Institutional/ Behavioral
Morlite serves the Detention and Institutional/Behavioral industries with lighting designed for various security levels. Security lighting can be described as anything from the light on your front porch to the bulletproof light found in a super maximum detention facility. The simple definition, then, is to illuminate an area to detect and deter unlawful activity and/or intrusion. In turn, this encourages a sense of safety in those who are in the area.
At all security levels, light is meant to assist police or guards monitoring the area/inmates. While minimum-security applications may be monitored visually, much of the surveillance at the higher security levels is done through video equipment, so glare is unacceptable. Glare can certainly distort the view, but lack of shadow can also hide movement and more subtle indications of misconduct. A balance of contrast and brightness must be reached to create the right lighting for each application.
Minimum-security/Vandal Resistant
Minimum-security/Vandal Resistant lighting can withstand infrequent abuse and rugged handling. Applications include schools, malls, parking garages, stairwells, walkways, etc. Psychiatric facilities and Alzheimer wards require minimum-security/vandal-resistant lighting to protect patients prone to violent or uncontrollable behavior.
These units might also be used in Minimum Security detention centers. The inmates in these facilities tend to be non-violent offenders that pose little or no risk to the public. Inmates are housed in dormitory style quarters with multiple beds, communal showers and lounges. The inmates may not be locked in every night. Fewer guards and less patrolling create a more relaxed atmosphere.
Medium Security
Medium security lighting can endure frequent, persistent abuse. Medium security facilities generally house inmates in prison for the first time and those jailed for non-violent crimes including drug possession, burglary without weapons, receiving stolen property, etc. More guards patrol rather than just monitor the inmates. The housing may be dormitory type with regular patrols where the inmates are locked down at night.
Maximum Security Facilities
Maximum Security facilities restrict inmate movement via restraints and armed guards. Individual cells with remote-controlled sliding doors confine inmates for up to 23 hours a day. These inmates can be violent and the facility requires fixtures that can withstand not only heavy abuse, but attempts to hide weapons and other paraphernalia within its housing.
Super Maximum (Supermax)
Super Maximum (Supermax) detention facilities are the highest security level. These prisons incarcerate the most dangerous felons. High profile, extremely violent inmates with histories of murder, predatory behavior and other egregious criminal acts are housed in small, sound proof cells, isolated from the outside world. Movement and all activity is constantly monitored and controlled. Luminaires for these facilities must stand up to the highest level of abuse and handling. The inmates must not be able to remove the fixtures in part or whole, to hide weapons or drugs in or around the fixture or grab hold of the fixture for greater resistance or momentum.
Morlite manufactures luminaires to meet each of these standards. From the new ArMorlite to the Vandal Resistant/Minimum Security units and the Bulletproof unit, we meet your security/detention lighting needs. Click on the buttons to go to the cut sheets for each security level. Please contact your local Rep (see Rep Locator), or call us for more information.