Cortech NEW Normative Cell

THE NORMATIVE CORRECTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Today’s correctional environments are changing as a result of the increased awareness in the need for a more normative environment conducive to rehabilitation. These normative environments are characterized by increased use of color and polymers. The applications are dayrooms, common area and cells.

The use of polymers in these applications is beneficial to not only detainees, but to facility owners as well. Normative polymer furnishings, when compared to their metal counterparts are safer, maintenance free, flame retardant, proven as strong or stronger than steel, and simply better looking.

Look inside to see the NEW Normative for corrections.

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TYPICAL DAYROOM

NORMATIVE DAYROOM

• Limited colors

• Multiple Normative color options

• Susceptible to rusting

• Flame retardant

• Ligature prone

• 10 year warranty

• Sharp, hard edges present safety risk

• Ligature resistant / rounded corners • Maintenance free • Safe / no sharp edges • Rust proof

Consolidation and Compelling Colors Detention Equipment Has Come a Long Way

By Lisa Kopochinski Two big trends in the detention equipment sector include industry consolidation and a move to colorful modular construction.

Detention equipment has come a long way in the past decade. While equipment for the corrections industry is specifically built to hold up to abuse and designed to be suicide resistant—compared to typical commercial furnishings and fixtures, for example— a big trend has been the consolidation of the industry as a whole.

“It was an installation and manufacturing base built for the prison boom of the 1980s and 90s that needed correction,”

said Keith Thoene, president, CML Security LLC, a security electronics integrator, detention equipment installer, and service and preventative maintenance provider, located in Broomfield, Colo.

CML Security provides and installs security-grade detention equipment such as security hollow metal doors, frames, windows, hardware, furniture, glazing, ceilings, mesh, wall panels, and specialized detention items.

“While some of this correction was planned and handled well, other exits were sudden and painful for all people and entities involved.”

Thoene said the most significant change his company has noticed is the attrition of experienced

detention equipment designers, a trend that seems to be industry wide, both in the design community and detention equipment contractors and vendors.

“If you add up who retired in the past five years, and who will be retiring in the next five, it represents a significant portion of the qualified professionals in our industry. An architectural friend of ours recently stated that he could count on two hands the number of design professionals that left in our entire industry, who solely focus on the design of detention equipment.

Even if he is only close in his assessment, the entirety of our industry needs are flowing through a quickly shrinking number of hands.”

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A great deal is involved in the design and construction of detention equipment. Thoene says there are so many intricacies that need to be considered when working as a design assist partner with architects and owners.

“The devil is in the details. It is a very time-consuming process.

Every opening and detail needs to be reviewed for code compliance, security concerns, functionality, cost and, finally, integration with the security electronics design. Like all steps of designing a correctional facility, it needs to be treated with respect and the work needs to be supervised by qualified personnel.”

One project that CML Security supplied detention equipment for was the 420-bed addition to the Weld Country Jail in Greeley, Colo.

“There was an interesting design and procurement process,” Thoene recalled. “Weld County has a very progressive building and grounds

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correctional news / november - december 2019

department that listened to CML’s concerns, recognized where construction material costs were trending, and then took steps to protect their budgets.”

He said the client pushed for design collaboration that resulted in an early procurement and release of the majority of the detention equipment. This resulted in a $1.46 million savings over the following 18 months as the construction industry capacity restrictions and tariff fears took hold.

“This was a design assist project with Balfour Beatty and HOK,” said Thoene. “HOK/CML worked hand-in-hand with the county, which resulted in a design that they are extremely happy with. Certain features are being replicated in retrofits to the existing buildings.

And, by collaborating on the budget concerns early, the project has moved along without the hiccups so many of our other projects are experiencing.”

Cortech Correctional Technologies, Inc. is a manufacturer of beds, room furniture, property storage, seating and tables for a number of different industries, including corrections. Based in

Willowbrook, Illinois, Cortech President Joe Claffy said there are multiple considerations in the design and manufacturing of this type of detention equipment.

“Generally, detention furnishings need to contribute to a safe and human environment, for both inmates and staff. Simply put, they cannot be broken. They need to be ligature resistant, as well as resistant to lethal weapon fabrication. [They are also need] to embrace the concept of a normative environment and be maintenance free as well as flame retardant tested.”

He said the biggest change he has seen in the last 10 years has been the transition from traditional graypainted steel furnishings to colorful thermo-formed plastic furnishings.

“This new generation of furnishings perform as good as steel structurally, but look better, and are safer. They can contribute to a safe, humane and more costeffective environment because lethal weapon fabrication is difficult, if not impossible.”

Also, because plastic furnishings have little to no maintenance costs,

Claffy said most manufacturers offer extended warranties on these plastic products.

“This is a further confirmation of the durability that can be engineered and designed into plastic detentions furnishings. Logistics has also changed in the last decade. Now, detention equipment and furnishings are shipped and delivered according to the install schedule. The days of shipping the job complete in one significant shipment is long gone.”

This increased use of color in detention equipment is one of the largest trends being seen, said Claffy.

“Most all new construction and renovations are using a normative environment approach. The merger of mental/behavioral health and corrections is here. The increased awareness of the effects of environment (including colors) and the ability to rehabilitate inmates is real, and it is here.”

Cortech has been involved in literally thousands of installations.

Claffy says probably the biggest challenge overall has been to show— through testing and sampling—that plastics, if engineered and molded

correctly, prove to be as durable as their steel counterparts.

“We have proven this out of every component used in a cell, dayroom or common areas. But desks, shelves, beds and bunks all have different requirements for load capacity and mounting styles. We have overcome the challenges of these applications with engineering.”

Claffy added that owners and architects are also seeking to produce environments that are more normalized. This translates into more open space, natural sunlight, program space, increased use of fabric flooring and wall coverings, and colorful detention furnishings.

“Colorful furnishings enhance the presence of more natural daylight and contribute to an overall positive feeling environment,” explained Claffy.

“The biggest trend in the industry is to produce facilities that have a better chance to promote rehabilitation and reentry for inmates. Detention furnishings and equipment are part of the solution to this trend.”

What’s Next?

As for what the industry will be seeing in the next three to five years with respect to detention equipment trends, Thoene thinks there will continue to be a push toward modular construction as the construction industry grapples with the lack of trade resources in the upcoming generations.

“Also, it appears that consolidation in the industry has leveled off, and capacity is again on the rise, with most manufacturers making significant financial investments in their production capacities,” he said.

Claffy foresees more use of the normative environment approach to detention equipment, and especially furnishings—meaning colorful plastics everywhere.

“Architects now trust the durability of plastics and owners do too. So, more detention equipment specifications will see plastic furniture as a basis of design. And, so will furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) schedules. It will be incumbent for detention equipment contractors to learn and understand the

difference in steel vs. plastics as it relates to mounting the products. Estimating the labor to mount detention equipment and furnishings is an art—not a science.”

This means that detention equipment contractors will have to test and sample how to install plastic furnishings. In most cases, Claffy said, they will find that installing a plastic cell component is safer and easier than a metal counterpart.

Wall Mount Bunk Drop Test CLICK HERE

Cortech Wall-Mounted Bunk; There is significant engineering and technology behind a plastic product that looks good, won’t break, can’t be turned into a lethal weapon, passes flame testing, and is virtually maintenance free.

correctional news / november - december 2019

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS THE NEW NORMATIVE CELL AS FEATURED IN

A Q&A With Cortech President Joe Claffy For this detention equipment-themed issue of Correctional News, we recently checked in with Joe Claffy, president of Cortech USA, to gain his insights on hot trends, new products and what’s buzzing in the corrections field.

Q: What are some of the top trends in corrections today and how is Cortech addressing the needs tied to them?

The top trend that we see is the introduction of product elements that contribute to a more normalized correctional environment. There has been a definable trend in facility design (and renovation) that embraces environmental concepts and their effect on human behavior, rehabilitation, and eventually reentry. We address this trend through product design and color. Specifically, product design for furnishings that more closely appear to be dormitory or group housing appropriate. Offering numerous colors in all of those designs as well as custom colors is part of the solution as well. Additionally the use of colors almost always means the use of thermoplastics.

There is significant engineering and technology behind a plastic product that looks good, won’t break, can’t be turned into a lethal weapon, passes flame testing, and is virtually maintenance free.

Cortech addressees all of those requirements in every product we produce.

Another significant trend that will affect everyone in the field: Inmate populations have been decreasing and will continue to decrease.

This is across all jurisdictions and inmate classes.

Q: Have you worked on any projects recently that reflect some of these trends, or that highlight new equipment your company produces?

Yes. That would be every project we do! We do not manufacture steel detention furnishings, only plastic. And plastics can be made to be colorful, strong, and virtually maintenance free.

Our research and product development has found that in many cases, plastic can be engineered and molded to be as strong as steel and sometime stronger! This is not staggering development.

Plastics have been the beneficiary of significant engineering research and polymer development for the las 40 years. Most people can associate this with a standard automobile that is now at or around 50 percent plastic. Plastics are lighter, can be molded into architectural shapes, can be colorful, and are much more maintenance free that their steel counterparts. In our field, DEC’s can benefit from the use of plastic furnishings because they are lighter, and easier and safer to install than steel.

Q: What products at Cortech are currently generating the most buzz in the corrections industry?

There are several new products that we have come out with generating some buzz. But probably the number one product is our free-standing wallmounted bunk. It is a one-piece molded plastic bunk that requires no support to mount it on a wall except the integral mounting holes it comes

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All Purpose Wall Mount Shelf/Step 2.0

2 Shelf Wall Mount

Wall Mount Bunk

4 Shelf Wall Mount

Bed 1.0

Standing Desk

All Purpose Wall Mount Shelf/Step

Barracuda Inmate Storage Boxes RazorBack Chair

Cortech President Joe Claffy foresees more use of the normative environment approach to detention equipment, especially furnishings—meaning colorful plastics everywhere. with. We recently tested it for static load capacity and it easily passed 2,000 lbs. We also tested (and its steel counterpart) it to the newest ASTM drop test standard. Test results, and the video of the test show that its deflection on drop was slightly less than it steel counterpart. This has been well received by the corrections community. And this structural success was achieved without the use of internal foam or steel. Not only have we produced the first free mounted wall bunk, it has proven out to be as strong or stronger than steel. The additional benefits of our new wall bunk are that it can be molded in any color. It also features rounded corners to contribute to safety. Those rounded corners contribute to ligature resistance, and general reduction in injuries from human impact.

The wall bunk passes the stringent CAL 133 flame retardant test. There is also the maintenance feature. This wall mounted bunk will not rust and it will never need to be painted.

Q: How do you think the detention equipment market has evolved the most over the past decade or so, and what has spurred that change? And how has this impacted Cortech’s approach?

The biggest change in the detention equipment market over the last decade has been the consolidation of the number of qualified Detention Equipment Contractors. While exact numbers are difficult to quantify, the consolidation has been remarkable. The fact is, that DEC’s are better at what they do now than at any time in my career in corrections (which dates back to 1981).

This could be a result of the general industry consolidation that occurred during and after the recession of 2008. I believe that difficult time had a way of making the remaining DEC’s as well as

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detention furnishing manufacturers better and stronger… because they had to. I have also seen DEC’s commit to embracing new technology from electronics to plastic furnishings. So in short, the detention equipment has evolved into a healthier environment for architects, and general contractors, but especially owners too. We listen to owners…especially correctional staff. They tell us what works and what doesn’t. They tell us why.

They tell us how to improve, and as a detention equipment furnishings manufacturer, we do it.

DEC’s have also done the same.

Q: What do you think the near future holds for the corrections industry and for Cortech?

The short answer is positive progression for the field and for Cortech. It has been terrific to see the changes in the field, especially with the normative environmental approach. The field has moved from a standardized 100 percent punishing environment, to an environment that contributes to rehabilitation and community reentry. I am hopeful to see if the demographic results improve in the future as a result of the normative approach.

Cortech will continue to grow our product line in all areas that we specialize in; Furnishings, Food delivery systems, facility maintenance.

We are working with new polymer and molding technologies that will keep us on the leading edge of not only product design, but in product manufacturing. We see a deeper commitment to the professionals in the field across the nation.

Cortech, as a product manufacturer, are more committed than ever to making a difference in the field with safe, humane, and productive products that contribute to a safer environment that is more conducive to rehabilitation.

correctional news / november - december 2019

TYPICAL CELL

NORMATIVE CELL

• Limited colors

• Multiple Normative color options

• Susceptible to rusting

• Flame retardant

• Ligature prone

• 10 year warranty

• Sharp, hard edges present safety risk

• Ligature resistant / rounded corners • Maintenance free • Safe / no sharp edges • Rust proof

THE NORMATIVE CELL

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USA Our Intense Use and Correctional Specific products contribute to a safe and humane environment.

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