The sedgwick county sheriff's office is responsible for the monitoring, safety, and well-being of on average 1495 inmates each day

The Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office in Wichita, Kansas received a $140,000 Project Grant award from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance under the Congressionally Recommended Awards program (CFDA #16.753) to install additional security cameras in four housing units at the Sedgwick County Detention Facility. The grant will fund the purchase and installation of six additional cameras in each of the designated housing units, which house lower custody level inmates, to address blind spots and allow for more complete remote monitoring of inmates. Cameras will be placed in sleeping sections, common bathroom areas with blackout boxes to maintain privacy as required, cleaning closets, and sally ports. The additional cameras are compatible with the facility's existing monitoring system and will help the Sheriff's Office more effectively utilize reduced staff levels through remote monitoring while maintaining inmate safety and oversight responsibilities.

Since the onset of the covid-19 pandemic the average length of stay for inmates has increased due to back logs in the court systems and staffing levels have decreased. Currently sedgwick county is 96 positions short in the detention bureau. In response to these factors, sedgwick county has identified approximately 22% of the male population and 45% of the female population who do not require direct supervision. Sedgwick county designated four housing units (3 for males and 1 for females) to house lower custody level inmates. Sedgwick county removed the direct supervision deputy from these pods and observation of inmates started being done remotely. Staff members are still required to make regular unannounced rounds in these pods and to be present for meal services and medication passes. At the time of implementation, no additional monitoring cameras were added to these housing units. This left some blind spots throughout the POD that previously were able to be monitored by the staff member in the housing unit. Sedgwick county plans to add an additional 6 cameras to each of the four designated housing units to address these blind spots. This will allow staff monitoring the POD remotely to have a more complete field of vision and call for a response team if problems are observed. Sedgwick county plans to install two additional cameras in the sleeping sections, two cameras in the common areas of the bathrooms, one camera in the cleaning closet, and one additional camera in the sally port entering the housing unit. By monitoring these lower custody inmates remotely the majority of the time, sedgwick county is able to more effectively utilize the reduced number of staff members. The cameras being installed are the compatible with the current monitoring system being used and will not require any additional training of staff. Sedgwick county is a prea compliant detention facility and in accordance will add blackout boxes on areas within view of cameras in the common areas of the bathroom required to be obstructed to maintain personal privacy for the inmates.