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Electronic Key Control’s Importance in Prisons

Due to the high level of liability prisons could face if something goes wrong, it’s essential that prison owners do everything in their power to keep their facilities highly protected. One way to maintain security is to invest in a method of key control that's more secure than a manual process. Here are three of the most important practices when implementing key control in your prison.

Keep Keys Secure

Manual methods of key control that involve handwritten logbooks or pegboards aren't as effective for restricting access to keys and maintaining an audit trail. Rather than relying on manual key control, consider using an electronic key control system.

Electronic key control provides higher security than manual methods. An electronic system creates an automatic verifiable audit trail that records information about who checked out a key and when. This creates a more safe and organized facility while also enforcing employee accountability.

Utilize a Total Lockdown System

With a pegboard or loosely secured cabinet, there's no way to make sure each employee only takes one key at a time. Prisons are high-level security facilities, so don’t take a chance with your key inventory by leaving it open to unauthorized users.

Consider a key control system that offers total lockdown security so only approved users can have access to certain keys. With this system, an authorized user is only allowed to take the key they’ve requested while all other keys are locked into place. By limiting the number of keys employees can take, you reduce the risk of keys falling into the wrong hands.

Receive Alerts

With manual key control, there are no alerts for overdue or missing keys. You won't realize that a key is not in its proper place until you physically count how many are in your inventory. By then, it could be too late to avoid a costly security breach.

However, maintaining supervision of your key inventory at all times can be a challenge. To help you keep tabs on your keys even when you're not on-site, an electronic key control system for your prison can send system administrators automatic email or text alerts if a key has been checked out for too long or if a user tries to take a key they're not allowed to access.

Make sure your prison has the proper key control security in place to avoid dangerous consequences. 
 
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