Buchanan County Jail finalizing security upgrades

By Jenna Wilson

The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office is rolling out security upgrades to the county jail, including intercoms and wristbands to monitor inmates and their health.

With the help of grant funding, the sheriff’s office has 100 percent video surveillance coverage of all buildings and grounds, intercoms are being added to the cells and inmates will now be equipped with armband trackers.

“We have more than doubled the amount of cameras in and around the facility,” said Lt. Joe Lysaght with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office. “Now, we are retrofitting all the cells upstairs in the housing floor with intercoms and the third project we are working on just started recently and that is an armband tracker that all the inmates will have on them. It’s a real-time live tracking and it also monitors heartbeat.”

The newly added intercom will be a two-way intercom between the officer and inmates where they can communicate back and forth. Additionally, all inmates will be required to wear the armband that will alarm officers when an inmate’s heartbeat gets below or above a certain level.

Lysaght said each of these upgrades is bringing even more security to the jail than before, which they hope will alleviate any issues and build trust between law enforcement, inmates and the community.

“If everybody is always on camera and always being monitored, then transparency is always there,” he said. “The intercoms are what we’re really looking forward to because the inmates always have questions for us and it all comes down to making people feel secure.”

All security cameras and intercoms have been installed and are being tested in the jail. Officials said they hope to have all inmate wristbands online and functioning in a week.