LAUDERDALE COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — The Lauderdale County Detention Center recently added a new lock system to jail cell doors and a new system called “Guardian” to keep track of inmates.
Locked in and no way out, a new state-of-the-art lock system is on every jail cell door inside the Lauderdale County Detention Center.
Sheriff Joe Hamilton said the original locks had been used since the 1960s, so it was time to upgrade.
“We had a problem with some of the locks being popped inside of the jail, so we have come in and placed a more secure locking system inside the hallways where the cells are,” Hamilton said.
The Lauderdale County Detention Center recently got the guardian system, which helps corrections officers keep track of over 300 inmates.
Director of Corrections Matt Burbank said the Guardian system allows officers to stay on top of their responsibilities for inmates.
“It’s designed to make sure everybody gets what they’re supposed to get, making sure everyone is getting their proper food with the calorie intake, make sure they’re getting medicine, their commissary if they want it, all that is now digitally logged,” Burbank said.
This is how it works, each inmate wears a wristband, that wristband is then used by the system to monitor where they go and what they do inside the jail.
Burbank said with the new system, they can make sure each inmate in the cell receives their meal each day.
Sheriff Hamilton said it also tracks when an inmate needs their medication or treatment.
“If someone is in a cell that may have a medical condition that may be on an elevated risk level the device will alert the corrections officer to check, even if they’re busy, they’ll get that alert that it’s been 15 minutes to go check on this person then they’ll scan and load it into the system,” Hamilton said.
Burbank said after Vicky White helped Casey White escape from the jail back in 2022, they continue to take new steps to crack down on security.
“It was very unsafe for the officers for other inmates because inmates have a lot of time to study stuff, and these locks were built in the 90s, so the new engineering just makes it safer for the inmates and my staff,” Burbank said.
Burbank also mentioned that more additions to the jail are in the works to continue the safety and wellbeing of staff and inmates.
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