Are faulty radios making prisons more dangerous? N.C. officials respond.
Current and former prison officers have told Observer reporters that faulty radios put their lives at risk. The Observer asked North Carolina Department of Public Safety officials about officers’ concerns. Here is their response, provided by DPS spokeswoman Pamela Walker:
The safety of employees, visitors and inmates are Secretary Hooks’ top priorities, and under his leadership the Department of Public Safety has and will continue to implement actions to make prisons safer.
Immediately after the Oct. 12 incident at Pasquotank, the Department began a thorough assessment of the incident as well prison operations across the state to determine where additional changes to policies, procedures or safety measures are necessary. Since you are asking about safety tools and technology, it is important to note that one of the action items included starting an advisory committee to consider and recommend additional technology and individual devices to enhance the safety and security of prison and Correction Enterprises staff, prison facilities and plant operations. That committee is now in place and Kenneth Lassiter, the Director of Prisons is working with this committee as they research the best safety tools and technology.
We strongly encourage all officers with a concern or an issue regarding their radio to immediately notify their chain of command at their facility. If their concerns are not promptly addressed, the officers should contact their facility head or an assistant superintendent or administrative officer. Upon first hearing of the concerns shared about radios in prisons, prison management directed all facilities to inventory and assess their radios and PA systems.
Also, many of the facilities you listed (Lanesboro, Scotland, Harnett, Central Prison) have been upgraded from the conventional radio system to a new Nexedge digital Trunking system.
For your specific questions, please see below.
Observer question: What are your concerns about what officers are saying with regard to malfunctioning equipment - particularly radios?
DPS answer: The Secretary’s Office and Prisons Administration understand that working equipment and especially working radios are critical to correctional officers and strongly encourage officers to report any issues to his/her immediate supervisor so radios can be promptly repaired or replaced. If a battery is malfunctioning or needs to be replaced, we strongly encourage officers to ask the armory officer for a new battery, which the armories keep in stock to meet the needs of the officers.
According to the Radio Communications Office, new radios are in stock to replace broken radios. Each facility should have an overage of radios to replace any broken radios.
Q: Do you have any information about what percentage of prison radios malfunction?
A: The Radio Communications Manager says that about 5 percent malfunction. With technology improvements, the department has reduced radio malfunctions from about 15 percent to about 5 percent over the past few years.
Q: How much does DPS spend each year on new radios? How much does it spend to fix radios?
A: Around $400,000 for replacements. The department employs technicians to repair the radios instead of outsourcing at a cost of about $82,000 a year (employee salaries, materials).
Q: Does the prison system equip any of its prison officers with body alarms, which send an alert to other prison staff if an officer gets into trouble or falls to the ground? If so, please describe how many officers are equipped with this technology?
A: The department is currently investigating equipping officers with body alarms, along with looking at other technologies that could aid in the safety and security of our correctional officers and the facility. We are committed to procuring and deploying some type of “officer down” technology.
A: Yes, the department normally replaces radios every 5 to 7 years based on technology changes and FCC mandates. Also, as the radios break beyond repair, they are replaced with new ones. As noted previously, facilities can send in a radio to the radio shop to be repaired or replaced at any time.
Q: Do superintendents or leaders at individual prisons have the authority to purchase additional radios or batteries for their prisons? Or do they have to go through DPS officials in Raleigh? How does the purchasing process work?
A: Director Lassiter says prison superintendents/administrators are the sole arbiters of the quantity of radios and accessories on hand. They do not need any other approvals from upper management.
DPS Radio Communications Warehouse buys all the radio equipment in bulk, lowering the cost of the equipment dramatically. The equipment is stored at the warehouse and provided to individual facilities throughout DPS upon their request.
This story was originally published November 29, 2017 at 9:15 AM with the headline "Are faulty radios making prisons more dangerous? N.C. officials respond.."