Understanding Sloped top LCD TV Enclosures

Correctional facilities are installing sloped top LCD TV enclosures to defend the TVs in the prisoners cells, without protection the TV will certainly be damaged, this is when sloped top LCD TV enclosures come into their own.

Why are sloped top LCD TV enclosures special?

These protective TV housings defend the hardware from unauthorized access, they also prevent damage to the displays that can be used as a weapon to attack and potentially kill a guard. We have a duty of care to ensure any prisoner is protected and comes to no harm under our care. A situation in a jail can quickly escalate from verbal attacks to a physical attack with weapons.

This is why sloped top LCD TV enclosures were developed to provide the protection needed in this harsh and hazardous environment.
When deployment in such a hostile area, the steel units have to withstand attacks on a daily basis, this is why the units are made from sheet steel and fully welded to provide a robust yet aesthetically pleasing solution. The window that the TV is seen through is extremely thick 3/8”, anything less and the TV will be accessed by the prisons! The best solutions on the market are solid steel, with a 3/8” viewing window and have thermostatic cooling, they also feature a fluid channel so should an inmate through a drink on the vent holes in the housing, no fluid reaches any of the hardware inside.

VESA mounts are supplied as standard for the TV and the DVD player, unlike some solutions that are of a similar price but do not include the mounting frame and the same solution on their instruction manual tells you to paint around the TV with the same color paint as the aluminum housing to make it ‘look’ as though it has a back!

The other solutions that do not have the fluid channel will let water into the housing and potentially cause a fire. Image if an inmate has a water bottle and squirts water up into the fan unit that is in the base of the housing– this is the problem just waiting to happen.

Each unit is fitted with a 3/8” Lexan viewing window, this will withstand almost all psychical attacks, even someone throwing a chair or fire extinguisher at the sloped top LCD TV enclosure. Other solutions on the market are fitted with substandard 1/8” thick and these will easily fail in such as hostile area as a prison. Resulting in the inmates self harming and even attacking prison staff.

Are sloped top LCD TV enclosures enough?

If the prisoners cannot access the TVs, they can not use them as weapons, but remember some of these detainees are in for robbery so a regular key lock is no challenge, it’s a walk in the park! This is why the solution chosen needs to have a high security lock rather than an off the shelf solution, otherwise the investment will be a total waste.

Do we really need sloped top LCD TV enclosures in correctional facilities?

The truth is that we have to provide basic essentials otherwise the criminal’s human rights will be breached, many think that once a criminal has been convicted they lose all human rights, this might be the majority of thoughts, however legally we have to ensure that the TVs deployed are protected so no further harm can come to the criminals and the guards work in a safe environment. Not forgetting the huge investment in the TVs and the infrastructure.

Sloped top LCD TV enclosures are needed if the investment is to be protected, but if only a very small number of TVs are being installed then a decision has to be made if the investment is worth the return?

DOOH Limited are a specialist producer of TV housings to both the mental health and jail industry, their solution comes fully equipped with a 3/8” viewing window, thermostatic cooling systems, flush high security locks that can only be opened with the key supplied and internal mounting frames for the DVD and TV. Their solution is the only one on the market to have an internal fluid channel to prevent water ingress. They provide sloped on all sides units and sloped top LCD TV enclosures.