A lockout is a security measure used in prisons and other facilities to prevent escapes or during emergencies. It involves locking all doors and cells. Lockdowns can also occur in other settings, such as retail stores during missing child situations, or metaphorically in areas under martial law or with increased security measures.
A lockout is typically an event during which a venue will be secured to ensure that no one can enter or exit without the people in control of the venue being aware of any such movement. This is typically used in prisons and similar correctional facilities during emergency situations, to ensure prisoners do not escape. The name of this type of event comes from the tendency for all cells and doors to be locked to ensure safety. A “lockdown” can also be a state where other places are more secure.
There are several ways a block can occur and be ordered. One of the simplest forms of lockdown can occur in a prison or similar correctional facility. In this type of location, blocks are usually associated with inmates attempting to escape or during emergency situations. To prevent escapes, or prisoners using an emergency as a distraction that they could use to their advantage, prisoners are returned to their cells and all doors are locked.
This is one of the more common uses of the term “lockdown,” although it can refer to increased security in other settings as well. These alternative lockouts may also live up to the name and may involve blocking ports or otherwise monitoring them to ensure greater security. Some retail stores, for example, use a blocking system in situations where a child is reported missing in the store. In order to better prevent kidnappings or children walking away from these stores on their own, once store employees are notified of a missing child, all doors are monitored to ensure that any children leaving the store are accompanied by a parent or guardian.
A lockout can also be more metaphorical in nature, but still typically used in reference to a state of increased security. This could refer to a town or city that is under martial law for some reason, and a location might not be literally locked down, but travel even though the area might be monitored so closely that it seems impenetrable. The term has also entered into other forms of popular usage to refer to security, and a computer could be said to be in a locked-down state if security has been installed to prevent users from accessing the system from external terminals.
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