In the majority of building projects, sealants are used solely to protect the building. However, when the building is a correctional facility, behavioral health unit, school, or child care center, there is much more at stake. It’s crucial that sealants cannot be pulled from joints. Removing sealant material could expose a joint opening where someone could hide contraband, cause injury from misused material, or ingest loose material. Security sealants contain properties that prevent any tampering that could endanger incarcerated persons, patients, workers, children, and the general public.
Most caulking and construction materials are easily tampered with, meaning the material can be disturbed to the point of removal and put to uses other than what was intended. Commonly used silicone-, STPU-, and urethane-based elastomeric sealants can be pulled away to expose a joint.
Sometimes the vandalism can be as tame as a bored high school student pulling out sealant while waiting for the bus. However, a more threatening trend is emerging in today’s correctional facilities, where incarcerated persons use various construction materials, including sealants, to cause bodily harm to themselves or others. Sealants have been removed by incarcerated persons to conceal dangerous weapons and illicit drugs, to fashion weapons from the removed materials, and to induce illness by ingesting or smoking the material.
Because complete immobility is sometimes unacceptable, while retaining tamper resistance as a requirement, the need for a new class of sealants arose.
Anti-pick sealants, also known as secure sealants, are specifically designed to resist tampering or picking. They are often used in environments requiring maximum security, such as prisons or certain construction projects. These sealants are typically formulated as a hybrid of silicone and polyurethane, creating a chemically curing, solvent-free sealant.
This combination provides a high degree of resistance to picking compared to traditional sealants. In addition to their anti-pick properties, these sealants maintain all the necessary properties of a joint sealant, such as preserving the integrity of the building or structure. They are known for their durability, wear and impact resistance, excellent adhesion to most surfaces, and resistance to chemicals.
These formulated materials can be classified as tamper-resistant rather than tamperproof. These products have limited movement capability and can be used in properly designed joints, performing as moving joints while also providing an acceptable level of tamper resistance.