Term, "Sally Port" what is it's meaning?

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Freqed

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I hear this allot on Tulsa's 800 system when officers are at the jail and thought it was something they called the (David L. Moss) Jail. But last week while driving through KY. I heard this term on the State Police System. So now I'm thinking it is something to do with the jail, as in some area that they unload prisoners in. It may also be "Sally Fort" but I think I hear "Port".
 

n0doz

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Don't know the origin of the term, but it's the name for a prisoner-entry door system at a jail. Usually consists of 2 doors: you walk in (or drive in) one door, and it has to close and lock behind you before the second will open.
 

scannerfreak

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from the wikipedia:

The etymology of the term sally port: the word sally is derived from the Old French saillie, from saillir "to surge forward", ultimately from Latin salire "to leap". The word "port" is ultimately from Latin portus for door.

A sally port is a small, easily secured door in a castle wall or other fortification. During a siege, defending raiding parties would "sally forth" or "sortie" from these ports and attack the besiegers. These raids would attempt to slow the offensive siege process. Targets for these raids included tools which could be captured and used by the defenders, labour-intensive works such as trenches and mines, and siege engines and siege towers. Sometimes enemy labourers were also targeted. Often the term postern is used synonymously.
 

car2back

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n0doz is correct, It's basically a garage at a jail officers drive a patrol car into, the doors shut, then they can get their prisoners out and take them into "secure" area of the jail. The whole idea is there's never a door directly open to the outside.
 

KD5WLX

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In the "traditional" medieval castle, there was a moat, with drawbridge, and then a portcullis behind that. The portcullis (gate) is necessary because you can't get in our out without lowering the drawbridge, which in effect "opens" the front door.

The portcullis could be "dropped" in a hurry by cutting the ropes or tripping the catch on the winches, and believe me, you don't want to be under it! But getting it back up was another deal entirely.

The "sally port" is a smaller (walk through size) door set into the portcullis to allow a single person or small group to go in or out of the castle, without having to raise the portcullis, thus exposing the interior to the "other" side's attack (a charge by mounted nights across the drawbridge is why all this exists in the first place.

The term can also refer to the "space" between the outer portcullis and an inner one. It was common in some designs to put a room above this space, with holes (called "murder holes" in the floor. If they didn't like you, they left the outer portcullis up, but closed the inner, then invited you in. THEN they dropped the outer and used the holes while you were trapped.

Most modern jails have normal doors for pedestrian traffic to the admin side (the front door), but bring prisoners through the back way - the sally port. They're really referring to the bit with the double portcullis (just normal doors today) - the "murder hole" area, although the original term is for the smaller door in a larger door.

The modern "proper" usage would be the auto shop that has one or more overhead doors, and then a 36" door for foot traffic, just so you don't have to open an overhead for a pedestrian, but no one in that business calls them sally ports. The term has come to mean the double set of doors with a vestibule between them, usually for temperature control (the "airlock" effect at most malls) or security (as in at the jail). They can be sized for foot traffic or for anything up to big trucks. Penitentiaries often have double fences/gates at their service entrance that can handle an 18-wheeler (or a prisoner bus).
 

w8jjr

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So simply put. The officer doesn't want to drive into the garage area with a prisoner. Just asking the dispatch to buzz the lock on the ped door so they can walk in.
 

car2back

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w8jjr said:
So simply put. The officer doesn't want to drive into the garage area with a prisoner. Just asking the dispatch to buzz the lock on the ped door so they can walk in.

Depends on the facility. At my former place of employment there was a front way in (lobby), and a back way in (sallyport). It was a big no-no to come in the front door with a prisoner. SOP was to buzz or radio master control, they'd open the garage door, drive in, it shuts, let the prisoner out and walk him through the booking door.
 

okla-lawman

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At dlm the have many Sallports. I got to tour it a few years back. They have the one that the officers drive into. But litterally interior door to the outside is a sallport along with every door ino the pods. If you are monitoring DLM you will hear it often. It takes 2 different people at 2 different locations to open the doors on each one.
 
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