A report shows that due to the increase in violence in American prisons, cameras are placed on the clothes of American prison guards.
Pak Sahafat News Agency – Thousands of guards in Ohio state prisons will start using cameras that can be mounted on clothes for the first time in 2022; the move will be enforced by the Ohio Prison Administration at a time when the coronavirus epidemic and the shortage of security guards are threatening many inmates.
According to the New York Times, Annette Chambers-Smith, director of the Ohio State Prison, says the state is buying 5,100 cameras mounted on clothing that will be used by guards and officers in all state prisons.
The move comes as several other states have begun using cameras mounted on clothing in prisons and detention centers, albeit on a smaller scale.
The move comes amid growing criticism that prison guards, like US police officers, are constantly involved in violent clashes.
The plan to install cameras that can be mounted on officers’ uniforms comes after Michael McDaniel, a 55-year-old prisoner, was killed in January last year after guards threw him down several times.
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A forensic center reported the death of the prisoner as murder, and the prison system was forced to fire seven guards and a nurse; two other employees resigned following this issue and no criminal charges were filed in this regard.
Surveillance video recorded many of the guards’s encounters with McDaniel, which showed him being thrown 16 times to the ground in less than an hour.
In state and federal prisons across the United States, authorities try to recruit enough guards to fill the capacity of retirees with Covid-19 or those who avoid dangerous work; the escalation of violence in these prisons has prompted efforts by authorities.
In New York, stabbings have increased at the Rickers Prison Complex, and various gangs in the prison have increased their influence during the epidemic.
Prison officials in several other US states, including Wisconsin and Georgia, have begun installing cameras on the clothes of some prison guards.
A lawsuit in California over violations of the rights of prisoners with disabilities by prison guards prompted a judge to order officers from five state prisons to be equipped with cameras.