Bureau of Prisons access control system: Functional & operational requirements

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) operates 86 correctional institutions nation-wide, The BOP has grown dramatically, the size of its inmate population growing from just over 41,000 inmates in 1987 to over 100,000 today. The number of BOP staff managing these facilities has grown correspondingly, more than doubling in number in the same ten year period. Technology has paid a major role in keeping up with this growth while maintaining high standards of security in BOP institutions. In an attempt to further enhance security in its institutions, the BOP has recently begun pilot testing an Access Control and Entry System (ACES). ACES is intended to provide an automated record of every entry and exit to a correctional institution. AGES takes advantage of several methods of identifying an individual (inmate, staff or visitor) to assure that the individual exiting the institution is the same as the individual entering. The pilot test has raised a number of questions regarding the implementation of a technologically sophisticated system in a correctional institution. Questions of training, support, ''ownership'', cost effectiveness, and future potential all influence the deployment of this system. Preliminary results indicate that an adequate training and support system is essential to the performance of any sophisticated system and that other organizational issues need to be addressed before the decision to implement is made.