increased safety. camera system exist. Furthermore, it should include a physical inspection of each camera’s One of the first aspects to consider is the current placement and location, a visual inspection of system’s camera placements and field of view. each camera’s field of view from the monitors, Questions to consider include the following: a map of the most important blinds spots and areas where camera clarity or coverage y Do facilities have any areas (e.g., hallways, should be improved, and recommendations for cells, janitorial closets) that are not repositioning cameras and placing new ones. sufficiently surveilled by cameras? Departments may find that their existing y In surveilled areas, are there “blind spots” surveillance systems are addressing
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