Receiving an official notice to appear in court is rare, but not unheard of, for correctional professionals. Whether the litigation stems from compliance issues or allegations of unlawful treatment from inmates, staff must be ready to respond appropriately. That could mean either accepting responsibility and the consequences or confidently defending their actions and reputation.
Lawsuits can cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. With that much money at stake, it’s paramount that agencies come prepared with clear, indisputable evidence to support their case.
In this blog, we cover how Command Cloud users can advocate for themselves when facing illegitimate allegations. By leveraging digital records captured in Command Cloud–such as supply passes, medication distribution, meal offerings, late check justifications, and strong digital evidence–staff can rely on their documentation to protect themselves and uphold their integrity.
To digitally document is to capture a moment in time. Every piece of data captured in Command Cloud is timestamped and saved to the cloud, uneditable after being saved.
When agencies are trained on Command Cloud, they learn how to document every inmate movement or interaction, no matter how small. Even seemingly insignificant items, like toilet paper or soap, hold value in the bigger picture. What may seem like an irrelevant item to officially track could become critical evidence when defending against allegations or demonstrating compliance.
The Supply module is considered a “core” Mobile Command XR module as it’s one of the most commonly used areas of Command Cloud. Its high frequency of use is driven by being at the intersection of compliance and defensibility. To meet basic welfare standards, it’s crucial to log when inmates receive essential items like personal hygiene items, clean uniforms, bedding, and other jail-issued items.
Take toilet paper and soap, for example. These are not just routine supplies, they’re items that are considered a basic human hygienic right. If an inmate were to claim that they weren’t provided one of these items, and there wasn’t any documentation to prove otherwise, it would breach the 8th Amendment and likely result in a lengthy, expensive lawsuit. If an agency were challenged with this claim, it would be responsible for proving whether or not the inmate received the items.
Luckily, this shouldn’t be a problem if you are tracking supply passes with Command Cloud’s Supply module. The module allows staff to not only log what supplies are issued to inmates, but also track whether that item is “Returnable.”
Supplies can be classified as a “Returnable” item, meaning they must be returned to staff after the inmate is finished using them. Returnable supplies can include both low-risk items, like a rule book or inmate uniforms, and higher-risk items such as razors. Whether a safety risk or not, tracking what items were supplied to inmates is only half the battle; the other half is tracking which items were returnable and were returned in the same shape as they were issued.
For added defensibility, officers are empowered to capture digital evidence using the SPARTAN camera while issuing supplies. When photo or video documentation confirms the details captured in a log, it significantly strengthens the log's ability to hold up as solid evidence.
Did you know that the most common type of inmate lawsuit involves claims of inadequate medical care, even surpassing allegations of excessive force or denial of religious practices?
On average, 50% to 60% of the overall inmate population is prescribed some form of medication. Most inmate prescriptions are related to mental health medications, further highlighting the importance of correct medication distribution, not only to meet the inmates’ medical needs but also to prevent facility chaos from erupting.
Distributing medications is a meticulous process, but accurately documenting their retrieval is just as important. Proper documentation ensures staff remain compliant with healthcare policies and safeguards against legal risks. Failing to maintain accurate records of medication administration increases the risk of litigation and allegations of negligence.
While every facility is susceptible to human error, having clear policies, ongoing training, and regular checks on how to document medication distribution significantly reduces the risk of legal claims and allegations of deliberate indifference.
By 2026, Command Cloud will have a tool designed to streamline this entire process: Medication Manager.
This electronic medication administration will enable both medical and corrections staff to quickly and securely scan or select an inmate and their medication needs. They’ll be able to administer medication requirements based on dosage levels, route frequency, and execution time.
From there, inmates will be asked to provide a signature when they either accept or decline their medication officer during pill call. This signature adds an extra layer of documentation, proving that it was the inmate’s deliberate choice to either accept or refuse their medication. This leaves no room for inmates to claim they weren’t offered their medication, as it is all recorded in Mobile Command XR and synced to Mission Command.
Inmates can, and will, claim they didn’t receive a meal. While many of these claims are made simply because they want another meal, some inmates will do so with malicious intent, particularly targeting staff who are less diligent with their documentation.
Failing to adequately document who was offered a meal can result in detrimental legal consequences, especially if an inmate claims that they’ve been intentionally starved by staff and there isn’t any documentation to prove otherwise.
With proper documentation, a facility can quickly prove whether an inmate was offered a meal and whether they accepted or declined it. The more detailed the documentation, such as recording any specific diet or meal requirement, the stronger the facility’s defensibility. Command Cloud’s Meals Module was built just for this. When utilized correctly, it captures key data, including:
With Mobile Command XR, officers can document each meal transaction in real time. After selecting the Meals Module and scanning the pod’s Hard Tag, a complete list of inmates in the housing unit appears. From there, officers can indicate whether an inmate accepted or declined a meal, either by manual entry or scanning the inmate’s ID.
Logging whether an inmate meal was “accepted” or “declined” significantly strengthens the facility’s defensibility. This not only captures the inmate’s decision, but it proves that there was verifiable contact made between the said inmate and officer, as the unique officer number and inmate ID are recorded when scanning.
Additionally, the Meals module has a camera feature, so officers can quickly take photos or videos to verify that meals meet the required standards. This is particularly useful when inmates refuse the meal due to being “inedible” and later file a dispute for being starved.
Once captured in Mobile Command XR, the data syncs to Mission Command and displays real-time visibility into the entire meal process on the Meals Dashboard. The Meals Dashboard provides a centralized report that includes meal-related information such as:
Administrators can analyze the data by filtering the date, inmate, meal type, refusal reason, any photo or video included, and more. It can also be filtered further to display the number of inmates who accepted meals out of the total number of inmates within the pod, as well as the number of inmates who declined meals.
Having this information at your fingertips provides a quick, robust defense against false claims and backs your reasoning of what really took place.
We’ve covered how the SPARTAN camera can be used to document digital evidence of supplies passed and meals offered, but there are several other ways the camera can be used to capture moments that may protect the agency from allegations later down the road. These include:
We’ve had inmates claim their cells are covered in black mold. Officers were instructed to take pictures and videos of the cells to capture that there wasn’t any black mold and used it as evidence when we were defending our case in litigation. Instead of it becoming a question for trial of ‘he said she said,’ our video clips proved that the cells were, in fact, clean.
Brandy McAllister | RMS Counsel of the AAC
If you’re now thinking, “Okay, I got it. Documentation is important,” then you’re going to love what is available to you in the case you forget to document something at the point of responsibility: more documentation.
During rounds, officers often race against the clock to ensure their checks are completed on time. However, every once in a while, something comes up that delays the process, causing officers to be late on their checks. These explanations are usually reasonable. The officer may have been responding to an emergency, or perhaps was relieving another officer for their break, only to realize they were behind on their checks.
Most correctional facilities require their officers to document why they were late, whether in a logbook, an email to their supervisor, or another method. Not only is this practice particularly valuable for states with jail standards (as inspectors often request to see explanations for late checks), but it also identifies trends of undocumented late checks without any content or explanation.
If this sounds familiar, your facility may be at a much higher risk of non-compliance.
On the other hand, agencies that use modernized inmate tracking systems allow officers to log a late check justification on their handheld device right at the point of responsibility. With this type of sophisticated technology, officers add their late check justification to the system when a late check occurs, no longer relying on foggy memory when documenting the reason via email or writing in a logbook.
With Command Cloud’s Mobile Compliance Monitor, officers can capture late check justifications right at the point of responsibility. As soon as a Hard Tag is scanned after the time it was due, a late check justification prompt appears on the SPARTAN screen, asking the officer to document the reason why it is being logged outside of the configured timeframes. Users can manually type in or use the talk-to-text feature to provide an explanation why they were late.
Late check justifications can’t be edited once submitted, so users need to be thorough and accurate when documenting their justifications. This was purpose-built to encourage officers to be as detailed as possible during the explanation. While not editable after the fact, supervisors can review these justifications and provide comments on officers’ entries.
If an agency is ever questioned about late checks during an accreditation review, staff can easily pull a report of late check justifications, each documenting the reason and providing a defense against negligence.
In today’s correctional landscape, documentation isn’t just a best practice—it’s a necessity. Whether defending against false allegations or demonstrating compliance, accurate data capture is the frontline protection for correctional agencies. Command Cloud empowers users with the tools they need to prove themselves when it matters most; when litigation is in question.
Command Cloud creates a digital paper trail that can withstand scrutiny. When supported by timestamped records, officer IDs, and digital evidence, the trail becomes a shield, protecting staff and agency integrity and providing indisputable proof of what truly transpired.