Governing for Results 13 - Washington State Digital Archives

Department of Corrections
Pictures of Offender
There is a need to have current pictures of inmates in prisons and offenders in
the community. These pictures are often shared with various law enforcement
stakeholders. Traditionally, these pictures have been taken with a Polaroid
camera. It costs approximately $1 per picture for Polaroid film and often 3-4
pictures would have to be taken of the same person.
The East Vancouver field office and Larch Corrections Center worked together to
solve this problem. In both sites, offenders were also getting their picture taken
by a digital camera for other purposes. The East Vancouver Office bought a
color printer to print copies of offenders’ pictures from the digital camera. Larch
Corrections Center worked with their external stakeholders to accept the digital
image for their purposes. Once this was accomplished, the need for Polaroid
pictures was eliminated.
Results
★ Reduced cost of picture by 80% (from $1 per picture to $.20).
★ Eliminated wasted/duplicated Polaroid pictures by 67% (from average of 3
pictures per offender to 1).
★ Corrections staff time saved by not moving inmate from population to Records
to have picture taken.
★ Records and Identification staff time saved by not having to take and process
picture for file.
★ Community Corrections staff time saved by not having to take offenders
picture, maintain camera, maintain/order supplies, etc.
Team Name: Eliminate Polaroid Pictures Team
Team Members: Larry Hansen, Kristina Anderson, Edmund Jimenez
CONTACT: Larry Hansen, (360) 260-6207
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