Meckenheim/New Orleans, January 18, 2013
The illegal use of mobile phones by prisoners is one of the biggest headaches facing prison services worldwide. Whether they are used for organising criminal activity on the outside, coordinating drug deals or intimidating witnesses, they represent a growing security issue.
Orleans P
arish Prison in New Orleans, the 9th biggest prison of its kind in the US, has solved this problem with the launch of a MobileWall system for detecting smuggled mobile devices.
“Everyone is thrilled”, comments Abbie Forrest, MD of TalkTelio, the exclusive US sales partner of Gerdes AG. The installation of the system in Orleans Parish Prison faced a number of technical challenges. Firstly, the system had to be installed on the exterior walls of the prison. “The MobileWall system therefore had to detect mobiles through solid, steel reinforced concrete walls and six layers of lead paint”, explains Carsten Gerdes, CEO of Gerdes AG.
Furthermore, the cells adjoining the exterior walls had additional steel mesh reinforcement and heavy steel doors. “We are absolutely delighted that MobileWall has launched so successfully”, added Gerdes.