Microchips might prevent prison escapes, says N.Y. lawmaker
NEW YORK - As authorioties throughout New York state -- and beyond -- continue to search for two convicted murderers who escaped from a maximum security prison, a state lawmaker is suggesting microchips should be implanted in some incarcerated criminals to prevent such escapes, reports CBS New York.
State Sen. Kathy Marchione, who represents Saratoga, N.Y., first suggested the technology -- used by some pet owners to keep tabs on cats and dogs -- during a taping of the local Albany, N.Y., politics talk show "Capital Tonight."
"If you've got convicted murderers, the type of people these two men are, then it would make some good sense at that level that we should have something that we could track them," Marchione said, referring to Richard Matt and David Sweat, who broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., on June 6.
An extensive manhunt involving hundreds of officers from numerous state and federal agencies has been unable to track down the duo.
Paul Viollis, a security expert and former investigator in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, told CBS New York that he supports the idea, but only for the most violent offenders.
"I'm in favor of it, but I do think there have to be parameters with respect to the crime itself. I wouldn't do it for arson, which falls under the violent, but I would do it for aggravated rape and murder," Viollis said.
But Donna Lieberman, the director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said it would be unconstitutional to implant microchips in inmates.
"It sounds like a knee-jerk reaction. They should plug the security inside prisons," Lieberman said. "As a constitutional matter, it won't survive a challenge because it's an invasion of body autonomy."
Sen. Marchione has not yet proposed any legislation related to "microchipping" inmates.