Ohio prisons are taking steps cut down the any potential illegal activity on prison grounds.
Last week, the Lebanon and Warren Correctional Institutions launched a $170,000 aerostat “tethered ballon” drone for testing, according to the Dayton Daily News.
The aerostat will have the capability to capture video of the prisons’ grounds during the day and night as well as use infrared sensors to detect unwelcome visitors staked near the facility’s fences.
Testing, which will also examine the aerostat’s unique day and night cameras, will last until Oct. 7, Ed Voorhies, the managing director of Ohio’s prisons, told this news outlet. The security balloon is 15 feet in diameter and about a quarter the size of a hot air balloon, he added.
“We believe these vehicles and sensors can be useful,” Voorhies told the Dayton Daily News. “There’s no denying, we’re trying to find ways to attack and prevent that external threat, which is ever increasing, (in our prisons).”
Other drones and systems will be tested starting in November, the Dayton Daily News reported. Officials from the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections will make a decision on the drones’ use after testing is complete.
