Los Angeles Detention Center to Install Assault Intervention Device

At the Pitchess Detention Center at the Los Angeles County Jail, guards demonstrated their very own Assault Intervention Device. This devices is a 7.5-foot-tall laser weapon that produces burning pain at whomever it is directed. The beam that is emitted from the device can reach up to 100 feet. The beam is about as big around as a CD.

The laser will be mounted on the ceiling of the complex. Prison officials hope that the device will help to deter inmate fights by subduing aggressors with this burning sensation.

According to the DailyNews, Commander Bob Osborne of the Sheriff's Department Technology Exploration Program said, "I equate it to opening an oven door and feeling that blast of hot air, except instead of it being all over me, it's more focused."

The pain can be stopped, of course, by moving out of the beam's path. Targets usually do so instinctively.

The device is controlled by a joystick and a computer monitor. The wave travels at the speed of light and penetrates the skin up to 1/64 of an inch. It's very hard to stand in the way of the beam for more than 3 seconds.

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The device was developed by Raytheon. They had previously built a different version of the technology designed for use by the U.S. Army for crowd control measures in Afghanistan. These were larger versions that could heat up a person's entire torso. They were mounted on the back of Hummers.

The prison houses more than 3,700 prisoners has had 257 inmate-on-inmate assaults in the first half of this year. With this device, the officials hope to bring that number way down.

It's debatable, however, how widely accepted this technology will get. It's called the "pain ray" by some people, so that might mean that it will not be supported by the people of these communities.