So we looked around the country and saw that our designer, the designer of WCI, was constructing two state-of-the-art maximum-security prisons in Virginia. We also wanted to provide more services in a unit-management approach: counseling, training, medical services, etc., delivered at the housing-unit level. We wanted to find a new model that could meet those needs while being more compact and staff efficient. “With the need for maximum-security housing growing substantially, we changed our design approach. But our needs changed,” explains David N. In fact, it was going to be the mirror image of WCI. “NBCI was originally planned as a south compound of WCI. By virtually every measure, NBCI is the most technologically advanced, program-responsive, maximum-security facility ever designed. More than 200 remote-controlled cameras silently and unobtrusively enhance protection and observation as well. Providing full visibility and protection, these doors can absorb the energy of a bullet fired from an M-16 rifle and maintain complete integrity. But there are no steel bars in sight cell doors are made of polycarbonate ballistic-resistant glass. The cells were made from precast concrete and assembled on site. Inside, more than 1,000 efficient, pneumatically operated, remote-controlled steel doors enhance operational safety and security. In addition, patrols regularly check the perimeter’s integrity. NBCI’s perimeter security system features razor wire, motion detectors, and a curvilinear fence (a fence that is slanted inward so that gravity forces any would-be climber to drop to the ground). Each of these areas provides inmate support and program spaces in compliance with the state’s operational requirements for a safe and secure environment for staff, visitors, and inmates. It also contains space for administration, security, visiting, education, commissary, chapel, and multipurpose functions. The NBCI support services building (SSB) has kitchen and storage facilities large enough to accommodate both the staff and the inmate population. (As a secondary benefit, this design keeps electronic equipment from overheating during the summer.) In fact, the MCT’s ventilation air ducts rise from underneath the windows and are returned through the console cabinets in the center of the tower room to preserve the completely unobstructed view. The inverted-fortress design provides a 360-degree view of the prison from the master control tower (MCT). For DPSCS, NBCI represents a comprehensive solution.īoasting four 256-cell housing units, the $168 million NBCI was designed to be completed in three phases (two phases are already complete). This staff-efficient, maximum-security facility also offers a complete program of services-such as counseling, training, and medical care-through a unit-management approach. But DPSCS did not want to just add space. Sited next to the medium-security Western Correction Institution (WCI), NBCI fulfills DPSCS’s need to create maximum-security space for a growing prison population. NBCI will help us meet our obligation to maintain public safety while addressing the need to rehabilitate inmates and reduce recidivism.”Ī component of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS), NBCI is located in Cumberland, Maryland. If you don’t have a public safe from fear, safe from crime, obviously, you’ve got a problem. Public service is all about public safety. “This is possibly the most efficient, proficient, state-of-the-art correctional facility in the world,” declared Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich at a ceremony announcing funding for NBCI’s third phase. With security measures such as 15 miles of ravenous razor wire, over a thousand silently efficient steel doors, over 200 remote-controlled cameras, and state-of-the-art control centers, security officers can safely maintain over 2000 violent criminals without carrying weapons.” NBCI, scheduled for completion in 2007, is being built as an inverted fortress, a structure with a 360-degree view of the prison and the strength to ensure the futility of escape. Welcome to the North Branch Correctional Institution (NBCI), the “largest, newest, and most technologically advanced maximum-security prison being built in the United States today.” And the only way in or out is with permission.
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