Guardian RFID debuts cloud-based prison platform with facial recognition

Guardian RFID, a Maple Grove, Minnesota-based company that specializes in correctional facility technology, has launched a cloud product that utilizes facial recognition and AI to improve the situational awareness for correctional officers.

The company’s ‘Command Cloud’ is a suite of applications and products that uses cameras, cloud computing, AI and machine learning, radio frequency identification (RFID) and face biometrics to enhance awareness, collaboration, insight and discoverability for correctional facilities, according to Guardian RFID in a press release.

Guardian RFID says the Command Cloud replaces the outmoded system that created blind spots that allowed inmates into unapproved locations, missing equipment, and attacks on correctional officers. With the portfolio of technology it offers, the Command Cloud is said to unify data from multiple sources and allow officers to have greater awareness of a situation.

Some examples include detection of human motion to identify whether approved individuals are in their designated locations and facial recognition for confirming inmate identities for approved access to facilities and locations.

“Too often, bad things happen on camera that go unnoticed in real-time. Officers or inmates are assaulted in plain view but without an elevated level of situational awareness, response times are delayed,” says Greg Piper, director of Academy at Guardian RFID. “When we bring together all relevant operational data and monitoring systems, we increase the awareness, provide the right context and can work toward reducing both the number and severity of incidents.”

Similar systems include one used by The Singapore Prison Service for inmate management, and their adoption appears to be increasing. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has condemned continual biometric recognition of prisoners, arguing that they are excessive surveillance and will incentivize private prisons to monetize inmates.

Article Topics

access control  |  AI  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  cloud services  |  facial recognition  |  person detection  |  prisons  |  video surveillance