I would assume horizontal bars would make it stronger because they will have to be shorter (assuming normal door proportions)
EDIT: I mean cell doors
EDIT 2: Ok so its a combo of reasons like making it harder to punch thru the bars, exchange goods, use weight to bend the bars, and no climbing to prevent WWE scenarios. Aight thanks guys
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Former prisoner here. It may not be the same for other places, but in Utah they had completely done away with barred cells and switched to concrete/cinderblock walls with a reinforced D2 utility steel door with a bulletproof glass view port. The only part of the prison that had bars was the intake block that used to be the old deathrow building back in the 40s and 50s. You typically only stayed in that building a week or less before they moved you to population. Other than that, I never encountered bars during my entire stay. I suppose whether or not bars were vertical or horizontal, switching to the new format gives less chance of escape or physical contact with prisoners who may be more dangerous than others or who are having a public freak out.
Climbing is a factor, but not the big one.
Why are bird cage also verticle and not horizontal?
BECAUSE CO$T.
Horizontal bars would cost more as most jail are wider than taller.
AND, horizontal bar, unless you support it with multiple verticle bars, it will become bent over time if weight is applied. which leads to more replacement and more cost. So yeah…
From a construction perspective, if you’re fencing off a large opening with bars installing multiple, shorter vertical sections is easier than levelling long horizontal bars.
You’ll also have to put many vertical posts to prevent the horizontal bars from sagging or worse, being deformable enough in order to let a person squeeze through. ( You can see how soft steel can be when you deal with 6m sections often.)
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