The sheriff in one of Atlanta’s largest suburbs is trying out electronic bracelets that monitor inmates’ vital signs, seeking to reduce deaths of people in custody.
Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens unveiled the monitors to local news outlets Tuesday. A Democrat, Owens won office in part by attacking the record of deaths at the jail under the watch of longtime Republican Sheriff Neil Warren. But there have been six more deaths at the jail since Owens took office, including three in the past month. Two of those were ruled suicides, while one is still under investigation.
“I’m not proud of that, but if you look around metro Atlanta, we’re not different than anywhere else,” Owens said. “I don’t want one death. One death is too many.”
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