Sheriff Russ Skinner risked his long law enforcement career to win a temporary appointed position, but was unsuccessful, unexpectedly losing the July 30 Democratic primary.
Besides completing the job his former boss, Paul Penzone, set out to do: take the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office off the watchful eye of a court monitor, his biggest challenge has been in recent years in the county jail. The goal was to reduce the number of deaths, which remained high.
Efforts on the latter will begin in earnest after the winner of the Nov. 5 general election takes over, but Skinner is leading the charge.
Skinner’s team is researching a wrist-worn device similar to a Fitbit that would track inmates’ vitals and alert authorities if a health emergency occurs.
And at Maricopa County Jail, that happens all too often.
Prison mortality rates are shockingly high
Even more troubling is the alarmingly high rate of emergencies resulting in death.
As Arizona Republic reporter Jimmy Jenkins reported earlier this month, over the past five years, the number of deaths in Maricopa County’s jails has skyrocketed even as the average daily population has declined. The death rate is more than four times the national average.
In 2019, 11 people died in prison. That number increased to 43 in both 2022 and 2023.
Skinner and county officials note they are dealing with more people with opioid addictions, sometimes combined with methamphetamines. We also deal with many more people who are subjecting their bodies to greater suffering in the stifling heat during the summer.
Monitoring wristbands set to thresholds for specific heart rate, oxygen levels, and body temperature measurements theoretically provides an automatic detection method not possible with visual inspection.
This could be especially helpful given continued prison staffing shortages.
Wristband monitors could save lives
Many prison and prison institutions have begun experimenting with health-monitoring wristbands. some of them for the same reason As MCSO: In-custody deaths due to suicide, overdose, or other health problems.
prison system Bernalillo County, New Mexico — home to Albuquerque, the state’s most populous city — and several regions counties in georgia has also started a similar initiative.
The Avondale Police Department, located about 20 miles west of downtown Phoenix, started a watch list bracelet program last summer, issuing bracelets to everyone booked into the jail. The department reported great satisfaction with the results obtained.
Officer Daniel Benavidez said the device saved at least one inmate last year. Authorities were alerted when the man’s heart rate decreased. By the time jail staff rushed to him, he was unresponsive and not breathing.
Staff began CPR and revived the inmate before transporting him to the hospital.
Results were mixed elsewhere.
Still, Avondale kept all of its roughly 3,500 people behind bars last year. in Maricopa County every day The prison population in 2023 was more than 6,500 people.
Vendors tout their benefits, but the results are mixed.
The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office in Atlanta agreed to a deal in 2023 with a Georgia company to track inmates with electronic wristbands. Fulton County Commissioners canceled the agreement. A few months later.
Fewer than 50 inmates were equipped with the device, far from the 500 promised with $2.1 million in tax dollars.
I sent a man to prison for 290 years.it still bothers me
The devices can also be programmed to detect excessive physical activity, such as running or fighting, and there has been pushback from liberals who believe the devices, which can track prisoners’ whereabouts within 1 to 2 meters, amount to unwarranted surveillance. are also appearing.
The Florida Department of Corrections recently required inmates to wear electronic bracelets. Advocates and families voiced concerns. Their heart rates are monitored for drug use and they face punishment if they refuse to wear the device.
Maricopa County Sheriff is on the right track.
Skinner has people in mind, such as people with drug addictions, mental health problems, people at risk of suicide, or people with medical conditions of concern. It’s a much narrower group. They have already been identified through medical examinations upon admission to the prison.
A surveillance wristband in the shape of a sheriff would give Maricopa County jail staff a fighting chance to intervene in medical emergencies and suicide attempts.
The county is drafting a request for information for potential vendors.
The program likely won’t happen, Skinner said, even if the process and county supervisors’ approval were expedited.
But it has the potential to reverse the trend of prison inmates dying at alarming rates. For that, Mr. Skinner should be praised for planting the seeds of this effort.
Contact Abe Kwok akwok@azcentral.com. On X (formerly Twitter): @abekwok.
