Movement stops
An official count halts all movement and holds the unit — or the whole facility — on lockdown until it clears.
Inmate Counts & Accountability
Counts that clear in minutes — not lockdowns.
A count is your facility's primary accountability and escape-detection control. Sentry Inview runs name-and-face counts on the tablets your officers already carry — reconciling against the live housing roster in seconds, flagging discrepancies instantly, and shortening the time every unit spends standing still.
The stakes
The count is the facility's primary accountability and escape-detection control. A single miscount can mean an undetected escape, an unauthorized movement, or a medical emergency going unnoticed — until it is too late.
Counts confirm that every person in custody is present and accounted for
The problem today
Why counts are still one of the hardest parts of the day
Counts are run several times every day, in every facility. Done on paper and by hand, they stop everything — and the smallest error costs the most time.
Every miscount = a recount
When the numbers don't agree, the count starts over — extending lockdown and pulling officers back to the floor.
Manual tallying errs
Counting bodies by hand and writing numbers on a sheet is slow and error-prone — especially across long shifts.
Reconciling eats staff time
Matching unit tallies against expected population — and chasing who's at court, medical, or work detail — is labor-intensive.
This matters most when facilities are short-staffed. Correctional-officer vacancy rates have reached as high as 55% (ACA Workforce Survey, 2024) — so every minute a count costs is a minute pulled from already-stretched coverage.
What Sentry Inview does
Name-and-face counts, reconciled the moment they happen
Officers count by name and face against the live housing roster on a tablet. Totals reconcile against expected population in real time, so a discrepancy surfaces while the unit is still standing — not after everyone has moved on.
- Name-and-face verification against the live housing roster — each person confirmed in their assigned location, not just a body counted.
- Fast tablet-based counting on the devices your officers already carry, with the expected roster in front of them.
- Instant discrepancy detection and on-screen reconciliation the moment a total doesn't match expected population.
- Parallel multi-officer counts across units that roll up automatically into one facility total.
- Out-count tracking for court, medical, transport, and work detail — people counted elsewhere reconcile automatically.
- Full count history with timestamps and officer attribution, plus reporting you can export on demand.
Standing count · Facility roll-up
Unit A · 48 of 48 verifiedOfc. Reyes · name-and-face · cleared06:00:31Clear
Unit B · 52 of 52 verifiedOfc. Okafor · name-and-face · cleared06:00:54Clear
Unit C · 39 of 40 present1 out-count · medical · auto-reconciled06:01:12Reconciled
Facility total · 179 of 179All units roll-up · count complete06:01:20Cleared
Roster syncs from your JMS
Housing assignments and expected population pull in automatically, so officers count against current data.
Officers count by name and face
Each person is confirmed in their assigned location, right on the officer's device — across every unit at once.
Totals reconcile live
Counts roll up against expected population in real time, accounting for anyone out at court, medical, or work detail.
Discrepancies flag & the count clears
Any mismatch surfaces instantly for resolution; the cleared count is logged with timestamps and officer attribution.
How it works
From roster to cleared count in four steps
Sentry Inview doesn't change how your facility counts — it removes the friction. The roster comes from your system of record, officers do the verifying, and the math, the reconciliation, and the documentation happen automatically.
Know your counts
Built for the way correctional counts actually work
Not every count is the same. Sentry Inview supports the full range — and brings the rigor of a formal count to all of them.
Informal count
Counting during rounds
An officer counts people during normal rounds without stopping operations. Useful for ongoing awareness between formal counts.
Formal / name-and-face
The rigorous standard
The officer verifies each person against their identity in their assigned location — the standard Sentry Inview brings to every count.
Official standing count
Movement stops
At set times, all facility movement stops and people stand at their cell or bunk; the unit stays on lockdown until the count clears.
The operational reality
What an official count demands of your facility
Frequency
Several times a day
Official standing counts occur at set times — typically two to three or more times daily, in every facility.
Formality
Controlled & documented
Proper counts emphasize formality, controlled movement, and documentation — every count recorded, every discrepancy resolved.
Until it clears
Movement is held
People stand at their cell or bunk and the unit stays on lockdown until the count is verified and cleared.
Questions
Common questions about digital counts
Does Sentry Inview replace our Jail Management System?
No. Sentry Inview is the count-and-accountability layer that works alongside your JMS. It syncs housing rosters and expected population from your system of record, then runs the count and reconciles against that data — keeping your JMS as the system of record.
How does it handle people who are out at court, medical, or work detail?
Out-counts are tracked separately. When someone is signed out to court, medical, transport, or a work detail, they're accounted for as present-but-elsewhere — so the unit total and the facility roll-up reconcile automatically instead of flagging a false discrepancy.
Can multiple officers count different units at the same time?
Yes. Officers count their units in parallel on their own devices, and the totals roll up automatically into a single facility count. There's no waiting for one unit to finish before the next can begin, and no manual adding of sheets at the end.
Ready when you are
See a count clear on your own housing layout
Book a walkthrough and we'll map your units, count schedule, and out-count workflows to a live demo — so you can see exactly how much faster a reconciled count clears.