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Thinking Outside the Cell: Expanding Safety and Security Beyond the Perimeter

NCJ Number
226304
Journal
Corrections Today Magazine Volume: 70 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2008 Pages: 54-57,61
Author(s)
David P. Boehm; Robert O. Lampert
Date Published
October 2008
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes the security features in the design of the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution (WMCI), which is currently under construction.
Abstract
The 248,466 square-foot secure portion of the facility, where inmates will live and where most of the supporting infrastructure is located, will be surrounded by a double-security fence with a perimeter alarm system. Entrance to this portion of the facility will be through sally ports, with one for staff and visitors and one for vehicles. The fence will be monitored by security officers driving on an adjacent patrol road. The main control room allows staff to monitor the overall security of the facility and control inmate movements throughout the prison. Security staff in the housing units will control the movements of inmates within and between units through locking systems within the individual units. Showers are located in the high-custody, maximum-security, single-occupant cells. Secure corridors provide passage to the various spaces for different populations. A separate housing unit is provided for female inmates who have specialty medical, mental, and hospice needs that cannot be met at the women’s prison. Although safety and security are primary in WMCI’s design, it also takes into account space for programs and services considered to be most effective in reducing future criminal behavior. The facility design provides for intensive residential and outpatient substance abuse treatment, basic adult education, vocational education and work skills development, residential and outpatient sex-offender treatment, mental health services, geriatric services, comprehensive intake assessment and case planning, and intensive residential treatment and housing for those on probation/parole revocation. 1 table and 2 figures