prison cell doors

Doors for prison cells and detention centers are a very specific type of door, the structure and equipment of which are adapted to the specific requirements of penitentiary and police facilities. Despite the introduction and constant development of electronic surveillance systems over detainees and prisoners, prison cell doors still remain an indispensable element in the functioning of prisons, jails and police detention centers.

Doors for prison cells, jails and detention centers

in terms of their specifications, equipment and design, must meet the requirements of the Prison Service, Police and Border Guard.
According to the guidelines of the Director General of the Prison Service, cell doors in remand centers and closed penitentiaries should have the RC4 burglary resistance class in accordance with standard EN 1627:2012 and also be equipped with a prison lock, wide-angle peepholes and two bolts. An additional requirement of the prison service for cell doors is high resistance to repeated opening and closing as well as to the action of operational forces. The guidelines of the Director General of the Prison Service also specify the dimensions of doors for residential cells at a minimum width of passage of 800 mm in normal cells and 900 mm in infirmaries and prison cells for disabled people.
Requirements for doors installed in police detention centers are regulated by the Regulation of the Minister of the Interior on rooms intended for detained persons or persons brought to sober up, transition rooms, temporary transition rooms and police emergency centers for children, the rules of stay in these rooms, transition rooms and centers the procedure to be followed with recorded images from these rooms, transition rooms and centers. According to the regulation, "a door with a reinforced structure with two bolts and a mechanical or electronic lock and a safety chain, opening outwards, equipped with a peephole ensuring visibility, secured from the side of the room with tempered glass and on the other side by a movable curtain” should be used in police rooms for detainees or persons brought to sober up. Similar requirements are imposed on doors used in Border Guard facilities in accordance with the Regulation of the Minister of the Interior and Administration on the conditions to be met by rooms in Border Guard organizational units intended for detained persons and the rules of stay in these rooms.

The construction of door leafs and frames for prison cells, arrests and police detention centers

is based on proven design solutions for anti-burglary doors. The method of use, the number of opening and closing cycles as well as exposure to forced breaking attempts require high mechanical resistance, durability and burglary resistance from the prison cell door. The sheathing of the cell door leafs is made of 2.0 mm thick steel sheet from the side of the room and 1.5 mm from the outside. Internal reinforcement with steel sections stiffens the leaf, and the applied mineral wool filling provides soundproofing and insulation. The door leafs are made with a thick, four-sided rebate ensuring very good tightness on all edges. The door frames are made of steel sheet 3.0 mm thick in an angular or block variant. The solid structure of the leafs and frames guarantees resistance to burglary and mechanical damage, and thus ensures long-term failure-free operation in prisons, detention centers and police stations.

The equipment of doors for prison cells, detention centers and jails

is specific to doors of this type and is not used in other doors in practice. The leafs of cell doors open to the outside, and their fittings and equipment are made in one-sided variants. As a result, both the leaf and frame constitute a completely smooth plane on the side of the room for inmates or detainees. Such a solution deprives the tenants of a prison cell or a police detention center of the possibility of sabotage or manipulation and effectively discourages from unauthorized attempts to open the door. Prison doors are bolted with a high-class key lock and two independent mortise or surface bolts. The bolts allow for quick locking of the cell doors without the use of keys and ensure effective closing of cells even in the event of a lock failure. The bolts are located above and below the main lock, and a guard can close and open the lower bolt using their foot. The lock of a prison or jail cell door does not have a latch, it is a typical deadlock. The lack of a latch is mainly due to the lack of a traditional handle, but it is also dictated by security reasons, preventing the guard from accidentally being shut in a room for convicts or detainees. Also for the sake of security, a prison cell lock is usually not equipped with a patent insert, but with bit keys that are much less prone to attempted damage. Access to the lock, its repair or replacement in the event of a breakdown or sabotage, is very simple and possible even while the door is closed. The lock cassette is equipped from the outside with a steel blend, which guarantees quick access to the lock for inspection, repair or replacement. On the hinge side, the door leaf can be equipped with fixed anti-burglary bolts. An additional element of door equipment that improves safety is a solid, hard-to-break chain that acts as an opening limiter. From the outside, the door leaf is equipped with a steel handrail that allows a guard to open and close the door. The peephole is a very important part of the equipment of a prison, detention center or jail cell door. The panoramic peephole used in this type of door provides a view of the entire room while maintaining the maximum safety rules: from the inside it is protected with BR2 bulletproof glass, and it is closed with a metal shutter from the outside. Despite the electronic monitoring of prison, jail and detention center cells, before opening the cell door, the guard is obliged to check the behavior of the people inside the cell through a peephole. Peepholes in doors to detention center cells and drunk tanks guarantee the comfort of work of a police arrest provost and ensure proper supervision over detainees or persons brought to sober up, because police officers performing this type of service are obliged to monitor the behavior of people in the premises on an ongoing basis. Doors to prison cells, detention centers and sobering-up chambers can be equipped with additional elements, such as electric locks, opening sensors, as well as prison tray slots - small inspection doors that allow for both serving meals and safe handcuffing of detainees and inmates.

Physical properties of doors for prison cells, jails, detention centers and sobering-up stations.

- Resistance to repeated closing and opening in class 6 according to PN-EN 12400: 2004
- Mechanical strength in class 4 according to PN-EN 1192:2001
- Burglary resistance in class RC4 according to PN-EN 1627:2012
- Corrosion resistance in class C3 according to PN-EN ISO12944-2:2001
- Acoustic insulation Rw = 35 dB according to PN-EN ISO 717-1:1999
Professionally made doors to prison cells, detention centers and jails ensure the safety of people staying in such rooms and enable efficient supervision of their stay. The doors are powder painted in colors consistent with the RAL palette. Their finish ensures easy cleaning, resistance to corrosion and mechanical damage.