How to Choose the Right Prison Furniture

At OnePointe Solutions, we specialize in designing, building, and installing custom furniture solutions made to fit the exact needs and specifications of our clients. No matter the scale or scope of your project, our team can create cutting edge solutions to your most complex design problems.

Now present in countless laboratories and facilities across the country, furniture designed, built, and installed by OnePointe Solutions is some of the most trusted in the industry. 

Furnishing a prison presents unique design challenges, completely unlike those of any other industry. Prison management, designers, and justice architects must account for challenges not faced by most other facilities, first and foremost taking into consideration the physical safety of inmates and prison personnel when selecting facility furnishings.

Selecting the appropriate materials, furniture configurations, and ergonomic/comfort features are all important elements to consider for designing a safe, comfortable, and secure prison environment. Common materials for prison furniture are stainless steel and solid surface.

Key Features of Prison Furniture

Every client we work with has its own unique set of needs that require special consideration during the design process. From chemical resistance and antimicrobial coatings to anti-vibration or solid tamper-proof construction, we help each client to identify the solution that is appropriate for their facility.

Despite each having its unique requirements, there are some general features of industry/facility-specific furniture that can be broadly applied.

Tamper-Proof Construction

Prison furniture is designed to be tamper-proof, constructed to be solid in order to prevent the removal of any piece from the whole. Chairs, for example, should be designed without armrests or removable legs to make them more difficult to dismantle the chair or use any part of it in an unsafe manner.

Tamper-proof furniture is standard in most prison resident rooms and is also recommended for use in common areas like day rooms and cafeterias. 

Easy Sanitation

Prison furniture should always be made to be easy to clean in order to reduce the spread of germs and diseases in a densely populated facility and to improve the efficiency of facility sanitation procedures. With limited space available to residents and facility personnel, most prison furniture surfaces see use each and every day, meaning they also require frequent, if not daily, wipe downs to maintain a clean, safe, and healthy environment.

Selecting non-porous, moisture and corrosion-resistant surface materials like stainless steel and epoxy resin can help improve cleaning efficiency, and will respond well to regular cleanings and exposure to chemicals. 

Durability

Unlike furniture made for lower-impact facilities, prison furniture is often used 24/7, and must, therefore, be selected for extreme durability and resistance to regular wear, tear, and stress. Replacing prison furniture can be an immensely inconvenient and stressful process, so making durable selections from the beginning can help you to avoid unnecessary disturbances to daily routines and security protocols.

Health Care Furniture

While selecting appropriate furniture for residential and common areas within your prison is important, furniture selections for facility personnel must be made with equal care. Health care in prisons is a vital service that ensures the safety and comfort of all prison residents and helps to prepare inmates for a healthy life upon release.

Like with common area furniture, health care furniture should be durable, easy to clean, and tamper-proof to ensure the safety of all medical staff and prison residents. 

Appropriate for extended use and use in high-traffic/high-impact environments, stainless steel workbenches and countertops are a popular choice in prison healthcare facilities. Stainless steel jail furniture is long-lasting and durable, extremely resistant to chemical corrosion and most household/industrial cleaners, and is easy to keep clean and sanitary for the purposes of safely treated hundreds or thousands of inmates at a time.

Prison health care facilities may see a huge variety of cases on any given day, and must, therefore, be equipped for quick and easy sanitation between patients. 

Control Room Furniture

With safety being the top priority, prison and jail facilities are outfitted with advanced and comprehensive surveillance systems. The tracking and organizing of resident and personnel movement within the facility is a vital component of maintaining calm, which in turn ensures the safety and security of all staff and residents.

To monitor a facility’s surveillance systems, most prisons have one or more control rooms in which a bank of monitors display live footage from within the prison at all times. Since the control room staff will spend the majority of their shifts sitting and monitoring the security cameras, it is important to select comfortable and ergonomic furniture options.

At OnePointe Solutions, one of our specialties is creating ergonomic solutions for our clients. To promote good posture, focus, and productivity, choose from our line of ergonomic seating options.

To create a comfortable and clutter-free working environment, customize one of our tables or workstations by adding a monitor arm or mount, additional storage space, a keyboard tray, or one of our many other option add-on accessories. Pair this with metal or plastic laminate clad cabinetry to outfit all security, control, kitchen, and break room spaces with comfortable and cost-effective furniture.

Get Help Outfitting Your Detention Center

The industrial furniture designers at OnePointe Solutions can design custom seating, tables, intake, and break room products. Call us at (866) 612-7312 to get started with a quote.

Questions? Concerns? Want to start today? Get in touch. 866.612.7312

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