Va. jail to scan inmates' eyes for ID

HAMPTON, Va. (AP) - All inmates at the Hampton City Jail will undergo biometric eye scans, with the information going into a database that includes fingerprints, photographs and other data.

The new system comes courtesy of a $10,000 federal grant through the Department of Justice's community-policing program. It takes a high-resolution picture of each inmate's eye, and is able to detect differences in the irises of identical twins, said BI2 Technologies, the Plymouth, Mass., maker of the system.

Sheriff's office spokesman Alonzo Cherry says the system eventually will be linked to sex-offender databases nationwide that use iris-scanning technology. The office is also considering using the system as a voluntary way to register children and medical patients at risk of becoming missing.