New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Deep inside one of the oldest jails and lock-up facilities in the world is the newest technology in keeping inmates and staff safe.
Cellsense, a portable device that provides full-body searches of inmates to detect concealed contraband, is being used in the halls of the Ash Street Jail and Regional Lock-up, which was built almost 130 years ago in 1888.
Is this new technology a game-changer for Bristol County Sheriff’s Office inmates and staff?
“It’s huge. We can use it for so many things,” said Superintendent Steven Souza of the Bristol County House of Correction and Jail. “It will pick up any type of metal. We have found contraband using it.”
Cellsense has been used all over the Ash Street facility, with Souza saying its portability allows staff to move it around to scan inmates returning from recreation or coming through admissions. It allows staff to scan inmates’ mail, laundry and other belongings.
A similar unit is being used around the House of Correction in Dartmouth.
Souza and Bristol County Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson were so impressed with the Cellsense technology that the department recently purchased another device to be used at the Women’s Center and the ICE detention facility in Dartmouth.
Bristol is the first county in Massachusetts to use Cellsense. Other counties across the state have shown interest in the technology.
“We’re pleased to welcome Bristol County to an expanding list of correctional facilities that have chosen Cellsense for combatting inmate contraband,” Jim Viscardi, Metrasens’ security division vice president, said. “We applaud the willingness to use new technology and are honored to be chosen as a partner in the fight to improve the safety of officers, inmates and the community.”
