We have no waivers on any life safety rules that I know of. We do have to follow a state jail standard and it actually is more strict in many ways. Gotta have smoke evac for example.
All the areas that are not inmate housing, such as offices and the like have to pass a local fire marshal inspection.
We still need exit signs, yeah I know the door is locked but they are required. The ones in inmate areas have rather strong housings. Inmates used to get inside some of the lights to do "experiments" they were replaced with heavy duty stuff.
Keep in mind we are a county jail, not a "prison".
I would like to clarify that the lights the fire marshal wanted are not inside inmate housing.
