Who
A unique officer ID — not a shared shift signature. The record names the individual responsible for that round, every time.
Proof of presence on every round.
Sentry Inview turns security rounds and well-being checks into verifiable, defensible records. Every round is bound to a real officer, a real location, and a tamper-evident timestamp — so "the check was done" stops being a claim and becomes proof.
The stakes
A paper round sheet can be filled out in advance. But a missed well-being check can cost a life — and a falsified log doesn't just lose the case, it turns a tragedy into provable deliberate indifference.
42 U.S.C. §1983 · Court & public records
30min
commonly required interval for general-population security rounds, to be documented accordingly
ACA accreditation reports
≤15min
staggered checks required for special-needs, suicidal, and segregation populations
NCCHC standards
9
staff arrested in June 2024 after rounds were falsified in a single death-in-custody case
Waupun C.I., WI · public records
$1–15M+
typical range of wrongful-death and deliberate-indifference settlements
Court & public records
The failure mode
"Pencil whipping" is the problem a clipboard can't solve
Pencil whipping is when rounds are recorded as completed but were never actually walked — logs pre-filled at the start of a shift, or back-filled after the fact to show checks that never happened. It is the single most common failure behind death-in-custody litigation, and a paper logbook does nothing to stop it.
The reason is simple: a paper log can always be filled in later. There is no way to prove, from the page alone, that an officer was physically standing at the cell when the entry was written. That gap is exactly where preventable deaths and indefensible lawsuits live.
Paper vs. proof of presence
- Paper: a signature proves a pen touched paper — not that an officer reached the cell.
- Paper: entries can be pre-filled before the round or back-filled after an incident.
- Sentry Inview: a check can only be recorded by scanning the location tag in person.
- Sentry Inview: the timestamp is tamper-evident and cannot be moved backward to cover a gap.
Live control-room board · Unit B
B-114 · Well-being checkOfc. Reyes #4471 · NFC verified10:42:06On time
B-117 · Security roundOfc. Reyes #4471 · QR verified10:46:51On time
B-120 · Close watch (≤15 min)Staggered prompt · next due 10:54Due 10:54In 3 min
C-203 · Well-being checkAuto-escalated to Sgt. DoyleLate 2:11Alert sent
How Sentry Inview ends it
We don't ask officers to be honest. We make the record honest by design.
Every safeguard below is structural, not procedural. The system simply cannot produce a falsified round, and it cannot stay silent when one is missed.
- Proof of presence — every check binds a unique officer ID to a verified location (NFC or QR tag at the cell) and a tamper-evident timestamp. A round can't be logged from anywhere but the spot.
- Staggered, unpredictable scheduling — intervals vary within policy so rounds can never be timed or anticipated, satisfying the standards' requirement that rounds not be predictable.
- Live control-room board — every check shown on time, due, or late, color-coded across every unit in real time.
- Automatic escalation — late or missed checks page a supervisor on their own clock. No silent failures, no waiting for the next shift to notice.
- Exception & compliance reporting — on-time rates, gaps, and exceptions export inspector-ready in minutes, not hours of cross-referencing paper and video.
- Special-population frequencies — configurable ≤15-minute staggered tiers for suicidal, special-needs, and segregation housing, separate from general-population rounds.
What "proof of presence" actually means
Three things every round must prove
Signing a clipboard proves none of these. Sentry Inview captures all three on every single check, automatically.
Where
A verified location, confirmed by scanning the NFC or QR tag fixed at the cell or post. Presence is proven physically, not asserted on paper.
When
A tamper-evident timestamp set by the system at the moment of the scan. It cannot be back-dated to paper over a gap between rounds.
How it works
From scheduled round to defensible record
Sentry Inview guides the officer through the round and captures the proof as a byproduct of doing the job — no extra paperwork, no separate log to maintain.
Schedule rounds with built-in staggering
Set frequencies and tiers per housing area. The system randomizes timing within your policy so rounds stay unpredictable and standards-compliant.
The officer walks and verifies at each location
At every cell or post, the officer scans the NFC or QR tag. Presence is verified in person — the only way a check can be recorded.
Capture the observation
The officer logs a structured well-being observation at the point of responsibility, bound to the verified time, place, and officer ID.
Exceptions escalate, reports export
Late or missed checks page a supervisor automatically, and audit-ready compliance reports are available on demand — defensible from day one.
Why this matters
When rounds aren't real, the consequences are
These are not hypotheticals. Falsified logs have ended lives, ended careers, and produced multi-million-dollar judgments — and in each case, verifiable proof of presence was part of the remedy.
Waller County, TX · 2015
Sandra Bland
A guard admitted under sworn statement to falsifying the jail log, and staff failed to properly check her cell. The case settled for roughly $1.9 million, and the remediation required electronic cell-check and card-swipe logging — specifically so that logs could no longer be falsified.
Court & public records
Waupun C.I., WI · 2023–2024
A preventable death, falsified rounds
A person in custody died of dehydration and malnutrition, ruled a homicide. At least two staff falsified records claiming completed rounds; nine staff were arrested or charged in June 2024. Active wrongful-death litigation alleges deliberate indifference.
Public records · active litigation
Built for the standards
Documented, unannounced rounds aren't optional — they're required
PREA requires a policy and practice of documented, unannounced supervisory rounds to deter staff sexual abuse and harassment (28 CFR §115.13(d)), and requires opposite-gender staff to announce their presence when entering a housing unit (§115.15(d)). Sentry Inview makes that documentation automatic — and verifiable.
- Unannounced, staggered rounds with a permanent record of who walked, where, and when.
- Configurable announcement prompts to support §115.15(d) cross-gender requirements.
- Exception reporting that lets supervisors prove the practice, not just the policy.
Held to these standards
ACAPREANCCHCState Standards
A 2024 federal watchdog tied understaffing to "staff fatigue, sleep deprivation, decreased vigilance, and inattentiveness to duty" — the exact conditions that cause missed and falsified checks. With vacancy rates as high as 55% and turnover up to 48%, software that backstops human limits isn't a luxury.
ACA Workforce Survey, 2024
Common questions
Watch tours & well-being checks
How does Sentry Inview actually prevent pencil whipping?
A check can only be recorded by scanning the NFC or QR tag physically fixed at the location, and the timestamp is set by the system at the moment of the scan. There is no way to pre-fill a round before walking it or to back-date one after an incident. The proof of presence is created in person or not at all.
Do we have to buy proprietary hardware or special readers?
No. Sentry Inview runs on standard Android and iOS phones and tablets you already carry, and location verification uses inexpensive NFC or QR tags — pennies per cell, not custom reader infrastructure. There's no hardware lock-in or multi-year refresh cycle.
How do staggered intervals work, and why do they matter?
Standards require that rounds not be predictable, so a person in custody can't time the gap between checks. Sentry Inview randomizes timing within the bounds of your policy — for example, prompting the next ≤15-minute close watch at a varied moment rather than exactly on the quarter-hour — while still guaranteeing the maximum interval is never exceeded.
What does the documentation look like in an audit or in court?
Every round produces a record bound to a unique officer ID, a verified location, and a tamper-evident timestamp, with the observation captured at the point of responsibility. Compliance and exception reports export on demand — giving accreditors, inspectors, and counsel a clean, defensible chain of proof in minutes rather than hours of reconciling paper and video.
Ready when you are
Make every round provable
Book a walkthrough and we'll map your round frequencies, staggering rules, special-population tiers, and reporting requirements to a live demo — using your housing layout.