CASE STUDY / WABASH VALLEY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
Wabash Valley Correctional Facility Improves Security,
Cuts Costs 55% with LED Lighting
DETAILS
About the Wabash Valley Facility
Project:
Wabash Valley Correctional Facility
Carlisle, IN
Security is a top priority for any prison and
especially minimum/maximum security
Wabash Valley Correctional Facility near
Carlisle, Indiana. The facility includes a
super maximum-security unit and has
a daily population of 2,050 offenders
housed on 340 acres. The prison’s total
capacity is 2,199 with approximately 660
approved state staff positions and 110
contractual workers.
​Lighting Manufacturers:
Holophane®, American Electric Lighting®
and Acuity Controls
Products:
HMAO LED II, Phuzion LED, Wallpack LED,
ROAM, Autobahn ATB2
“Wabash Valley Correctional Facility is
one of the largest prisons in Indiana
and houses some of the state’s hardest
offenders,” said Kevin Orme, Executive
Director, Construction Services Division,
Indiana Department of Corrections.
The Indiana Department of Corrections
broke ground for the prison in 1990
and, a year later, announced plans to
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build a second prison adjacent to the
site and share some facilities. Wabash
Valley Correctional Facility opened
in 1992, illuminated by 142 1,000-watt
high pressure sodium (HPS) high mast
luminaires installed on 32 80-foot
steel poles.
Over the years, the HPS system had
started to weather, with the lenses
degrading and yellowing, resulting
in substantial lumen depreciation.
According to Orme, the HPS luminaires
were expensive to operate and
represented about 15 percent of the
prison’s electric costs. In addition, lamps
had to be replaced approximately
every 24,000 hours and often involved
transporting a 120-foot boom to the site
to perform the relamp.
CASE STUDY / WABASH VALLEY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
A Proving Ground for
Continuous Improvement
Wabash Valley Correctional Facility
often serves as a test site for new
security products. The prison
experimented first with high mast
LED lighting and subsequently installed
120 Holophane Phuzion™ LED high bay
luminaires in housing units. Based on
the performance of the LED luminaires,
prison officials decided to install a
comprehensive LED system to illuminate
the entire prison yard.
Orme contacted several lighting
manufacturers for recommendations and
only Holophane provided a solution. The
prison installed HMAO™ LED luminaires
from Holophane on a single tower as
a test. Holophane is one of the brands
within the Acuity Brands portfolio.
Challenges of Lighting
a Correctional Facility
LED luminaires selected for the prison
lighting systems upgrade had to be
able to significantly reduce energy and
maintenance costs while effectively
illuminating a wide range of facilities,
including the perimeter fence area. The
prison compound includes medical
and food service facilities, utility and
maintenance buildings, recreation yards,
armories, towers and a gun range.
“Wabash Valley Correctional Facility is like
a small town in a remote location and has
capabilities common to a municipality,
including a power plant,” Orme said. “The
prison is a busy place and we needed a
lighting system that could illuminate every
area, even the nooks and crannies.”
The prison mandated the new lighting
system be installed on existing poles,
which are spaced approximately 250
to 415 feet apart and were initially
positioned to provide illumination where
it was needed.
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The Acuity Brands Solution
Based on the HMAO LED luminaires’
performance during the test, Wabash
Valley Correctional Facility installed 142
HMAO LED II luminaires (the second
generation of the HMAO LED fixture)
on 32 existing poles, with four to six
luminaires mounted per pole. The LED
luminaires replaced the 1,000-watt HPS
fixtures one for one. The lighting upgrade
was funded, in part, by a rebate from
Hoosier Energy. No rewiring was required.
The prison also purchased Acuity
Controls’ ROAM® wireless outdoor
lighting management system. When the
prison locks down housing units at night,
the facility could potentially decrease
energy usage by reducing light levels by
20 to 30 percent in unoccupied areas and
returning the luminaires to full operation
the following morning.
CASE STUDY / WABASH VALLEY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
Undeniable Results
Wabash Valley Correctional Facility
upgraded from 142 1,000-watt HPS
fixtures requiring 1,090 input watts to 142
HMAO LED II luminaires, which consume
approximately 500 watts, a 55 percent
energy savings. The LED luminaires have
an especially long life – 100,000 hours –
to reduce maintenance by approximately
77 percent. The LEDs are also directional
light sources and provide a crisp white
light where it is needed without glare.
Improved Facility Operations
and Security
“The installation of LED lighting at
Wabash Valley Correctional Facility
has dramatically improved the security
of the facility,”
Richard Brown, Superintendent
Wabash Valley Correctional Facility.
“The LED lighting illuminates the facility
much better than the traditional fixtures.
It is much brighter and doesn’t have
the shadow effect of the previous
system.” Brown added the LED system
has improved the prison staff’s ability to
surveil the property.
“Contraband thrown over the outer
perimeter fence has been an issue with
correctional facilities in the past,” he
said. “We recently had intelligence
that a civilian was going to throw a
package of cell phones over the outer
perimeter fence. Fortunately, the civilian
did not make it across the field to the
fence. I personally observed this via our
camera system.
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CASE STUDY / WABASH VALLEY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
“I am confident one of the main reasons
the drop was not made was because
of the LED lighting system illuminating
from inside the prison yard out to the
field. We did not yet have our LED
perimeter lighting installed but the
lighting from inside the yard illuminated
the field enough to deter the civilian from
coming near enough to make the throw.
This is a perfect example of how the LED
lighting has improved the facility’s safety
and security.”
“The LED lighting system has exceeded
savings and operational expectations,”
Orme said. “Visual acuity is improved
and I like the highly directional quality
of the light source, which has eliminated
shadows. No areas remain unlit.”
Orme added: “I have spoken to the
custody staff and others and everyone
loves the LED lighting system -- except
the inmates.”
Driving Solutions for the
Correctional Facility Customer
“Holophane pioneered high mast
lighting in the 1970s to efficiently and
effectively illuminate large areas such as
prisons,” said Rob Drago, Vice President,
Infrastructure, Acuity Brands Lighting.
“Our LED high mast systems allow facilities
to upgrade existing HID and install new
construction systems to improve visibility
from a white LED light source while
substantially reducing energy usage
and maintenance.”
Wabash Valley Correctional Facility also
upgraded exterior building lighting to
Wallpack LED luminaires and are using
more than 115 AEL Autobahn ATB2
LED luminaires on the prison’s outside
perimeter and along roadways.
Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc. One Lithonia Way, Conyers, GA 30012 | 770-922-9000 | www.acuitybrands.com
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