Correctional facilities present a unique and complex set of challenges for fire protection engineers. When designing for correctional facilities fire protection engineers must balance the critical need for life safety with the equally important security and control measures. This balance requires specialized expertise to ensure the effectiveness and reliability of fire protection systems without compromising the security of the facility.

Balancing Life Safety and Security

Fire protection engineering in correctional facilities is significantly different from other building types due to the unique safety concerns, where locked doors and restricted egress are necessary for security.  Locked doors and restricted access to exit routes necessitate special procedures for evacuation. This often relies on staff to unlock doors and guide inmates to safe areas within the facility instead of evacuating outside. These major challenges require a focus on early detection, where highly sensitive smoke detectors are crucial to quickly identify a fire and initiate a response before conditions become dangerous due to limited escape options.

Fire protection engineers must consider many unique factors when designing for correctional facilities.

These include:

• Maintaining Security: Fire protection systems must be designed to minimize any security risks and prevent unauthorized inmate access. This requires careful consideration of system integration with existing security measures such as CCTV, access control, and perimeter security.

• High Occupancy: Correctional facilities typically house a large number of occupants in a more confined space than a typical residential building. This increases the potential for mass casualties.

• Tampering: The potential for deliberate acts of arson or tampering with fire protection systems is a serious concern.

• Staffing: Correctional facilities may have limited staff available during emergencies.

• Code Compliance and Regulations: The stringent fire code requirements for correctional facilities often go beyond typical building codes and address specific concerns related to inmate safety, security, and operational needs.

• Construction: If fire protection systems are being retrofitted then this must be done whilst inmates occupy the building. It is important that the areas in which work being completed stay functional and secure during the process.

• Intentional Fires: Correctional facilities have atypical circumstances in which many of the fires which do occur are intentionally set.

What Life Safety Measures are Implemented in Correctional Facilities?

Correctional facilities are built with non-combustible materials to limit the spread of fire within the building. Staff must be trained regularly and complete training drills to ensure they can evacuate the occupants safely during a fire emergency.  In these drills the staff must be taught the best means of egress in the event that all occupants should need to be evacuated from a fire. Because the inmates are contained inside cells, effective staff assistance is necessary to evacuate to safety.

Fire protection engineers can help to keep correctional facilities safe through:

Early Warning Smoke Detection Systems

In most buildings, free egress is required by codes like NFPA 101. In the event of a fire or other emergency, occupants should be able to exit freely through unobstructed paths and exit doors. Correctional facilities are a notable exception to this, as inmates are often locked in cells or holding areas and cannot evacuate freely. This makes it essential that fires are detected as early as possible so staff are alerted and available to assist.

However, the nature of correctional facilities mean that smoke control system come with additional challenges. These include:

• Vandalism – If the detector is visible and accessible this invites vandalism from inmates
• Tampering – Inmates might cover up the detection system in order to smoke

To overcome these challenges air-sampling or aspirating systems can be used instead of traditional smoke detectors. The small sampling ports in the cells can be concealed in ventilation grills or light fixtures where inmates will not be able to access it.

These systems can detect fires at very early stages, typically before visible smoldering appears or a fire develops heavy smoke. This allows the early detection of a fire, so that emergency protocol can be activated by staff and emergency responders contacted fast if necessary.

Automatic Sprinkler Systems

Fire Protection Engineers can design sprinkler systems that protect the inmates in case of a fire. As the inmates are contained and cannot freely evacuate from their cell, A sprinkler system will activate automatically as soon as it detects the heat from a fire, a fast response which could be life saving for inmates with restricted and slower egress.

These sprinkler systems must be institutional type sprinklers. These are designed to breakaway if a heavy load is attached, which is an important feature in correctional facilities where there is the possibility of self-inflicted injuries. The sprinkler piping must also be concealed so that heavy loads cannot be attached to it.

Smoke Control

Smoke control measures are essential for correctional facilities because they have restricted means of evacuation, so the air must remain safe while the staff initiate evacuation proceedings and unlock inmates.

Correctional facilities have limited windows in inmate cells and holding areas because they could be broken by inmates and also used as a potential access for escape. This makes ventilation complex and necessitates smoke control systems to remove the smoke in the instance of a fire. The smoke control system can be engineered as an independent system or may be engineered to work in conjunction with the building HVAC system.

Through smoke management systems the toxic smoke is filtered from the air to keep the inmates safe while they are held in the cells. This is combined with compartmentalization, where the facility is divided into smaller isolated compartments of fire-resistant walls, doors, and ceilings. This prevents the smoke from spreading throughout the facility and confines it within one area.

RAN Fire Protection Engineering has extensive experience with correctional facilities. RAN has completed projects for 93% of the currently open correctional facilities which demonstrates their expertise at balancing life security needs and security. Get in touch with us today.

Examples of our extensive experience can be found on our correctional facilities page.