Coloane Prison testing smart surveillance system

The city’s security force is testing a smart surveillance system inside the Coloane Prison, said Cheng Fong Meng, director of the Macau Correctional Services Bureau (DSC), yesterday.
On the sidelines of yesterday’s celebration of the DSC anniversary, Cheng told the media that the DSC is dedicated to building a smart correctional service and that it has already planned to install a smart surveillance system at the Coloane Prison in stages.
The system will include a self-service kiosk for prisoners, as well as the application of a big data platform.
Currently, the prison has already finished setting up a new surveillance control center and installing a video surveillance system, which analyzes capabilities in specific prison cells.
According to Cheng, all these smart systems are expected to improve the prison’s safety alarm and supervision functions, as well as reduce the dependency on human resources.
The systems are currently being tested at the prison and are expected to be put into full operation next month.
Besides revealing the use of the new technology in the Coloane Prison, Cheng also reported on the progress of the prison’s conversion.
The first phase of the conversion project will be completed in the near future, providing 20 extra beds. In the first quarter of 2020, the DSC will call for tenders for the second phase, which is expected to provide an additional 100 beds. The DSC is still working out the details of the third phase.
Due to safety concerns, the prison is not able to undergo a large-scale conversion project at once, meaning the third phase can only be started in 2021 at the earliest.
As of the end of November, the Coloane Prison has a total of 1,623 inmates, over 95% of whom are male. The prison is nearly over capacity, according to Cheng.
The DSC director mentioned that the prison is in need of prison officers, social workers and consultants. Earlier this year, the DSC held an exam procedure for 73 prison officers in February. In the future, the DSC will have another two social workers and one psychological consultant. JZ