With over 400,000 of the company’s vandal-proof, weather-resistant and programmable piezo switches installed in prisons and correctional facilities across the U.S., Everswitch is proud to contribute to the safety and security of prison staff and inmates.

Challenge

Federal prisons are among the toughest user environments anywhere.
In order to ensure the safety and security of prison staff and inmates, switches must be trusted to function reliably at all times in the face of recurrent vandalism by inmates or due to weather-related malfunctions in the case of equipment located outdoors. Everswitch touch metal piezo switching solutions are widely used in prisons and correctional facilities thanks both to their inherent ruggedness – which minimizes replacement and repair costs – and to the ability of Everswitch to customize solutions that cater to very specific usage requirements. Over 400,000 Everswitch piezo switches are installed in US prisons and correctional facilities, contributing to the safety of prison staff as well as inmates.

Everswitch’s Solutions

(1) Emergency Panic Buttons in “Super-Max” Facilities
On occasion, prison guards must go into cells. As a security measure, cells are fitted
with emergency panic call buttons, subject to constant attempts at vandalism by inmates. Everswitch’s engineering team designed a solid Stainless Steel plate with a massive active area that could be easily activated by a guard in an emergency by banging anywhere on the whole plate surface.

(2) Touch Metal Toilet Flushes with Timers
Prison inmates sometimes deliberately flood their cells by creating blockages in the toilet by stuffing a sheet in the toilet and repeatedly flushing until the cell is flooded with water. Everswitch supplies touch metal switches as part of this electronic flush system. These switches have a built-in timer function to ensure that repeated flushes are not possible and are spaced a programmable length time apart – to reduce the risk of intentional flooding.

(3) Guard Tour Buttons
On their regular monitoring checks around the perimeter of the facilities, prison guards are required to tap a series of guard tour buttons positioned along the routes and around the perimeter fence. Everswitch’s touch metal piezo guard tour buttons are built to withstand usage in all kinds of weather extremes, from intense heat to rain, fog, sleet and snow. In addition, they are operable either by the touch of a finger, or as is more often the case, activation by the tap of a stick.

Warning! Our virtually indestructible solid-state piezo switches and keypads take the fun out of vandalism

Why it Works

Everswitch’s sealed and solid-state construction provides the highest level of vandal resistance in the market - resisting damage from knives, kicks or rocks – virtually eliminating repair and replacement costs
Switches with self-diagnostic capability can alert the system to tampering and damage
Piezo switch mechanism can be activated when wearing gloves or by an application of pressure
Switches can be provided with field programmable timers or factory pre-set with lock-out times
Unique encapsulation technology makes the switches impervious to rain, sleet, humidity, vibration, dirt, bug infestation and flooding
Switches are resistant to tampering or becoming places for illicit materials to be stored
Switches are stress tested to provide reliable function to 50 million cycles. We have switches in equipment installed 25 years ago, used 24/7/365 days a year
Everswitch engineering and product team provided full support from design concept to integration at the correctional facility

Prison Facility Monitoring.pdf

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