Marion County Jail embraces iris-scanning technology for inmates

Show Caption Hide Caption Jail scans for prisoners for contraband Hamilton County Jail uses body scanners to insure arrestees don't bring contraband into the system.

A new technology in the Marion County Jail that was put to use near the U.S.-Mexico border can identify inmates in 20 seconds — just by looking into their eyes.

The iris-scanning technology is used for running background checks, scanning for outstanding warrants or missed paroles and ensuring that the correct inmates are released.

“Criminals often try to change their identities to avoid accurate identification and prosecution for crimes they have committed,” Marion County Sheriff John Layton said in a June 7 news release. “This cutting-edge iris biometric technology is another tool in the arsenal of capabilities we have to protect our citizens.”

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Last year the company that makes the Inmate Recognition Identification System donated the scanning software to five sheriff's offices on the U.S.-Mexico border, including El Paso County, Texas, and Dona Ana County, New Mexico, said Sean Mullin, president of Biometric Intelligence & Identification Technologies. He said sheriffs at the Southwest Border Sheriffs Coalition conference voted last year to use the technology in all 31 counties along the border.

Marion County paid $15,000 for the scanners, sheriff's office spokeswoman Katie Carlson said.

People who are arrested and brought to Marion County jail still get their photograph and fingerprints taken. But now they also have photographs taken of their irises, the colored part of the eye.

The iris biometric technology detects more than 250 identifiers in each eye. Those attributes are instantly entered into a database of more than a million irises from sheriff offices around the country. Authorities can check whether people are wanted for other crimes or parole violations.

Also, when a person is released from jail, authorities scan the irises again to ensure that they have the correct person checking out.

In 2014 the Marion County jail wrongly discharged four inmates because of what the sheriff’s office cited as problems with a new computer system and human error.

“This iris scan isn’t going to make a mistake,” said Kenny Whipker, executive liaison for the Indiana Department of Correction. “What’s there is there.”

Fingerprints aren’t foolproof and can be altered or changed, said John Leonard, senior vice president of BI2 technologies.

“People have a tendency to wear those fingerprints off. Particularly if you work in the fields or masonry work, you’re using the fingerprints all the time,” Leonard said. “Iris is an internal organ. Your fingerprints are external, so your fingerprints are always exposed to things that wear them down. … No one ever touches your iris.”

The jail’s fingerprint database only contains prints of people who have been processed through the Marion County jail. The iris scan database stretches across more than 200 law enforcement agencies nationwide, Mullin said.

James Martin, the Marion County jail commander, said there are hopes that the technology will be installed in jails across Indiana.

Marion County installed the technology, which includes a camera and the database system, a few weeks ago. Since then, officials have been scanning the irises of all inmates coming in or being released from the county jail.

Call IndyStar reporter Faith E. Pinho at 314.444.6083.