Thales
Security Solutions & Services Division
Security Systems
20-22 rue Grange Dame Rose
CS 80518
78141 Vélizy Cedex - France
Tel: +33 (0)1 73 32 00 00

Architecture of a multi-building hypervision system
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Thales was selected to design, supply, install and commission a new safety and security system over an eight-year period as part a comprehensive upgrade programme at the prison.
The system ties together seven subsystems via a secure IP network controlled via the SATHI hypervision system:
• access control,
• door locking,
• intrusion detection (with information from perimeter detection system alarms, door contacts, wall-mounted alarm buttons, hidden alarms, lone worker alarms, etc. ),
• videosurveillance (digital system incorporating image analysis capability),
• intercom,
• radio communications,
• public address.
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Prisons have to maintain high levels of security to prevent escapes, riots, suicides, attacks on inmates and staff, and other forms of violence. A prison is by definition a complex environment, which has to house people from a wide variety of backgrounds, some of them dangerous, all of them unhappy to be incarcerated there, while striking the correct balance between punishment and rehabilitation.
In addition to meeting these challenges, prisons also have to be capable of reacting rapidly to internal emergency situations, and restoring order within a short timeframe once incidents have been brought under control.
On the basis of a detailed analysis of the customer’s operational needs,
Thales has developed an offering specially tailored to the needs of prisons:
• carefully-sited sensors and other state-of-the-art solutions adapted to meeting key prison security needs,
• open, modular architecture based on a secure information network,
• deployment of supervision and hypervision software to automate and simplify the majority of security tasks carried out by staff, and use of data processing software for prison management.
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It must be borne in mind in any discussion of prison security that the number one priority for prison operators is to prevent incidents of any kind.
Prison management must ensure that staff, visitors and inmates are provided with the highest possible level of security.
A raft of rules and procedures provides the framework for meeting this requirement, enabling the majority of credible security threats to be anticipated and prevented.
In light of their critical role within the national security infrastructure
– responsibility for prisons rests with the State (usually the Justice
Ministry or its equivalent) or with a state agency – upgraded and, in particular, new-build prisons in many countries meet these basic security requirements.
In addition, the fact that the media spotlight regularly falls on prison security (following strikes by prison staff or escapes, for example) means that politicians and national prison services are constantly looking to modify applicable security standards and monitor their implementation.
In France, for example, the Minister of Justice tasked a working group with reviewing prison security in 2001, leading to a report containing proposed security standards for prisons.
from evading surveillance and escaping, and to ensure that third parties cannot enter the prison without authorisation.
Perimeter fences, by definition the primary security barrier for a prison facility, are usually built to a generic design that features two walls enclosing a “no man’s land” area accessible via the single entrance to the facility. The exterior perimeter comprises a concrete wall. The lower interior perimeter can either be another concrete wall, or a conventional fence structure.
Given their key function of providing a barrier against intrusion, perimeter fences have to meet specific security requirements.
However, the prison buildings themselves also play a vital security role as the first barrier against an escape attempt.
The main buildings in a prison are designed for the purpose of detaining inmates. They include prisoner accommodation blocks, workshops, exercise yards and gyms. In addition, separate administrative buildings mainly house offices and meeting rooms.
The different parts of the prison are placed within clearly defined zones with different levels of security depending on their function and location.
A key constraint on prison security is the design of the facility itself, which varies widely depending on age and country.
In Europe, the numbers and categories of prisoners that can be incarcerated in a given facility are defined by standards, which provide specifications for different types and numbers of prisoner accommodation units designed to achieve specific security goals
(through appropriate levels of monitoring, etc.).
Prisons can often extend over large areas (for example, the Fleury
Mérogis facility in the Paris Region occupies 25 hectares). Given the problems associated with securing such an extensive footprint, the required security levels, and the associated costs, need to be taken into account via a comprehensive needs analysis.
Prison security has to be as tight as possible, to prevent detainees
In order to maintain safety and security, prisons have to know the whereabouts of all inmates, visitors, external contractors and prison staff at any given time.
The gatehouse is a vital checkpoint which allows all individuals entering or leaving a facility to be monitored at a single location. As prisons become more and more open to the outside world, bringing increasing numbers of individuals and vehicles to the prison gates, gatehouse security and organisation are paramount. As a first step, details of all individuals entering and leaving the facility (date, time, purpose of visit) must be meticulously recorded in a log, with incoming and outgoing visitor flows documented separately.
Computerised tools are increasingly being used for this purpose.
In addition, security barriers at the boundaries of different zones within the prison allow staff to check individuals’ identities and movement authorisations. The system of secure access points between different zones also prevents individuals (including prison management) from moving freely around the facility without security checks, thereby enhancing safety and security.
Thales’s experience of the highly specific prison environment, and its excellent understanding of the operational needs of customers (both procurement agencies and users), make it a “smart” integrator capable of designing and implementing security systems that enable prisons to perform their key function.
Thales is also acutely aware that threats to prisons encompass areas other than physical security. Such threats concern two key areas:
• theft or forgery of administrative documents: in May 2001, three inmates escaped from a prison in Corsica using false release orders that had been printed using headed paper from the court in Ajaccio, and faxed to the prison by an accomplice who had changed the sender’s number. This case illustrates the need to take account of information security by deploying authentication, integrity checking, electronic signature and time/date stamping measures. Thales can meet these needs thanks to its expertise in critical information systems and certified secure infrastructure for the government and banking sectors,
• escape while away from prison (for example while attending court hearings): security systems for buildings operated by the Ministry of
Justice are required to incorporate access and movement control measures for different groups (members of the public, lawyers, magistrates, journalists and prisoners). Thales can also offer expertise in this area.
Thanks to its ability to take account of operational issues, specific technical requirements, installation and prime contracting constraints, as well as the management of information flows, within current and future prison environments, Thales is consolidating its position as an integrator specialising in prison safety and security.
Méliné Eolmézian
Security Systems
Thales - Security Solutions & Services Division
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Real power in a prison resides in information. To manage prisons effectively, operators need to control information at all levels.
This means knowing what is happening at all times, despite the difficulties associated with a prison environment in which, by definition, information is frequently withheld or concealed.
Operators need to know a great many things, such as for example the whereabouts of staff, what was said in the prison workshops at a given time, or the subject of a dispute among inmates.
Three key issues facing prison governors and safety/security managers illustrate the vital importance of information management: entire facility (showing maps, location of actuated alarms, video images from alarm locations as well as from areas subject to special monitoring, location of resources, etc.) on a wall of images that can be automatically configured according to predefined emergency scenarios, or controlled via the hypervision terminals in the Control and Supervision Centre.
The infrastructure deployed to handle multimedia (voice, data, image) flows transiting via a prison’s safety information system must be designed to meet high standards in terms of security and availability.
In general, prisons operate two communications infrastructures side by side:
• an analogue or digital radio network
• an Ethernet/IP network, used for interlinking subsystems as well as different operation and supervision platforms, and designed with a redundant architecture to ensure maximum availability.
In order to get access to the information they need when they need it, prisons require a communications architecture that lets them merge data on a single platform, organise it according to specific criteria, and supply it to users (staff, supervisors, safety manager, prison governor) in an appropriate format.
In this way, access to information is optimised, as well as being managed on a “right-to-know” basis thanks to man-machine interface (MMI) authentication and customisation mechanisms.
At the highest level – the prison’s Control and Supervision Centre – prison management can obtain a safety and security overview of the
Information on events and alarms, or in the form of recorded data, can appear insignificant when considered on its own. Once correlated, however, such information can be highly revealing, and may be a precursor of a more significant event. It may also be relevant not in real time, but for the purpose of post-event analysis or reconstruction.
Thales delivers the following advanced functionalities by integrating data processing modules into security systems as required:
• of predefined operational scenarios in specially designed
3-D environments,
• via automatic software tools,
• by modules designed to extract vital information from huge databases, produce relevant reports, and track specified indicators,
• using automated tools to search video recordings from the entire prison.
The advent of the state-of-the-art technical capabilities (such as smart door control, image analysis, mobile communications solutions, geolocation, biometrics, etc.) and innovative operations solutions (supervision, hypervision, command and control, etc.). have transformed prison security in a few short decades.
Thales is supporting prisons in their efforts to upgrade security features and systems by choosing the most appropriate solutions, integrating them into an open, high-availability architecture, and proposing management and administration tools that meet operators’ emerging needs.
Prison operators need continuous, real-time monitoring capabilities to allow them to track inmates and external contractors on arrival and departure, and as they move around inside the facility.
In the majority of prisons, the key features of access control systems are as follows:
• Monitoring is carried out by prison staff; inmates do not carry personal ID passes. Gates and security barriers are equipped with electromechanical locks that are remote-controlled via a central system, with no provision for inmate database consultation.
• Prison staff and external contractors can be provided with a card that allows them to enter areas where inmate access is prohibited. The card is used for identification purposes, and doors are not opened automatically. Instead, when an individual’s card is read, their personal data (including photograph) and location details are displayed on a screen in the control centre, where staff can then verify the individual’s identity via the local surveillance camera, and open the door as appropriate. This type of “biometric” system is known as “swipe and show”.
Automation of tasks like locking and unlocking doors raises staff skill levels by enabling them to focus on more people-oriented tasks, with the aim of anticipating and preventing incidents.
Traditional manned watchtowers have been superseded by electronic perimeter surveillance systems that feature a combination of detection solutions (microwave radar and buried detection systems between the inner and outer perimeters, fence-mounted detection and image analysis on the inner perimeter, 360-degree laser sensors on roofs, etc.). Videosurveillance cameras are also used for the purpose of eliminating doubt.
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In 2002, an inmate at La Santé prison in Paris escaped after swapping places with his brother. The affair caused a media uproar, and highlighted the shortcomings of security measures introduced by the French government, such as marking of inmates with
UV-detectable ink (which can be neutralised by wetting the skin), at a time when prisons were starting to use biometric technologies.
However, biometric techniques are not widely used for access control at prison entrances, or to track movements in prison corridors, but remain largely confined to visiting areas. One of the first successful technologies to emerge was fingerprint matching, which has the advantage of being traceless, and is capable of distinguishing between twins. More sophisticated technologies have since become available, however, such as palm vein authentication and 3-D face recognition. Thales’s dedicated biometrics R&D department can support prisons in choosing and implementing biometric solutions.
Image analysis, although not yet in widespread use in prisons, can provide staff with additional capabilities for detecting intruders in prohibited zones (for example between the inner and outer perimeters, and in interior courtyards at night), and determining responses to abnormal conditions (for example “man down”) in locations not heavily frequented by inmates. Thales’s dedicated image processing R&D department can support prisons in choosing and implementing image analysis solutions.
Prison managers and staff use professional mobile radio (PMR) systems to meet their secure communications needs. PMR solutions offer useful additional functionalities such as group management and priority management. In addition, the deployment of smart terminals allows radio communications infrastructure to be used for transmitting alarm information.
Prison staff equipped with PMR terminals have access to the following functionalities:
• radio communications,
• hidden alarm button for alarm and emergency backup calls
(gradually replacing wall-mounted alarm buttons),
• tamper detector,
• lone worker protection (terminals are worn in the vertical position, and an alarm is generated if they are tilted to the horizontal, i.e. in the event of a member of prison staff falling ill or being attacked),
• integrated GPS,
• patrol management (optional).
Transmission of voice, data and alarms to PMR terminals allows staff to rapidly and effectively locate, characterise and verify emergency situations. Appropriate resources can then be dispatched to manage the incident. Thales’s SATHI hypervision solution provides the ideal information and communications platform for all incidents and events occurring inside a prison.
Smuggling of items into prison – in particular mobile telephones – is a major security headache for prison operators. Mobile phones have become a vital tool for escape attempts involving contact with accomplices outside the prison walls. As phones become increasingly smaller and contain fewer metal components, they become harder to detect using conventional metal-detection technology. Carefully targeted jamming of mobile phone frequencies has emerged as the most effective means of combating this kind of threat.
Prison staff traditionally work on a faceto-face basis, or on paper, with only a small number of security functions handled via IT systems. Now, however, Thales can offer dedicated, fully integrated security software tools that provide staff with the information they need, and enable them to react faster, irrespective of the circumstances, while performing their full range of tasks.
The SATHI hypervision system ties together all the different areas of security, allowing real-time management of a wide range of subsystems (including access control, video surveillance, intrusion detection, intercom, radio communications, and public address).
This enables:
• historical data from different subsystems to be merged,
• automated responses between different subsystems to be predefined (for example video recording in response to an alarm, real-time video display on receipt of an intercom call, siren in response to actuation of an alarm button, etc.),
• key subsystem functions to be controlled
(remote door opening, control of PTZ cameras, isolation of zones, etc.).
SATHI screenshots I
The SATHI hypervision system offers a number of efficiency benefits for prison staff:
• doors and security barriers have traditionally been equipped with an intercom, a camera, and an electromechanical locking system. SATHI notifies operators when an intercom call is made, identifies the caller’s location, automatically displays the correct real-time video view, and allows the door to be opened by remote control following an identity check – all this via a single screen. Thales can thus deliver significant time savings, supporting staff in the performance of simple, repetitive tasks, and allowing them to focus on higher added-value missions such as surveillance, incident prevention and inmate supervision.
• when an incident occurs, a large number of alarms are generated, procedures have to be followed, and reaction times are limited. SATHI allows operators to respond faster and more effectively to lone worker alarms, for example, providing genuine added value in terms of incident data (type, individual involved, date, time, etc.), location, verification (cameras used to eliminate doubt via real-time display or via images recorded during the incident) and handling (procedures, incident log, and dispatch of appropriate resources).
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