[Popular Mechanics] Across the country, hundreds of thousands of prisoners are adding their voices to biometric databases set up by state correctional organizations under coercion from their prison. While advocates for the prisons say the databases could help uncover gang-related activity, critics say they could seriously violate prisoners' rights.A new joint report from The Appeal, jointly published with The Intercept details how widespread the databases have become. According to the New York Department of Corrections, 92 percent of its population had been enrolled in the voice recognition system. Facilities in Florida, Texas, Arkansas, Connecticut, and Georgia have also purchased the technology, which is primarily supplied by prison telecommunications firm Securus Technologies.
According to The Appeal, the software, which is known as Investigator Pro, holds at a minimum the voices of 200,000 inmates.
These inmates are given a rough choice: either submit their voices to Investigator Pro or be denied the right to make phone calls at all. Securus, which developed the technology with a $50 million grant from the Department of Defense, also develops the technology on through which these calls are made.