Big Brother is alive and he's working for corrections agencies around the world.Implants, global monitoring and voice recognition systems are being introduced to keep an eye on offenders released from prison. Those implants could even be programmed to demobilize or kill the offender if warnings went unanswered.
Sound frightening? Corrections consultant Stephen Carter agrees.
"This is very scary technology," said Carter, who added that "potentially evil" abilities exist with these sorts of devices.
However, Carter acknowledged that the likelihood of such a scenario happening is slim. "These implants are to be used in some states as strictly a tracking device."
Carter, of the South Carolina-based consulting firm Carter Goble Associates, spoke yesterday at an international conference on alternatives to imprisonment.
The Beyond Prisons conference, held at Queen's University's Donald Gordon Centre, concludes today with a tour of area prisons. The four-day conference is attended by representatives from more than 35 countries.
The symposium focuses on ways to divert offenders away from overcrowded, costly prisons and into community corrections systems like probation and parole. Carter's presentation looked at how officials could monitor a large offender population outside of prison walls.
Since 40 per cent of American parolees re-offend or violate the conditions of their parole, a tight rein on offenders is needed, Carter said.
As caseloads for corrections workers increase, it's becoming more and more difficult to maintain contact with their parolees. Carter said this is unfortunate but unavoidable.
"This is not the way to be going. We need more human interaction," said Carter. But the number of new cases does not allow this to happen.
Enter Big Brother. The new technologies are effective and much cheaper than keeping an inmate in prison. Older ankle bracelets are being replaced by new monitoring devices that are lighter and more accurate.
Implants, through surgery or simple injection, can be followed by Global Positioning System satellites. This system can pinpoint an offender's location anywhere in the world.
Voice recognition telephone systems can verify an offender's identity, and trace their location in case the offender is not where he or she should be, a case worker will know within minutes.
Electronic identification kiosks -- or the correctional equivalent of an automated banking machine -- will allow offenders to exchange information and pay user fees.
Carter was optimistic about these new technologies and their place in corrections systems of the future. However, he cautioned that these changes will not and should not be implemented overnight.
"We do not want to make a quantum leap from incarceration to total community supervision."
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