This study examined the effects of construction types on the indoor environment
of selected prison facilities in the State of Texas. Three collocated facilities of the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice were monitored for temperature, relative humidity and
barometric pressure over a period of fifteen months. The objectives of the study were to
examine the response of the built environment to the stressors of ambient conditions,
characterize the influence of the construction method for each facility and study the
responses of the occupants of the buildings. From the data, an apparent temperature was
calculated and then compared to the data collected by the regional National Weather
Service facility for ambient conditions. A relationship between the type of facility and
the resulting indoor environmental conditions was established. The construction
materials chosen for a particular facility affected not only the rate of heating of the
indoor environment but also the maximum temperature, apparent temperature and
thermal variation experienced by the occupants. The peak temperature and relative
humidity were higher in the metal facilities when compared to the concrete facility.
Therefore, the difference in occupant living conditions was considerable when the
internal environmental conditions (temperature and humidity) were compared between
construction types. The concrete construction also moderated the changes in the
occupant environment through a lag of internal conditions behind those of the external
environment. This resulted in a slower apparent temperature rise over the course of the
day in the concrete buildings and a delay in the internal high temperature of the day.
Finally, the data shows that measures of aggression vary with the seasonal changes,
Increasing in the warming months and decreasing in the cooling months. This increase
in the metal constructed facilities is greater than the rate of increase found in the
concrete constructed facility.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/1504 |
| Date | 17 February 2005 |
| Creators | Nalbone, Joseph Torey |
| Contributors | Rock, James C. |
| Publisher | Texas A&M University |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | 627522 bytes, 9923072 bytes, 14044672 bytes, electronic, application/pdf, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/vnd.ms-excel, born digital |
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