Biometric chaos at new prison For the system to work, 100% of prisoners, 100% of the time had to leave an electronic thumbprint when they went from one area of the prison to another and the system had to record this every time. If one thumb print failed to register, the roll check did not tally and all prisoner movement halted - sometimes for hours - until a manual check could be done. This happened once or twice a day on each day of the inspection with the result that education, training, work and other activities were severely disrupted. Isis was the first public prison to open in 20 years by Nick Hardwick, the chief inspector of prisons, said: "Despite the progress it has made, it would be wrong to underestimate the formidable challenges Isis still has to overcome." Michael Spurr, Chief Executive Officer of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), said: "The Chief Inspector rightly highlights the challenges Isis has faced in opening and running a new prison. Recruitment at Isis has posed a challenge but new staff are being absorbed well and are working hard to manage the volatile population.