A new Washington state law related to biometric data has also impacted on fingerprinting prisoners.Although the new bill focused on the collection of biometric data such as iris, face or even gait data, it also technically banned prisoners from being fingerprinted.Gov. Jay Inslee had to sign a new bill into law Tuesday to fix that oversight.House Bill 1717 required government officials to notify people and obtain their consent before collecting their biometric information, while also prohibiting agencies from selling that data.The earlier bill made an exception for law enforcement agencies such as the Washington State Patrol.But it didn't extend the same courtesy to limited-authority law enforcement agencies such as the Department of Corrections, which runs the state's prisons.
US state inadvertently bans prisoner fingerprinting
