Correctional facilities

In correctional facilities, metal detectors secure order, at the entrance and inside. The legal basis is provided by prison law (Strafvollzugsrecht). Prisoners may be searched by technical means. A visit can be made conditional on the visitor agreeing to be checked.

Screening visitors

At the entrance, visitors are screened before they are admitted. Where the detector stands is often dictated by the architecture. How strictly the check is done is for you to set, for instance whether jewellery may be worn or shoes have to be taken off. The detector is set so that it separates harmless items from dangerous metal.

Screening inside the facility

Inside, metal detectors stand at sensitive points, for instance at the entrance to a workshop or laundry. There a prison program runs that responds to any kind of metal, because prisoners in institutional clothing carry no metal. Against the smuggling of mini phones, the Garrett Paragon with 66 zones detects even the smallest amounts of metal that standard detectors miss. The scale the mini-phone threat has reached in the prison system is set out in our article on mini phones in prisons.

The smallest target sets the setting

In the facility it is not the pistol that sets the sensitivity but the smallest item you still want to find reliably. In the prison system there is no tolerance for a missed target. The Paragon detects magnetic and non-magnetic metals alike, so that even a stainless-steel blade or a part made of non-ferrous metal does not slip through. The range runs from the razor blade through the improvised stabbing weapon and the file to the handcuff key and the disassembled weapon. Add to that the mini phone with its few grams of metal. We set the detector to this smallest target and check the setting against a real reference piece, so that in everyday use the check delivers what the data sheet promises.

So that the set security is maintained, a fixed routine is part of operation. We recommend checking the settings at every shift change, documenting throughput and alarm figures, and reviewing effectiveness regularly against newly appeared items. We set up this routine together with your staff.