By Jim Dickerson
Boone County Jail recently underwent several months of renovation work that helped to bring the jail into compliance with state standards.
“Primary purpose of the renovations was for safety of both our staff and jail visitors,” said Sheriff Denny Johnson.
The work included automatic locks on cell doors, as well as a remote visitation monitoring system.
Under the old system, visitors had to talk to prisoners through an opening in their cell doors, which could potentially cause a safety risk for the visitor, Johnson said. “That was a big security issue for us,” he said.
Using the new system, there is no face-to-face contact between the prisoner and visitor. Each of the jail cells have a telephone and camera unit.
The visitor can come into the law enforcement building, register with the dispatcher there, and then go to a room in the courthouse, where there is a similar telephone camera/unit that can be connected by the dispatcher to the jail cell for audio and video communication.
All of these visitations are monitored in the dispatch center.
The Boone County Jail has three cells. The center and south cells can now be electronically locked down from the dispatch center.
Read the complete story in the May 9 Albion News & Petersburg Press, Print and E-Editions.
