Agree with Jamestown. Always asked my Officers why do you get in a hurry to break up a fight between Inmates. Let them go at it, when response arrives deploy OC and then scrape them off the ground and cuff them. If they are on one of us, hit your alarm, spray and dive on.

I do think we need to get away from the old school of going in like Atilla the Hun at a block fight getting officers hurt when other methods will work better. Sometimes verbal judo works with blocks and other times you end up talking to yourself. Once a fight breaks out in a block or tier you first call for backup and WAIT. I have seen many new officers rush into the block by themselves or with only one other officer when 8 inmates are out of their cells. What a recipe for disaster.Rather than running into the block stand back and fire off pepper spray, stand back, let it soak in then go into the block or tier. If your facility has a CERT team by using pepper spray it will diffuse the fighting somewhat until they arrive to enter the area to secure the inmates.

The famous SOCF J-1 cuff strap. They actually did modify it with a cuff on each end, (one to the handcuffls, the other to the cell bars) but most the the time using it was a tender subject. I used it once on a very non cooperative inmate and yes I heard complaints about it. Thankfully for me that day a rather old school LT made rounds and told me “it’s there so use it,easier to explain why a piece of equipment was used compared to dealing with staff getting assaulted” I assume it’s still there. Least it was still hanging in the J-1 equipment room when I transfered out.

We were thinking about using a similar device just before I retired. They emailed a movie taken at one of the local state prisons where a SSgt and another CO were moving an inmate from a high security area (we call that the SHU). When the SSgt handcuffed the inmate inside the sallyport door the inmate came to the door, pushed it open forcefully swinging his wrists directly at the SSgt breaking his jaw. It took almost 7 officers to subdue the inmate, thus after seeing this procedure done in a high security federal prison I thought it should be used.

Have never seen or heard of that. However, it does sound like a very secure move. That should be instituted in policy where permitted ie, dependent upon security classification. Sounds like a great plan. Learn something new every day. We did use a modification of that only it didn’t hook to a door. We just held onto the strap. It was only used in our LC Seg blocks (most secure). Only used it for around 6 months then it got swept under the rug. Probably through complaints from the Inmates.

I was thinking about this topic tonight. I watched a video of a federal super- max prison in Colorado where they did prisoner movements from the cell to another area of the prison. Two or three officers would approach the cell door and instruct the inmate to put both of his hands back to back through the sallyport door. One officer would handcuff the inmate and the other officer would immediately snap a long leather strap with a steel ring on both ends to the middle of the handcuffs and then snap the other end to the outside of the cell door which would secure the inmates hands so he couldn’t pull them back. Then the three officers would have the door opened and shackles would be placed on the inmate. When the inmate was cuffed and shackled two officers would secure the inmate by holding his arms and the their officer would unsnap the belt from the handcuffs leaving it locked to the outside door. Upon return of the inmate to his cell they would take off the shackles and cuffs in reverse order using the belt with two snaps.

It depends. If it is a regular move. 1 on 1. In Seg. they are cuffed from behind and have leg irons on. In General Population 1 on 10 with no restraints. If they are disciplinary, 1 Lt and 1 C/O on each inmate in full restraints.

In our SHU we always use a 2:1 ratio on ALL inmates regardless of the situation and never pop any doors without 2 staff present and inmates being secured on the range. For maximum security inmates our movement will always be 2 staff and 1 LT. per inmate and all are restrained behind the back with one hand on the cuffed wrist and one on the elbow of the inmate. All outside escorts same ratio 2:1 but inmates will always be secured ankle chains and black box w/ waist chain. Stay safe!

“get em before they get you”

Much the same at our facility as Afrobob stated. Full restraints are used including handcuffs, a body belt or body chain and always shackles. Two officers are always required and sometimes four officers depending on how violent the inmate is. This is regardless if they are in the SHU (special housing unit) or segregated from general population. The ration that you were discussing really depends on what the inmate does physically to staff or other inmates. Safety and Security always take precedence.

The way we move any seg. inmate at my facility is in restraints. We do two officer, hands on, escorts. Seems to work out pretty well. If the inmate gets froggy, the situation can be controlled immediately. Also, because we house Adseg, dd, pc, and other types of seg. inmates in the same units it’s easier to maintain safety and anonymity if we treat them all as disciplinary detention inmates as far as escorts go.

We use a 1:5 ratio unless it’s for the Ultra Inmates. Then it’s one Sergeant and 3 Officers. For new inmates it’s a 1:10.

We are in the process of evaluating how we escort offenders that are segregated either for administrative reasons or disciplinary reasons. Could you please tell me the staff to offender ratio for the escort of administrative segregation offenders and for disciplinary segregation offenders? For example, 1 staff per offender, 2 staff per offender, 1 staff per 4 offenders, whatever it is in your state/facility. Are the ratios different for ad seg offenders versus disciplinary seg offenders, or is it the same? Also does your department/facility have any plans to change this procedure in the near future. I really appreciate your response to this inquiry. Thanks!