Securing Displays in Correctional and High-Risk Facilities: Lessons from Ravenhall

Header image: il­lus­tra­tive Gilkon pro­tec­tive display enclosure. This is not a pho­to­graph of the Ravenhall in­stal­la­tion.

In most buildings, a display enclosure is about tidiness. In a cor­rec­tion­al facility, it's about safety. Hardware has to resist tampering, avoid creating hazards and survive years of hard use, all while letting the display do its job. Gilkon's work at Ravenhall prison shows what that takes.

Why high-risk fa­cil­i­ties are different

Cor­rec­tion­al, forensic mental health and some public fa­cil­i­ties share a set of re­quire­ments:

• Tamper re­sis­tance: no ac­ces­si­ble fixings, gaps or edges that can be pried, removed or used to cause harm
• Dura­bil­i­ty: en­clo­sures have to withstand de­lib­er­ate damage
• Com­pli­ance: projects often specify security standards and in­for­ma­tion-security re­quire­ments
• Main­te­nance: au­tho­rised staff still need to service the equipment
• Con­sis­ten­cy: hundreds of identical units, installed to a tight program

The Ravenhall project

Ravenhall is a medium-security men's prison in Melbourne's west, built as a public-private part­ner­ship and opened in 2017. Engie was con­tract­ed to install AV com­po­nents in 34 of the site's 37 buildings, with project manager Firas Zain over­see­ing the au­dio­vi­su­al design and in­stal­la­tion.

Gilkon supplied security shrouds for all IPTV displays in prison cells, as well as for the larger displays in waiting rooms and guest areas. The cell displays are 24-inch NEC models, and larger 58-inch displays are used in waiting and common areas. Every screen in the facility, including those in staff areas, is protected by a custom Gilkon shroud. Read the full story.

Five lessons

1. Design before the concrete is poured

Prison con­struc­tion is planned well in advance with little margin for error. Engie had to have the AV system fully thought through before the first slab was poured. Enclosure design has to happen just as early.

2. Custom beats off-the-shelf

The Ravenhall shrouds couldn't be bought off the shelf. They were designed from scratch to meet specific pre-defined security and ISM standards. Gilkon's in-house fab­ri­ca­tion knowledge earned it a place at the design table. As Firas Zain put it: "The Gilkon team assisted in the design of these shrouds. They gave input as to how best to achieve the initial design by the architect."

3. Review with every stake­hold­er

Each shroud design was reviewed by the en­gi­neer­ing de­part­ments, the AV project manager, the builder's man­age­ment team (John Holland), the architect and the client. Building that review into the program avoids late surprises.

4. QA is a schedule issue

The shrouds travelled from Sydney to Melbourne with limited time to receive and install them. "The QA had to be at the maximum level possible to ensure there would be zero units returned to supplier for any fixing, which was the case," said Firas. In a secure site, a returned unit costs far more than the unit itself.

5. Protect every screen, every­where

Con­sis­ten­cy sim­pli­fies main­te­nance and removes weak points. At Ravenhall, even staff-area screens were shrouded.

Beyond cor­rec­tions

The same thinking applies to:

• Mental health and hospital units, where ligature and tamper risks matter
• Police and justice fa­cil­i­ties
• Public spaces such as transport hubs, libraries and councils
• Schools, where pro­jec­tors and displays in un­su­per­vised rooms need pro­tec­tion. Gilkon projector security cages are a standard option.
• Outdoor public displays, using en­clo­sures such as the Gilkon ODE Series

Working with Gilkon

Gilkon is now man­u­fac­tured by OPIE Man­u­fac­tur­ing Group at Emu Heights, NSW. The Ravenhall project was delivered before Gilkon joined OPIE. OPIE's in-house laser cutting, folding, welding and powder coating, under an ISO 9001 quality system, means custom security hardware can be designed, pro­to­typed and produced in one place. OPIE also man­u­fac­tures for defence and secure fa­cil­i­ties across its brands.

Fre­quent­ly asked questions

Can standard Gilkon products be used in high-risk fa­cil­i­ties? Some can, such as projector security cages. Most high-risk projects still need custom shrouds or en­clo­sures designed to the facility's specific re­quire­ments.

How early should enclosure design start? At design de­vel­op­ment, before con­struc­tion begins. At Ravenhall, the AV design was settled before the first slab was poured.

Can you work to a client's security spec­i­fi­ca­tion? Yes. Share it at the start, and we'll design to it and support the review process.

How are custom en­clo­sures quality checked? Through the ISO 9001 quality system at OPIE's Emu Heights facility, with in­spec­tion check­points agreed for each project.

Planning a high-risk facility? Involve us at design stage. Contact the Gilkon team.