Why You Should Install CCTV in Prisons

There’s something oddly compelling about correction facilities as electronics clients.

On one hand, it’s sort of scary. On the other hand, it represents a commercial market that is still thriving.

InfoComm recognizes that the U.S. prison system is increasingly investing in technology. Director of public relations Betsy Jaffe recently said prison installations are difficult to quantify because Infocomm puts them into the broader “government category.”

Video conferencing, acoustical treatments and audio/video installations are among the technologies in demand by prisons.

Closed circuit TV (CCTV), meanwhile, “is increasingly being utilized as a tool for recording and monitoring police and prison cells,” according to ClearView Communications. ClearView markets a line of cameras designed specifically for prisons. Features include:

• Infra-red illumination
• Two-way intercom
• Lack of sharp, protruding objects
• High level of vandal resistance

Prison might not make an ideal working environment, but 60 percent of CE pros are already doing CCTV installations, according to the 2008 CE Pro Readership Study. Sixty-nine percent of CE pros are doing commerical installations.

It might not be as glamorous as the hospitality industry or even the worship industry, but it makes sense for CE pros to pursue prisons.