Replacement Batteries for Prisons - Case Study

Background

The U.S has the unenviable record of having the largest overall number of people behind bars. The number of incarcerations are fortunately on the slide over the past few years but there are still an astounding number of prisons throughout the U.S both private and public. Current estimates are near 1.2 million facilities including state prisons, federal prisons, juvenile correctional facilities, local jails, immigration detention facilities, military prisons, psychiatric facilities and others. That’s a lot of facilities to run.  

Prisons Buying in Bulk

Keeping these facilities running takes a lot of equipment and certainly batteries tend to feature heavily. Our clients who operate these facilities are heavy replacement battery buyers and have very specific requirements so it’s important for them to have reliable products. Most facilities are also on tight budgets as well so taking advantage of our wholesale program is a popular option for them.

Most of the equipment that requires battery power are the usual suspects including UPS batteries, alarms, generators, emergency lighting, phones and communications, but there are more unusual requests as well. Exercise equipment is a popular addition at many facilities as well as barcode scanners for security, laptops and tablets, speakers, spotlights. Some of the larger facilities also may rely on Golf Carts, ATV’s or Scooters to get around so you can imagine the amount of inventory required to keep prisons running.

While some of the inventory is merely good to have on hand when required, some of prison facilities need to be compliant for the safety and security of the inmates as well as general population.

There have been several well-documented examples of prison power outages due to blackouts or storm activity, one being at San Quentin in 2019. Power went out while inmates and guards were going about their daily activities, some indoors, some outdoors, some showering, cooking when the power went out. They waited for it to return but became obvious that it was not. The backup generator failed, there were no battery powered emergency lights, some flashlights even failed. Reportedly some inmates who relied on CPAP machines for breathing couldn’t use them and the toilets couldn’t flush due to them being on timers that control the number of flushes per hour. Other facilities have reported extended period of air conditioning not working, backup lighting failures, UPS power failure, some outages lasting several days.

In several of these cases, regular backup testing procedures were not being followed properly especially the battery testing and inspections. Periodic testing is critical in these situations. If not, having a supply of backups on hand can be a real life saver (or at the very least prevent some significant issues).

Again, BatteryClerk encourages correctional facilities to apply for our replacement battery wholesale program, not just to be able to access product savings but having a direct connection to us will allow us to customize your orders and send reminders.