Retrofits and Maintenance:the Current Correctional Security Electronics Market

Alan Latta started out doing electrical design for lighting and power systems but didn’t work on any correctional applications until he became manager of the electrical engineering department at HDR, where he worked for seven years. At HDR, he developed a capability of engineering for electronic security that he wanted to take further so he started LTS Security Engineers. Sixteen years later, he has worked on more than 350 jails and prisons and has about 50 or 60 retrofits under his company’s belt.

Joe De Patta: Has the slow down in new prison construction affected your business? If so, how?

Alan Latta: Budget considerations are affecting us all. The number of large projects is down significantly, and those out there have extreme competition. We used to have four or five large projects on the table at one time, now those kinds of projects are few and far between. What’s filled in the gap are maintenance related projects, primarily retrofitting and upgrading control systems. We’ve been fortunate and have gotten a lot of that work. Retrofits take more engineering, they are more difficult, but we enjoy them more since they really bring out our engineering capabilities.

JD: What projects are you working on?

AL: The largest are expansions of detention facilities in Snohomish County in Everett, Washington, and Douglas County in Castle Rock, Colorado. We also are working on the third of what eventually will be six projects in North Carolina. In the Midwest we have three retrofits in the state of Missouri and two in Kansas, and we have some work with the Nebraska DCS coming up. Retrofits are hot.

JD: If new correctional construction picks up over the next few years, do you think that retrofit/upgrade projects will continue at their current pace or slow down?

AL: I think they will continue simply because there has been a need for some time. A lot of the systems were installed in the ’80s, and if they haven’t been replaced they should be. If you take a look at the systems in the first half of the 1990s they include technology that looked good but wasn’t configured optimally. There are now more opportunities for more reliable systems. People want to go to massive additional video and digital recording applications. That particular technology is moving extremely fast.

JD: You’ve said that retrofit work requires a higher level of engineering? Why?

AL: A lot of users want newer models of their existing systems. That’s a shame. With the standards we are dealing with today, you can create a number of operations that a user doesn’t have, and you can do them very simply. Once you wire all the field devices into the magic black box, you can tell it to do whatever you want. When you go through a normal design process you can evaluate different operational capabilities provided by the security system. We are going back in and adding duress alarms, personal alarm systems, and we are seeing the addition of card readers on interior doors for faster staff movement. That is all stuff we’ve used on new facilities for years. If you go in new and put a little thought to the process and build in some functionality capabilities you can better deal with the physical configurations of the unit. That increases safety, security, and the capabilities of the officers.

JD: What are some of the most common mistakes you see correctional facilities making with regards to their security electronics and communications systems?

AL: There is a lack of maintenance or the recognition of a need for maintenance. At the same time I think that a well designed, engineered, and properly installed system should not need very much maintenance. But preventive maintenance is necessary with all the PCs with touchscreens and other options. There are things that need to be done to PCs to keep them cleaned up. You have to archive files and defrag the drive. Once in a while you’ll have a hard drive failure and you’ll have to replace and reload it. Who’s going to do that? With the way the industry is going, on-site data services departments that have had proper training in the software and applications will be necessary.

JD: Can you discuss the challenges you face working in a correctional facility that’s occupied?

AL: The challenges in those situations are really assumed by the user agency more than us. We have to carefully plan the installations and build them in phases. In the best scenario we would evacuate an entire pod to allow a contractor to do the work. Some of the larger jurisdictions have the capability of moving inmates to another facility temporarily. Others aren’t so fortunate, so they may move inmates during the day to a recreation yard or multipurpose room, but they must repopulate the area at night.

There is a substantial premium you pay when working in an occupied facility. It can range anywhere from 15 percent to 30 percent based on what access the contractor is going to have. If they have to spend two hours a day getting in and out of a facility, then obviously there is a 25 percent hit right there. Phasing is very important, and that is the challenge both our firm and the user operators have to face.

JD: What’s the most challenging aspect of working in your industry? How do you tackle that challenge?

AL: The biggest challenge is being able to evaluate the huge numbers of projects coming on line and assessing them for the applications in corrections and detentions. Separating out what really makes sense and what is just glitter. Also, we have to be able to answer our client’s questions. We have to establish a dialogue. Everything I know I’ve learned by researching questions I’ve been asked at a facility.

JD: What trends are you seeing in terms of security and technology?

AL: We are seeing a lot of systems based around Ethernet technology. Also, it’s just a matter of time before we see gigabit speed networks, beyond the Ethernet we have right now. We are trying to use fiber in the network in order to be able to accommodate the next level of speed.

The high level video and digital recorders are also coming. You will need some pretty powerful network systems in order to manage the data going around the network.

JD: Are there any products or innovations that you’re excited about?

AL: We’ve been using the managed network switches. We now have to be able to manage the data associated with those switches, and there are some innovations coming out. We see the whole networking capability using industrial-grade equipment as being important. What’s leading a lot of this change is the engineering of plant-type industrial control systems. This equipment is built hearty because equipment failure costs industrial plants money when they are down. There is a high level of maintenance and you try and relate that to a detention facility that has little maintenance; it’s good to buy really good equipment that is very rigid. You put it in right and it lasts a long time. You also have highly reliable equipment that is expandable. I think we will see better and more reliable systems in correctional facilities.

JD: Considering the correctional security electronics field, what areas do you think need improvement?

AL: If you take a look at the whole field of electronics, my pet peeve has been on the construction end of it. Too much of the fabrication, installation, and testing have borrowed an old method called “just in time delivery.” Unfortunately that does not work. What it means is that you get a substantial completion and you have a list of things that aren’t ready yet. It’s because the system hasn’t been built and tested in the manufacturer’s own facilities. There is no reason why they should not immediately upon getting the job and doing the submittals, procure, assemble, program, and test a system and then shrink-wrap it and keep it in a bonded warehouse until the parts are needed on the site. It doesn’t seem to happen that way. They build the system, just in time, then they have to ship it immediately and program it in the field. The de-bugging process is significant. A contractor or a consultant can get a bad rap over that, which is out of their control. The systems are not being built in a timely manner; there is no reason why this equipment shouldn’t be plug and play.

JD: Are most people up-to-date on available technologies or do you find that more education is be necessary?

AL: Most are up to date about what technologies are out there, but they don’t understand the implications of the technology. For instance, we’ve used wireless controllers that worked on radio frequency for a while. I’ve had really positive feedback on them. Now we have PDAs that will perform a similar application. They have a broad range of capabilities and people have to consider the options available and educate their staff in the use of the new technology.

JD: Do you have any final comments?

AL: When I started doing security applications, I discovered that the people I get to work with have provided me with a truly good experience. These are the kinds of people who will look you in the eye and tell you what they think of you. I like working like that. I’ve said before and I’ll say it now, when it quits being fun, I’ll quit doing it.