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In the aftermath of the death of inmate Ronnie L. White last year, Prince George's County Department of Corrections officials say a new $300,000 surveillance camera system will let them record footage inside the jail and boost the image and safety of the facility.

The new system, which started operating May 1, allows corrections officers to record footage from the facility's 175 closed-circuit cameras, most of which are positioned in common areas and hallways. Previously, the jail's cameras could be used to monitor activity, but could not record.

Vernon R. Herron, the county's head of public safety and homeland security, announced in July the county was considering the technology, soon after inmate White, 19, died in his cell after being charged with killing a police officer. The state medical examiner ruled White's death a homicide by asphyxiation, and the Maryland State Police continue to investigate whether corrections officers played a role in his death.

Guards brought a handheld camera into White's cell soon after his death to record the scene, but the camera allegedly malfunctioned.

"After the Ronnie White case, we realized that we could improve security within the facility," Herron said Tuesday morning before a tour of the 1,220-inmate jail.

The jail has cameras in the gym, the kitchen and most other common areas; in hallways, and in three of its 48 maximum-security cells that are used for high-profile inmates, said Mary Lou McDonough, the jail's interim director. That leaves 745 cells without video cameras, said Greg Harris, the jail's deputy director. Each camera costs between $1,000 and $1,500, he said.

Herron said he hopes to put a camera in every cell within the next five years, depending on the economy.

"It's going to be an ambitious undertaking," Herron said. "But you can't put a price on the safety of officers, on the safety of inmates."

At the time of his death, White was in one of the cells for high-profile inmates, most of which currently have cameras, McDonough said. White's cell does not have a camera, because it has not been occupied since his death, but McDonough said she wants to put a camera in it after the investigation is completed.

White's death was not the only incident at the jail in 2008. The facility's former director, Alfred J. McMurray Sr., was dismissed in June after workers discovered four handguns missing from a locked armory. Earlier that year, inmates were found on two occasions with handcuff keys; a corrections officer was charged with smuggling cell phones to gang members in the jail, and two female officers were suspended for allegedly having sexual intercourse with male prisoners.

A camera was installed to monitor the armory where the four handguns went missing within weeks of their disappearance, Harris said.

Corrections officials insist the Upper Marlboro jail is not more troubled than other facilities, but McDonough said she hopes the cameras will help improve the jail's image.

"I think we would have been able to avoid many of the black eyes we've taken over the past year [if we were able to record footage]," she said.

The new system can be used to investigate inmates' complaints against guards, to gather intelligence on inmates who might be part of gangs and for training purposes, McDonough said.

A corrections officer said Tuesday that most guards do not object to the new system, but said he is worried that people reviewing the security footage might second-guess guards' decisions without understanding the pressure under which they operate.

"Decisions being made in real time are going to be different from someone running the tapes on a Monday morning, sipping their coffee," said the guard, who did not want to be named. "[But] there's nothing to be against."