Texas prisons using biometrics for immigration checks
20 May, 2009
category: Biometrics
The Texas prison system will be the first in the United States to use prisoners’ fingerprints to check for their immigration status, according to a Houston Chronicle article. The officials from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (DoCJ) will be utilizing a new federal program to help obtain the background information on their inmates.
Specifically, the program allows officials from the DoCJ to access the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s biometric database to check for files on their prisoners. Inmate’s who match on the database will have their cases reviewed and individual actions taken depending on the severity of the offenses. While the system will only be immediately available in Huntsville, they expect the other 23 prison intake sites to have these capabilities soon.
Read the full story here.