High-Tech Prisons: Latest Technologies Drive Cost Savings and Staff Efficiencies

Compared with five years ago, emerging prison technologies are not only better and more reliable, they are cheaper. Innovations such as touch-screen access control, nonlethal fencing and digital video offer substantial savings in staffing costs and operations. Fewer escapes and drastic reductions in contraband are difficult to quantify but contribute to overall safety and lower liability.

During the past 25 years, widespread use of technology in correctional facilities has not been the norm. In the early 1980s, prisons and jails may have employed a smattering of cameras, but it was rare for facilities to be technology-driven. That all changed in the mid to late 1990s. Cameras, for instance, became significantly less costly and maintenance also became less of an issue. In fact, during the past five to eight years, the price of video systems has come down as much as 40 percent due to decreases in cost of hardware. A 1,000-bed system that once cost $750,000 may now cost less than $500,000.