The Pinal County Sheriff’s department has begun identifying inmates by iris scans and facial recognition. It has also extended the program to its 700 sex offenders registered in the county.

Pinal joins dozens of sheriff’s offices and correctional facilities across the nation using BI2 Technologies, a Massachusetts-based biometric intelligence company. The company gives local law enforcement iris-scanning capabilities and a database shared by participating agencies.

One disturbing note is how the police obtained the money to set up such a system.

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office used $30,000 in inmate welfare funds to purchase three scanners for jail use and one to capture sex offender data.

Inmate welfare funds are supposed to be used to for the benefit, education, and welfare of the inmate population. How, exactly, is taking a person’s biometric information, storing it in a database, and tracking the person, possibly for the rest of their lives, helpful to this person?