一.Project Background and Demand Analysis
1. Business Requirements
In accordance with the relevant documents and requirements issued by the Ministry of Justice, the information-based construction of prisons covers not only in-prison security prevention and daily management, but also the real-time monitoring and management of off-site escort and medical treatment procedures. It aims to realize the informatization, networking and digitalization of overall prison operations.
Nevertheless, mobile working scenarios such as off-site escort and prisoner medical treatment pose greater challenges to real-time monitoring and management compared with fixed in-prison environments. At present, the overall informatization level of off-site escort and medical management remains insufficient. Poor communication linkage with the prison command center has led to a host of regulatory and control deficiencies.
Combined with the actual operation status of prisons, the prominent existing problems and deficiencies in off-site escort and prisoner medical management are summarized as follows:
(1) Difficulty in Real-time Video Monitoring
During off-site escort and medical treatment missions, the prison command center cannot obtain on-site real-time conditions in a timely manner, resulting in weak supervision over mobile law enforcement work. In the event of emergencies, the center lacks effective on-site situation awareness, which undermines the timeliness and accuracy of emergency response.
Meanwhile, effective supervision of sick offenders cannot be guaranteed throughout medical diagnosis and treatment. Intermittent supervision loopholes often occur during examinations, surgeries and other medical procedures, which may lead to serious risks such as prisoner escape.
In addition, on-site audio and video data generated during off-site escort and medical treatment cannot be effectively stored and archived, leaving no valid evidence for subsequent traceability and investigation.
(2) Delayed Emergency Reporting
When unexpected emergencies beyond the on-site police’s disposal capacity occur during off-site missions, law enforcement officers are unable to report critical situations to the prison command center instantly. This results in delayed response from the command center and greatly increases the risk of incident escalation.
(3) Inaccurate Positioning During Escort
Although escort routes are pre-planned, the command center is unable to conduct real-time positioning of escort vehicles and on-duty police officers. This makes it impossible to supervise compliance with designated travel routes and raises overall escort risks. Furthermore, there is no reliable positioning method for offenders. Once prisoners break away from visual supervision, abnormal conditions cannot be detected promptly and accurately.
(4) Barriers to On-site Communication & Coordination
There is no efficient and stable communication mechanism between the prison command center and frontline law enforcement officers during mobile off-site law enforcement. After emergencies occur, on-site staff struggle to upload disposal data in a timely manner, while the command center cannot grasp real-time on-site information or issue targeted emergency decisions efficiently. This severely reduces the overall efficiency of emergency disposal.
(5) Non-standard Whole-process Management
Most prisons still rely on paper documents to record off-site escort and medical treatment tasks. It is impossible to quickly verify standardized implementation of each mission, including compliance with designated routes, full police supervision at medical venues, prevention of illegal external contact by offenders, and restricted movement within authorized areas. The lack of digital records causes persistent management loopholes and hinders standardized daily prison governance.
2. Demand Analysis
In view of the various practical problems existing in the current off-site escort and medical treatment work of prisons, and in combination with the actual needs of prison police, prison management personnel and relevant policy regulations of the Ministry of Justice, the core requirements for the whole process of off-site escort and prisoner medical treatment are summarized as follows:
(1) Off-site Law Enforcement Monitoring
During off-site escort and medical treatment, the command center needs to obtain real-time on-site information to supervise law enforcement personnel, track the progress of law enforcement work, and respond rapidly to emergencies. Therefore, the system shall support real-time monitoring, enabling the command center to view live video of law enforcement scenarios in real time.
(2) Remote Escort Positioning
The command center must keep real-time track of the geographical location of escort vehicles, on-duty police officers and prisoners, so as to supervise the compliance of planned escort routes, monitor the real-time location of personnel, and prevent vehicles and personnel from leaving authorized areas. Hence, the system shall be equipped with a remote positioning function.
(3) Emergency Alarm Triggering
In case of unexpected incidents during off-site missions, frontline police officers need to report emergencies to the command center in a timely manner, allowing the center to receive alarm information instantly and conduct efficient on-site command and dispatch. It is required to support one-click emergency alarm on escort vehicles for off-site escort, and convenient manual emergency operation by police officers during off-site medical treatment.
(4) Remote Voice Intercom
Real-time voice communication is required between the prison command center and on-site law enforcement officers. It facilitates on-site situation reporting by frontline staff, enables the command center to grasp on-site dynamics and issue work instructions, and ensures timely two-way communication during incident handling. The system shall provide a remote voice intercom function.
(5) Prisoner Escape Alarm
It is necessary to dynamically monitor the safe distance between escorted prisoners and guarding police officers. Once the distance exceeds the safe threshold, an immediate alarm shall be triggered to promptly detect escape risks and effectively reduce the probability of prisoner escape. The system shall integrate a prisoner distance escape alarm function.
(6) On-site Video Uploading & Transmission
For key events occurring during off-site escort and medical treatment, police officers need to record on-site videos. The collected video data shall be remotely transmitted to and stored in the prison command center, supporting on-site situation review and post-event traceability. The system shall realize on-site video recording, real-time backhaul and centralized storage.
(7) Escort Task Management
To standardize the whole process of off-site escort and medical treatment and support post-event review and assessment, electronic whole-process management is required. The platform shall support the creation and launch of escort tasks with corresponding police information binding, and enable quick inquiry of electronic task records and associated video files. Accordingly, the system shall be provided with a comprehensive escort task management module.
二.Overall System Design and Architecture
1. Design Ideas
In compliance with the national standards and policies issued by the Ministry of Justice for prison informatization construction, as well as the relevant requirements and instructions from local prison authorities on off-site law enforcement, and with full consideration of the actual on-site demands of mobile law enforcement scenarios, the overall planning of the prison off-site escort monitoring and command system adopts modern technical means. Centering on the core requirements including remote monitoring of off-site escort and medical treatment, remote alarm reception and long-distance emergency command, the system aims to build a standardized, visual and efficient off-site law enforcement support system, so as to effectively enhance the safety and controllability of the whole process of prisoner escort and off-site medical treatment.
2. System Composition
The prison off-site escort monitoring and command system consists of a front-end evidence collection system and a back-end command center system. The front-end evidence collection system includes five subsystems: law enforcement recording system, individual soldier law enforcement system, vehicle-mounted monitoring system, off-site medical monitoring system and intelligent anti-escape system.
Video, alarm, positioning and other data from the front-end evidence collection system are transmitted to the operator’s wireless border gateway via 4G wireless network. After gateway forwarding, the data passes through the operator’s Internet, is filtered by security isolation equipment, and then transmitted to the prison LAN. Alternatively, data may be forwarded through the gateway and delivered via the operator’s Internet to the public network platform of the prison command center. All data is ultimately displayed at the command center, with key information and data stored centrally. Meanwhile, the command center is capable of conducting remote on-site command and dispatch.
三.Detailed Deployment of Core Equipment
1. Law Enforcement Recording System
Each off-site law enforcement police officer is equipped with a body worn camera of the law enforcement recording system. Audio and video data are transmitted to the system platform of the prison command center via the operator’s wireless network, and the platform can forward videos to all online authorized users. The system platform is provided with external GIS system interfaces to achieve in-depth integration of the GIS system and the individual law enforcement system, enabling remote positioning of front-end body worn cameras on the command center platform.
Law enforcement officers carry body worn cameras to collect audio and video data during off-site escort missions. The mobile law enforcement integrated management subsystem is deployed in the external network environment of the prison command center or in network environments interconnected with the external network. It supports real-time remote preview of on-site audio and video through operator networks. Combined with electronic maps and satellite positioning functions, it displays real-time GPS moving tracks and historical tracks of body worn camera terminals on the map.
2. Individual Law Enforcement System
The individual law enforcement system equips each off-site law enforcement officer with a complete set of individual law enforcement devices. Data is transmitted to the system platform of the prison command center via the operator’s wireless network, and videos can be forwarded by the platform to all online authorized users. The system platform provides external GIS system interfaces to achieve deep integration of GIS and the individual law enforcement system, enabling unified remote positioning of front-end individual terminals on the command center platform.
Front-end individual law enforcement equipment consists of a portable monitoring main unit, external miniature cameras, Bluetooth headsets, as well as built-in wireless communication modules and GPS/Beidou positioning modules. Law enforcement officers can monitor on-site conditions in real time via the miniature camera connected to the portable main unit. Local video recording is supported through built-in storage or removable TF cards. Equipped with a liquid crystal display, the portable main unit allows convenient local operations including image preview, snapshot capture, video playback and parameter configuration.
The devices support wireless transmission and GPS/Beidou positioning. Connected to the remote monitoring platform, they can timely feed on-site footage and location data back to the command center, helping on-duty staff and prison management grasp prisoner escort conditions in real time. With the two-way voice intercom function, officers can communicate with the command center and personnel in escort vehicles, and conduct group intercom within the escort team similar to walkie-talkies, so as to improve team coordination efficiency.
In addition, officers can trigger local alarms through the emergency button on individual terminals. The remote command center will automatically pop up alarm videos and GIS map information for linkage disposal, realizing visual remote command and scheduling in emergency scenarios.
3. Vehicle-mounted Monitoring System
The vehicle-mounted monitoring system deploys wireless vehicle monitoring terminals inside escort vehicles. It transmits internal and external video images of vehicles to the system platform of the prison command center through the operator’s wireless network, and the platform can forward videos to all online authorized users. The system platform is equipped with external GIS system interfaces to realize deep integration between the GIS system and the vehicle-mounted monitoring system, enabling remote positioning of front-end escort vehicles on the command center platform.
The vehicle-mounted monitoring system serves as an important information node of the overall solution. Cameras, voice intercom devices, emergency alarm buttons, GPS/Beidou locators and other peripherals are installed in the vehicle to collect video images, audio data, emergency alarm signals and geographic location information. All collected data is processed by the vehicle-mounted monitoring host, and then uploaded to the prison command center via the built-in wireless communication module.
As the core component of the entire vehicle-mounted monitoring system, the vehicle monitoring host supports high-definition video and audio storage, voice input and output, alarm input and output, GPS/Beidou positioning, 4G wireless transmission and other core functions.
Meanwhile, the monitoring coverage of the vehicle-mounted evidence collection system is divided into two major parts: monitoring for escorted prisoners and road condition monitoring. For scenarios requiring separation between police officers and prisoners, independent video monitoring for the police cab is also configured.
4. Off-site Medical Treatment System
The off-site medical treatment system deploys an emergency deployment camera at the medical treatment site. It transmits on-site video images to the system platform of the prison command center via the operator’s wireless network.
As the core equipment of the off-site medical treatment system, the emergency deployment camera acts as a front-end information collection terminal. It collects on-site audio and video data, and uploads such data to the prison command center through its built-in 4G module to realize remote real-time monitoring. Meanwhile, it sends positioning information to the command center via the integrated GPS/Beidou positioning module for remote location tracking. Law enforcement officers may place the emergency deployment camera at any required area of the medical site. The device can be activated with one click to complete rapid on-site deployment and monitoring.
5. Intelligent Anti-Escape System
The intelligent anti-escape system is configured with individual law enforcement devices for each off-duty prison police officer and electronic ankle cuffs for each prisoner. Effective communication is realized between police terminals and prisoner ankle cuffs via Bluetooth technology, enabling the interconnection of power signals, distance data and alarm signals. The individual devices transmit data to the system platform of the prison command center through the operator’s wireless network. When a prisoner moves beyond the safe distance from the police officer, the electronic ankle cuff will activate the GPS/Beidou positioning system, allowing the command center to conduct remote positioning of escaping prisoners.
The system mainly consists of four components: individual law enforcement terminals, front-end management software (installed on individual devices), electronic ankle cuffs, and an escort management platform. Through coordinated communication among the four parts, the system realizes whole-process monitoring and data recording during off-site escort and medical treatment missions.
Different prisoners are equipped with exclusive electronic ankle cuffs with unique ID numbers for individual identification. The ankle cuffs transmit wireless signals to analyze real-time locations and report device status, including battery level, tamper status, location data and other key information. If a prisoner strays too far from the police and presents an escape risk, the electronic ankle cuff will automatically sound an alarm. On-duty officers may then determine whether to upload the alarm signal to the back-end command center. Meanwhile, the ankle cuffs continuously upload real-time location data to the background management platform to support real-time tracking of escaped prisoners