AGENCY REQUEST FOR - Wisconsin



AGENCY REQUEST FOR

BUILDING COMMISSION ACTION

August 2011

Project 11G3E

Agency: Department of Corrections

Location:

Columbia Correctional Institution

Portage, WI

Request:

Request authority to scope, design and budget a security camera system project at Columbia Correctional Institution for an estimated planning cost of $35,200 Building Trust Funds- Planning. Design shall be done through a 35% design level, and shall include a DSF standard design report.

Total cost of project should be below $1,000,000.

A/E will need to work with DOC/BTM, as well as CCI and DSF, when scoping and designing the project. BTM will work closely with the A/E to determine best design approach and suitable contractor and agency installed equipment.

Project Request:

Additional surveillance cameras/cabling are also needed to monitor areas of the institution where inmate activities occur that are currently not covered by the system. The following is a list of new camera locations to be addressed in this project:

|Number of Cameras |Location |

|10 |DS1 / DS2 Segregation ranges and Programming Area |

|3 |Food Service/Bakery area, FS Hallway area, and Law Library room |

|1 |Program Service inmate waiting area / inmate Chapel Clerk work area |

|2 |Positioned on HU4 & HU7 to view outside segregation recreation areas |

|12 |School Areas - Voc Bays, Classrooms, Education Core, Hallways |

|5 |Maintenance Shops and Hallway |

|4 |All four ranges on Unit 7 Housing areas. Segregation |

|2 |Positioned on HU’s 6 & 8 to monitor Courtyard and Recreation Field |

|1 |Barracks Entryway |

|28 |All four ranges on the 7 General Population Housing areas. This would be an optional bid request. |

Replacing the obsolete existing black and white cameras, front end monitors, and cabling with current technology (digital color cameras, color monitors, compatible digital recording system, and fiber optic cabling), integrating the stand alone camera systems added over the last few years, and expanding the system into the areas detailed above are vital upgrades needed to maintaining proper surveillance capabilities at CCI. This project is crucial to keep staff and inmates safe; meet our mission of operating a safe, secure, and humane institution; and enhance overall institution security.

Justification:

Columbia Correctional Institution’s (CCI) existing camera system was part of the original institution construction over 25 years ago and is well beyond the normal life expectancy for this type of equipment. Many parts are no longer serviceable or available. Both reliability and quality of the system have diminished from substandard to unacceptable.

CCI, as a maximum security correctional institution, relies on surveillance equipment to keep staff and inmates safe, to deter illegal activity, and to monitor and investigate dangerous and violent situations that arise. Institution staffing levels are based upon the ability to monitor several areas from a single control center and this obsolete system can no longer reliably provide that centralized monitoring capability. The Federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) also reinforces the state’s responsibility to provide a safe setting for staff that work here and inmates in our custody. A modern, functional camera system is an integral component necessary to meet our mission of keeping the public, our staff, and inmates safe, and meet the daily safety and security needs of the institution. Surveillance equipment is used for monitoring purposes and also serves as a method of electronic evidence collection that is used for internal investigations, and/or supplied to law enforcement agencies and the courts during criminal investigations and in the litigation process.

In recent years, CCI has purchased and activated some additional stand alone camera systems to increase monitoring capability in areas such as the Barracks Housing Unit, Laundry/Canteen, Program Services, Recreation Building, and in four observation cells in the DS-1 Segregation Unit. There are currently a total of 66 cameras in existence at CCI (39 Pan, Tilt, Zoom and 27 Fixed Lens). 15 of the 66 surveillance cameras at CCI are not integrated into the institution wide system and are viewed by local monitors only. 39 of the security cameras are from the original system installed in the 1980’s. The majority of these surveillance cameras are analog and low quality black and white that have been in service for 25 years.

The recording capability of CCI’s current system is very poor and routinely produces grainy, blurred, ghost-like images which have little or no evidentiary value. CCI currently records on a DVR system. Recordings are archived on both VHS tapes and DVD’s depending on what camera the recording is being taken from. VHS technology is obsolete for this type of application. The clarity on the active monitors and the recordings from this system are extremely poor. Again, this original equipment produces images that are black and white, grainy, and often show ghost-like images at best. It is nearly impossible to specifically identify individual inmates that are in areas of the institution from the video tape recordings. Digital storage is the current industry standard and is badly needed at this facility. The current system can only retain recordings for short time frames (under a week under normal conditions), which hampers investigations and eliminates opportunities to refute inmate claims in legal actions filed against the institution.

Over the past few years, CCI has had increasing incidents where part of, or the entire, camera system has failed and/or become inoperable and required repairs. These system failures have resulted in interruptions to institution activities (slowdown/lock down), sometimes for several days, until system functionality is restored. It is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain replacement/repair parts and the camera pan/tilt functions are getting to the point where they are simply non-repairable. On an increasingly more frequent basis, institution staff and inmate electronic technicians are rebuilding old circuit boards to keep the system operational. The cabling technology for the camera system is also obsolete, compared with current technology, and should be replaced with a modern fiber optic system. Presently, when one of the cameras fails it has to be wired out of the system in order to restore functionality for the other cameras throughout the institution.

Previous Building Commission Action:

None.

Agency Contact:

Ricky\ Plath, (608) 742-9100, Ricky.Plath@

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