It often seems that people equate the idea of being under video surveillance with the invidious spectre of Orwell’s 1984. Big Brother is watching! I disagree that such surveillance is an invasion of privacy. Unmonitored or furtive surveillance would be cause for concern; however, most video surveillance is passive, broad-based and general. Surveillance of this nature greatly contributes to public security. As a forensic and/or investigative tool, video recordings provide invaluable information and data to law enforcement agencies investigating criminal acts; for example: the 9/11 terrorists were identified by surveillance tapes as were a number of the London subway bombers.
Video Surveillance is about providing citizens with security and a sense of protection. And it works! Privacy advocates steeped to their eyeballs in Orwell and Huxley are jaundiced by paranoid thoughts of their own imagination. I would recommend to these people that they read Robert J. Sawyer’s extraordinary trilogy, Hominids, Humans and Hybrids. Sawyer creates a surveillance system that would be the envy of “Big Brother”, the Alibi Archives. The Alibi Archives do not exist for sinister, malevolent purpose, but rather for precisely what their title implies. The Alibi Archives are complete, moment by moment recordings of each person’s life. Nobody has access to the recordings except under special circumstances, specifically to solve an alleged criminal act. When someone is accused of a crime, he or she can ask the his or her alibi archive recording of the time frame be reviewed by the court to determine the truth. The recording cuts both ways; you are either innocent or guilty, but the accused receives absolutely fair and impartial justice.
Sawyer’s novels explore the converse side of surveillance as invasive malevolence, demonstrating that it is just as possible for surveillance to protect, assure and guarantee the freedoms and security for citizens. With those points in mind, it seems to me that comprehensive, blanket video surveillance would be compulsory and mandated by law for all state prisons; particularly that maintenance of security is the primary objective at corrections facilities.
Curiously, the department is resistant to video surveillance. Officials claim (not entirely without truth) that such surveillance systems are costly and outside of the current budget. Video surveillance in the prison system would dramatically increase security. Anyone resistant to the program would have something to conceal. No? Prison employees have no right to privacy at work, and inmates have no right to privacy at all. If I were an officer, I would welcome a system that improved the overall security of the facility as well as my personal security. Video surveillance would ease the job of prison inspectors and investigators since they could simply review tapes rather than interviewing witnesses of events which would be based on hearsay. Video footage does not lie and cannot be bribed. Video cameras do not turn their backs, blink or fall asleep. Prison guards and inmates do all of the above. Given these benefits, I would suggest that failing to blanket state prison compounds under video surveillance is irresponsible and dangerously negligent. Could video surveillance have alerted officers at Tamoka Correctional Institution that the officer who was murdered was in trouble and allowed her life to be saved? Maybe or maybe not, but video surveillance as an additional security measure that protects and could possibly save the lives of officers as well as inmates is well worth installing. What is a life worth? Inmates who are aware that all of their actions and activities are being recorded are less likely to violate rules and act contrary to regulations. The fact that an inmate knows that whatever he or she does is being recorded is a stunningly effective deterrent to illegal activities in prison. Very few people will commit acts that they know they have no chance of getting away with, thus, thefts, violent assaults, stabbing, gang activity, drug dealing and selling contraband would be reduced if not eliminated. Inmates will not smile knowing they are on candid camera. Prison officials are often unaware of what is occurring on prison compounds until it is too late or until an inmate informant tips off officials. Inmate informants are not motivated by a sense of right or wrong or justice, but usually for their own self-interests. Homosexuality is a chronic source of problems and conflicts in prisons.
The benefits of video surveillance in the prison system are numerous. Installing such systems would provide relief to the constant need for employees in the prison system. Maintenance of internal security is the primary concern of all prison officials. Video surveillance would assure that these objectives are met and further assure the safety of the general public.
By: Michael Anthony Wachter
mwachter452002@gmail.com