Layering Standards: Building Truly Secure Detention Glazing from ASTM F1915 Up

As incidents of violence escalate in detention centers and behavioral health facilities, the conversation around safety is shifting. It’s a matter of where to install protective barriers, but it’s also about what those barriers are built to withstand. 

For decades, ASTM F1915 was the benchmark standard for detention glazing. But in facilities where inmates or patients have time, tools, or intent to cause harm, meeting this one standard may not address the full spectrum of threats. 

To better align with real-world risk, professionals are layering ASTM F1915 with other standards like ASTM F1233 and UL 752 to cover blunt force, sustained forced-entry, and ballistic threats. 

ASTM F1915: Baseline Protection Against Institutional Abuse 

Designed specifically for corrections and psychiatric applications, ASTM F1915 evaluates glazing performance against three common attack types: blunt impact, sharp instrument strikes, and localized flame exposure. These simulate the kinds of improvised threats that regularly occur inside secure facilities: metal furniture, broken fixtures, lighters, or repurposed utensils. 

Materials that pass ASTM F1915 typically involve laminated polycarbonate, glass-clad polycarbonate, or specialty acrylics, engineered to resist penetration while remaining shard-free. 

From a fabrication standpoint, this standard defines minimum durability requirements for interior glazing subject to daily institutional stress. 

Consider this scenario: In a detention facility, an inmate could use a dislodged steel stool leg to repeatedly strike a cell door vision panel. ASTM F1915-rated glazing is designed to resist this type of impulsive, brute-force attack, preventing penetration and minimizing risk to staff during a response. 

But while ASTM F1915 is built to withstand isolated, short-duration events, it does not account for prolonged, multi-tool attacks, which can be a critical limitation in some environments. 

ASTM F1233: Multi-Stage Forced Entry Resistance 

Where F1915 stops, ASTM F1233 continues. This standard evaluates how glazing systems perform under deliberate, sustained breach attempts—often involving a sequence of tools (screwdrivers, pry bars, chisels, hammers) and multiple attack stages over time. 

It’s a test of strength, but also a test of delay. How long can the system slow down an intruder? Can it withstand multiple points of impact, or attacks from different angles? 

Consider this scenario: A patient in a psychiatric facility obtains a maintenance tool and attempts to pry open or punch through a quiet room’s glazing over several minutes. Unlike an impulsive strike, this kind of determined attack can evolve and escalate. ASTM F1233-rated systems are built to slow progress, absorbing abuse across a longer timeline, giving staff more time to intervene safely. 

For fabricators, achieving this level of performance often requires multi-layered construction, stiffer interlayers, and a stronger emphasis on framing compatibility. The goal is containment under pressure. 

UL 752: Protection From Ballistic Threats 

While firearms are not part of most daily correctional operations, they are a growing concern, whether smuggled inside a facility, discharged from outside, or present in behavioral health centers where violence from external actors (family members, for instance) is a threat. 

UL 752 is the recognized standard for bullet-resistant glazing. It categorizes performance by caliber, velocity, and shot count, from Level 1 (9mm handgun) to Level 8 (7.62mm rifle). Most detention and behavioral health applications involve UL Level 1 threats, focused on common handguns. 

Consider this scenario: In a jail’s intake area, a visitor could introduce a concealed handgun and discharge it toward staff behind a transaction window. A UL 752 Level 1-rated panel is engineered to stop those rounds while minimizing spall, helping prevent secondary injuries. 

Building to UL 752 means balancing ballistic protection with optical clarity, weight management, and spall control—all without compromising the structural compatibility of surrounding materials or frames. 

How These Standards Work Together 

The reality in detention center facilities is that threats aren’t predictable, and they rarely stay within a single category. That’s why a layered standard approach is now the industry norm. 

As a fabricator or glass supplier, this shift affects how you design, build, and communicate performance. Meeting these demands requires selecting the right materials as well as knowing how to engineer compatibility, control tolerances, and plan for integration with lock hardware, edge framing, or system retrofits. 

Beyond Compliance, Toward Real-World Performance 

ASTM F1915 may have laid the groundwork for detention glazing, but today’s reality calls for more. Fabricators who understand and plan for the layered performance expectations of modern facilities are better positioned to deliver systems that protect people when it matters most. 

It’s a combination of knowing the standards and recognizing where they intersect, alongside how your systems are expected to perform under pressure, over time, and against new threats.