The cameras that have been installed in the San Joaquin County Jail have already made a difference.

During his monthly address to the public, San Joaquin County Sheriff Pat Withrow opened up about how the camera system – discussions of which came up after a struggle between an inmate and correctional officers occurred in an area without surveillance – and the role that those cameras have played in both preventing violence and holding people accountable.

Last week the agency announced how the cameras allowed correctional staff to track down a solid metal doorplate that had been taken off the wall to be fashioned into a weapon – complete with a sock wrapped around the doorplate to provide grip during an assault.

A correctional officer that noticed inmates acting suspiciously, Withrow said, learned from a superior about the missing piece of metal and was able to spend several hours going through footage that ultimately led to the recovery of the makeshift weapon before it could be used.

The area where the metal plate was taken from the door was not within the frame of one of the new cameras – something Withrow said is being addressed.

And while the cameras have prevented an assault on an inmate or staff, they have also allowed law enforcement to identify and charge a group of inmates that stabbed another inmate in the facility last week.

“It’s really going to help our inmates and it’s really going to help our officers – it’s such a great tool,” Withrow said of the camera system. “We’re excited to get them up and running, and when we find blind spots that need to be covered – because it’s not perfect – then we will put in cameras there.”

While cameras have long been used in the jail, large swaths of the facility were without coverage which allowed incidents like the one that occurred early in Withrow’s tenure as the sheriff. A man that was being placed in a temporary holding cell became, according to jail staff, combative after they took the handcuffs off of him, and officers needed to use force to restrain the man.

He was ultimately released from custody but was charged with five counts of battery on a police officer.

At the time, the temporary holding cells did not contain cameras – because they were temporary holding cells and they contained a bathroom, inmates were afforded a level of privacy to change or to use the restroom.

After petitioning for special permission, the jail was given the green light and those cells are now under camera surveillance.  

To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.