There is very little written about networking prison computers. The tale you are about to read is the true account of my experience in a prison networking project.

My home state has more than a dozen major prison facilities containing thousands of inmates. Many of these inmates are evaluated or treated for mental illness. Psychiatric services are provided by a multimillion-dollar, multiyear contract, and supplying networked resources to clinicians as part of this contract is a major challenge. This is the deployment in which I was involved. For reasons of corporate confidentiality, I am withholding the name of the organization, but suffice it to say that it's a leader in its field. Nevertheless, initial enthusiasm was somewhat dampened as the project evolved into a major corporate exercise.

A prison serves to keep people on the inside in and people on the outside out. What factors must be considered to securely network binary data in and out? Every system manager and network administrator knows that every site setup has its own challenges, but perhaps nowhere else are logistical issues as restrictive as when networking a prison. By the very nature of the environment, a prison has its own rules.

Prisons are a necessary part of society, but one that intentionally lies well below the radar of the average citizen. Here are some general principles involved in networking this very restrictive, security-conscious environment.

The primary mandate is simple and straightforward: Establish high-speed solid and secure connectivity to all networked sites so that employees can do their jobs as efficiently and effectively as possible.