NCJ Number
222961
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 70 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2008 Pages: 62-63
Date Published
February 2008
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article describes two projects in technology development supported by the U.S. Justice Department's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) that aim to prevent prison violence and disruption: the development of toothbrushes and razors that cannot be fashioned into weapons and the development of software that can assist in assessing whether a facility is at risk of disruption by inmates.
Abstract
Using a type of urethane rubber that the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has used in designing submarine components, the research team has created a toothbrush that looks and performs like any household toothbrush but bends on contact if jabbed like a weapon. Although it can be sharpened to a point through friction, the result is more like sharpening an eraser than pencil lead. When heated, the material chars and disintegrates, making it impossible to embed metal objects into it. The team is also developing a way to modify a commercial razor safety blade to make it even safer. The blade is sliced through at several points from its back edge. When bonded to a urethane housing, the blade can only be peeled off in tiny pieces. The team is in discussions with several manufacturers for mass production of the toothbrush and razor. In a second project, the Florida Department of Corrections is involved in sifting through commonly collected data in order to identify trends and patterns that can signal an emerging problem in prisons. From this data, software will be created similar to crime-mapping software. Users will be able to view a map of Florida with symbols that indicate the level of current disruption and the level of predicted future disruptions at institutions.