Real-life jail cam may be shut down

The Anderson County Tennessee Sheriff's Department has been streaming its real-life jail cam live on the internet for six years.

DISCLAIMER
This is a real life transmission of the Anderson County Sheriff's Department. Instances of violence or sexually inappropriate behavior by detainees during the booking process may occur. Viewer discretion is advised. This is a Jail, not a simulation. The persons in this transmission are either employees of the Anderson County Sheriff's Department or arrestees.

Now, the AP is reporting that the jail cam may go dark because of security concerns. Apparently, web viewers have been calling the Sheriff's Department to sexually harass female prison guards at work. Others have been using the webcam to facilitate the smuggling of contraband into the jail.

There's a part of me that says, "No fucking kidding! What kind of idiot installs a live webcam in a jail?"

Yet, there's another part of me that wants the jail-cam to continue because it's just such a weird and fascinating anomaly. Again, what kind of idiot installs a live webcam in a jail?

Comments

[TW Andrews]

There's a part of me that says, "No fucking kidding! What kind of idiot installs a live webcam in a jail?"

Yet, there's another part of me that wants the jail-cam to continue because it's just such a weird and fascinating anomaly. Again, what kind of idiot installs a live webcam in a jail?

I dunno, if I were ever to go to jail, I'd much rather it have a live webcam then be totally inaccessible to public scrutiny. Basically, if a jail is comfortable with a live camera which they have no possibility of redacting, or censoring, I'm guessing that they're less likely to mistreat people.

It's obviously not a panacea, but I don't see it being anything but a net benefit to the people who are brought in.

[The Phantom]

I took a look at the jailcam. It's at the front desk, a public area.

And I think TW's statements have merit--having this area visible to the public seems a good thing to me also.

The only possible downside would be that someone would be embarrassed to be seen there, being checked in or whatever, but those arrested or convicted have always been subjected to perp walks etc so this really is nothing new.

What's wrong with it?

[Utica]

Phantomi sez: "what's wrong with it?"
i say: why exactly is it a good idea? (i.e. what does ANYONE stand to gain?)

...american prisoners get raped all the time, they have already been denied their dignity and now they get put on the internet. if they've commited a felony they'll probably not ever have a job that pays living wage...oh and no voting...

p.s. i don't think the purpose of the broadcast was transparency; it's not really the justice system's bag.

[aeroman]

I'm from East Tennessee! We always do such kooky things. Ask us about our cockfights!

It seems like the contraband issue alone would be enough to caution against this. I can understand, though, why an employee would be annoyed by being put on a webcam when it seems so irrelevant to the job. And, of course, there are humiliation issues. These are minor but not overwhelming reasons against. What strikes me is just that there's no plausible reason for. I see no civil liberties benefit to monitoring just one area... and streaming video can be expensive. Anderson County, I can assure you, does not swim in money.

[The Phantom]

Utica

You have so many confused thoughts here, I barely know where to begin

--...american prisoners get raped all the time, they have already been denied their dignity and now they get put on the internet. if they've commited a felony they'll probably not ever have a job that pays living wage...oh and no voting...--

Homosexual rape is rife in prison, but I've never heard of an incident of it happening at the front desk. I think it would be possible to stamp it out, but there are almost no American politicians who speak of such things. Perhaps you can guide me.

The biggest deniers of dignity in prison are by other prisoners.

And the vote thing? What does that have to do with the price of a pack of cigarettes in Green Haven?

Webcams are a neat technology. They cost very little. I don't see anything in the world wrong with this webcam.

[Auguste]

A completely unimportant part of all this is that I obviously haven't watched a webcam since back when the craze first started; MAN that's some high quality video. I'm still thinking of updated-every-twenty-seconds-if-you're-lucky stuff, and this...wow.

Damn kids get off my lawn.

[shawn]

1. There is a difference between a "jail," a "house of correction (HOC)," and a "prison." A jail is for people who have been arrested but not convicted. An HOC is for people convicted of minor crimes, usually servinge sentences less than 30 months. A prison is pretty much anything that isn't ruled out by the first two definitions. Prisons are run by the state or federal government. Jails and HOCs are run by the town or county.

2. The following is a gross generalization: I can't speak for prisons, but at jails and HOCs, the employees pose a larger threat than the other inmates or arrestees. The AP article refers to this institution as a "jail," but I think it may also be a house of correction, i.e., I think sentenced inmates serve time there.

3. Lindsay is right: having a webcam at a jail is stupid and brilliant all at the same time. Every issue the AP story talks about was wholly predictable. Especially the contraband thing. Inmates find ways to sneak things into custody that are nothing short of genius. What surprises me is not that the webcam is in trouble, but that it lasted as long as it did.

[shawn]

An odd coincidence:

Auguste, I read a comment from you on fauxrealtho.com today where you mentioned Jeff Magnum, so I took note. And now I encounter you again, on a totally different site. Twice in one day? I guess we're like totally friends now.

[1984 Was Not a Shopping List]

I applied for a job teaching ESL at a correctional facility a while back. The most difficult aspect of it was when they brought me into the dorms, where I would have been teaching, and the toilets were all in full view of everyone.

That was a grim experience, and it made me feel that negotiating the psychological questions of human dignity and development and rehabilitation (for these were mostly people convicted of minor offenses) was going to be a very complex process. I never felt quite like that before; usually, you interview thinking, "I have a certain way of dealing with the good people at work, and if there's a difficult person or two, I have a straightforward and honest way of dealing with them, too, and it always works out so that we work together with respect. There." (This is in California workplaces; YMMV.) And so you have your work face set for every likely eventuality. But that interview made me feel that instead of going down a few well-trodden paths of interrelating, which you know so well that you walk them almost unconsciously, I would have gone into a total wilderness. I felt that from the looks I received from the men, who felt, of course, like caged animals on display. I don't know if they'd be so keen on a webcam.

[none]

The guestbook link points to a nonexistent Majikthise guestbook, not the jail's.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Guestbook link fixed.

If I were running a jail, the last thing I'd want would be a realtime video of the movements of staff and inmates. As they found out, it would be a big help for would-be smugglers of contraband.

I also feel bad for the employees on whose asses the camera is literally trained.

[pecunium]

Shit. My dad's a deputy in Anderson County. I ought to ask him about this.

Phantom: Felonies cost one the right to vote, but the individual states determine whether or not one gets them back. Not the state one lives in, but the state which convicted one. That was part of the, ignored, scandal in Flordia, they were purging people based on Fla. law, not the law of the state which had revoked, and restored, the rights of lots of people.

Auguste: In California (and New York) jail is for those awaiting trial/arraignment, and for those who were sentenced to less than one year's incarceration.

So one can be convicted of various types of homicide, and be sent to jail, if the sentence is less than one year. I am not certain about things like time served credit. It may be that someone who, for whatever reason, did two years while waiting for the trial to finish, and got a three year sentence, might not also get to stay in jail.

TK

[aeroman]

You killed it, Lindsay! You killed it!

[Jeremy]

Well you was right, it has been shut down. But never fear. Harrison County Mississippi has come to the rescue and opened their booking cam to the public view. Visit it here: http://www.harrisoncountysheriff.com/webcam/videofeed.asp

Have Fun!!!

[Siro]

There is another one up at the Harrison County Sherriffs Dept, MS (http://www.harrisoncountysheriff.com/webcam/videofeed.asp=

[france]

I'am french girl and I watch this jail webcam...I'am not very proud of me
but I think poor gys whith this clothes!!!!It would be not possible in france! Bye!