COBB COUNTY, Georgia — Hundreds of Cobb County prisoners will soon start wearing a special medical device, in an effort to limit the growing number of deaths at the jail just in the last month.
Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens told WSB-TV that the device will help jail workers keep a closer watch. In May, three prisoners reportedly died at the Cobb County jail. At least two of them were under mental health supervision.
It’s a problem Owens hopes to solve with a device about the size of a wristwatch. Isaac Newton is a part of the team that designed this orange wrist device that inmates considered to be “at-risk” will soon have to wear at the Cobb County jail.
“Suicides are the leading cause of death in jails currently,” Newton said. “It senses a lack of motion, if we sense a heartrate. We’re going to get a removal alarm and we’ll get it somewhere in the area of 15-30 seconds.”
The device, according to Owens, can also sense if an inmate has taken it off, alerting jail staff in about 15-30 seconds.
“When people are determined to hurt themselves, it’s not a lot that we can do sometimes.” Owens said.
Owens says he believes it’s a long-term solution to a growing problem. He says not only does Cobb County now have 24-hour mental health care at the jail, but these devices will also hopefully get jail staff to medical emergencies quicker.
“We are going to achieve some of those things by technology, because we just don’t have enough people to do the things we need to do,” Owens said. “I don’t want one death, one death is too many.”
The devices are on a Bluetooth system, so there’s always a risk with data safety. However, it will operate on the jail’s secured network. It will also cost the county about $100 per device.
