Prison attorney Pöschwies: Full control over IT

Initial situation
Computers are an indispensable tool for the training and reintegration of prison inmates into the world of work. The house rules of the Pöschwies correctional facility allowed private PCs in the cells. As a result, there were nearly 100 PCs in the cells in the past, but they posed a certain security risk. For example, communication between inmates and with the outside world must be prevented by all means.  Accordingly, the control effort for the wardens was high in order to prevent misuse.

Solution
In the “JUV Media Network” project, the existing private PCs in the cells were replaced by a centralized solution with virtualized workstations (virtual desktops). Thin clients are used in the cells, which simultaneously use the existing TVs as screens. The server and storage hardware will be hosted and operated in the data center of the Zurich Directorate of Justice. From this central infrastructure, the virtual desktops are published to the cells. In addition to the Windows operating system, the virtualized desktops are primarily used to run Office applications, image editing software, PDF readers, audio and video players, keyboarding practice software, dictionaries, encyclopedias/encyclopedias, a local reference work for prisons, and learning software for vocational training.

The administration of the user accounts and the virtualized desktops is carried out by JVA Pöschwies. The same applies to the administration of the thin clients and the required peripheral devices.

Benefits
The new system has been extensively hardened and subjected to several security audits, so that undesired access can be ruled out, regardless of the source. The PC activities of the inmates can be monitored at any time by the supervisors of the Pöschwies correctional facility via a software activity monitor.

The system impresses with a very low work and administrative effort on the part of the Pöschwies correctional facility supervisors. Predefined, standardized desktops make it manageable and thus even more secure.

Unlike in the past, the guards at the Pöschwies correctional facility now know exactly what is running on the virtual desktops in the cells and can be sure that no unwanted programs or data are in use. Private PCs and their security risks are a thing of the past at JVA Pöschwies.