MITCHELL S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) Corrections Administrator Grant Lanning asked the Davison County Commission, at their meeting on May 14, 2024, for a Jail Electronic Locking System. The current locking system is controlled by a Windows 2007 program that cannot be updated, cannot be remotely accessed for service or repairs by technicians. The current systems once locked all the doors in the jail for a time without the ability to reopen them until a service technician drove from Madison, Wisconsin to repair the system.
Davison County Director of Maintenance Joel Rang described the current system as being made up of around forty individual nodules which cost $600 each and replacements take at least two weeks to arrive once they are ordered. Along with the software, these items pose challenges to the safety and security of both the jail staff and the inmates.
The cost of a new jail electronic locking system was quoted at $99,718.47. After discussion of options, vendors (there is only one) and the like, the County Commission voted in favor of the expenditure.