Bernalillo County terminates contract for system to monitor inmate vitals two years early

Sep. 19—Bernalillo County has scrapped its contract with a company that supplied sensors to monitor the vital signs of jail inmates, saying the technology was not mature enough and had connection issues.

The County Commission approved the three-year contract in April 2023 for just over $1.2 million and implemented the technology in July the same year. But the county terminated the contract with APIC Solutions in May.

The devices rely on Bluetooth and frequently lost connection, making the data unreliable, shortening the battery life and causing extra work for Metropolitan Detention Center staff, according to Chief Information Officer Robert Benavidez. Also, people in custody at MDC often did not want to wear the bracelets to avoid standing out, he said.

The county purchased 200 Overwatch devices, as well as the other needed equipment, training, technical assistance, cloud services and jail management system integration, for $467,425 through APIC Solutions to monitor at-risk inmates at MDC. The technology was developed by 4Sight Labs. Ending the contract early is expected to save the county $732,575, according to county spokesperson Daniel Trujillo. The county would have paid $387,037 in year two and again in year three of the contract for technical assistance, jail management system integration, product licensing and cloud services.

Six people have died in custody at the jail since the technology was implemented. None of them was wearing the devices, Trujillo said.

The devices are similar to a smartwatch with a sensor that monitors vital signs such as pulse rate and oxygen saturation, Benavidez said. Medical and corrections staff were in charge of monitoring the devices.

The data was sent to a cloud server, which could look for deviations. So if an inmate's pulse rate spiked or other vital signs seem abnormal, staff would be notified.

The main issue, Benavidez said, was that the technology had not matured enough to use in a jail the size of MDC.

The devices' two-hour battery life made them impractical, Trujillo said. The county bought the system with a 24-hour battery life expectation, Benavidez said, but he believes the connection issues drained the batteries, shortening the time needed between charging.

"When we were brought into it, we were one of the largest jails they had done so far, and they felt like maybe they could scale up to that, and I think what we found is it just wasn't quite ready for that," Benavidez said. "They have a new version of the technology that's come out since then that it sounds like is more scalable. But it was kind of a little too late for us."

Law enforcement agencies such as the Shelby (Ala.) County Sheriff's Office and the Avondale Police Department in Arizona have been able to use the Overwatch system successfully, according to 4Sight Labs spokeswoman Sherri Hughes-Smith.

Hughes-Smith said that 4Sight Labs is committed and prepared to working with MDC, to come on site and implement the next generation of technology, "which has been developed specifically to address the concerns raised."

Down the line, the county might consider using similar technology as it evolves, Benavidez said. An upgrade to the second generation of the technology was included in the initial contract.

Peer pressure to opt out

One of the other challenges was that people in custody at MDC were choosing not to wear the devices, in part out of peer pressure, Benavidez said. Initially, dozens of inmates were using the system. Fewer than 10 people were wearing any of the 200 devices by the time the program was terminated. MDC's typical population is around 1,600.

"Even though somebody may be at medical risk, if they choose not to wear it, it's their right. ... It's kind of a bracelet others can see that they're wearing, so there's kind of a peer pressure, of 'Why are you wearing that?'" Benavidez said.

Typically, people who were in detox or dealing with chemical dependency were selected for the bracelets.

A failure to integrate systems

According to Trujillo, vendors assured the county that the devices would be able to integrate with the jail management system, which the county uses to monitor where inmates are in the jail and ensure they are getting food and the correct medication.

Not having the two systems integrated created more work for county employees, Benavidez said, because individual inmate information had to be entered into both systems, and when the bracelets disconnected, information had to be reentered manually.

Hughes-Smith said in a statement that 4Sight Labs made several attempts to integrate with the jail's management system. In November 2023, 4Sight Labs' server was activated, and credentials and information for the integration were sent to Bernalillo County, Hughes-Smith said.

"After months of communication delays, a meeting was finally held on April 12, 2024, with ViaPath, 4Sight Labs, and BernCo present. During this meeting, the technical requirements for the integration were outlined. Following the discussion, the credentials for 4Sight Labs' server were once again shared with all relevant parties," Hughes-Smith wrote, adding that no more updates or responses came from ViaPath, and 4Sight Labs recorded no attempts to test the integration.

ViaPath is a vendor for the county's jail management system. 4Sight Labs also provided the Journal with emails from Bernalillo County information technology employees from November through February that suggest ViaPath was slowing down the integration process.

"Despite the proactive and diligent efforts from 4Sight Labs to facilitate this integration, we have encountered significant delays. The primary bottleneck at this stage is not with 4Sight Labs but rather with ViaPath, our vendor for the OMS system, who has yet to provide the necessary support and coordination to move forward," an email sent on Feb. 2 from a Bernalillo County IT project manager to MDC's interim Warden Rosanne Otero and Deputy Warden Reyna McCann reads.

The emails indicate that county staff tried and failed to get assistance from ViaPath in the system integration from November into February.

"Despite my attempts to make contact with ViaPath for support, both through email and their support phone line, we have yet to receive a response. Any assistance you can provide in making contact with ViaPath and facilitating this meeting would be greatly appreciated," another email sent on Feb. 2 from the IT project manager to another county IT employee reads.

Bernalillo County places the failure for the system integration with 4Sight Labs.

"4Sight Labs believes that it was ViaPath that failed to partner to make the integration work," said Trujillo, in a written response. "Bernalillo County worked with both vendors, and our assessment is that the primary responsibility for failing to execute this integration lies primarily with 4Sight Labs. The Bernalillo County CIO shared the integration file with 4Sight Labs at the very outset of the contractual/procurement process, and 4Sight Labs failed to use that to move forward with integration. 4Sight had the information necessary to implement an integration but took no action to do so."

ViaPath spokesman Robert Conner said the company has "integrated with third-party vendors across the country to meet emerging requirements," and deferred to Bernalillo County for specifics on the situation.