The Irish Examiner had a good article about y’alls situation:

“What triggered the siege was unclear. However, the prison has continually suffered from severe overcrowding, housing more than 600 prisoners when it was originally designed to take in not more than 450.” http://www.irishexaminer.com/mountjoy

Sounds like corrections around the world have more in common than most of us realize.

Great job Mick! Glad to hear staff injuries were at a minimum.

They are being prosecuted for Assault, Riotous Behaviour, Possession of Offensive Weapons and a host of other offences. The ringleaders will be looking at extensive extra time on their present sentences as well as the punishment they received from Prison Authorities. Two of the main offenders are doing Life so extra sentences mean nothing to them. But they were shown the error of their ways on the night in question. As one of them said while bawling like a baby “Have some humanity”. LOL

Ditto on what Shakey said. I hope the officer injuries were minor. Can you comment on what the next step will be for the inmates involved?

Glad you guys got the situation undercontrol w/out any officers getting taken or worse. take care and keep both eyes open.

Just an update on this. 2 weeks ago we had to do this for real. 75 inmates had armed themselves with metal bars, Pool cues and poll balls in socks and shanks. They tried to take Officers hostage but luckily our guys got out (Not without some injuries). When we went back in properly “suited and booted”. We re-took the yard and had every inmate involved cuffed face down on the ground in 3 minutes. We had no O.C. or C.S. just shields, batons and a lot of angry Officers. But one thing I will say that the training works.

I work with Mick and have to agree 100%. For years all we’ve had to rely on was a brass whistle and a quick prayer! Our service has recently joined the late 20th century and issued radios, but only if you happen to be the officer i/c of your immediate area! Ah well, at least we still have our little whistles…..here’s hoping for fast running staff.

That sucks, Mick! Heaven forbid that we use anything to prevent injury.

Wow, no OC or the like of non lethal agents to prevent unruly behavior or dispursement of groups. Has anyone tried to bring up this subject to the higher ups before anyone gets hurt. I know we have our problems in the way we do thing here. ( It usualy takes someone to get hurt or worse before they implement something). So I know first hand that a officers life is more important than changing past practice or coddling the passivist that demand a gental touch instead of a firm hand.

Unfortunately the powers that be refuse to give us access to either OC sprays or CS gas. So the likelyhood of inmates high on drugs attacking the shield wall is very real.

I posted my respone on the youtube site.

Sorry, Mick. I obviously jumped the gun with my answer and I see what you mean now. I’m not involved in any special response stuff these days and any of my thoughts and opinions would be embarassingly outdated and show my hopeless ignorance! hehehe.

For us even in training if we were to let the “Inmates” to tackle us one on one like they did in the video we would be doing press up’s and sit up’s in full gear until christmas.
Don’t get me wrong I am not asking for a damaging critique just an honest opinion.
They way we train is a cross between the “Roman Turtle” and the Greek Phalanx. For the likes of yard clearances we form up into Units. And will use as many units as necessary to cover the yard.
Each Unit is 3 men wide and 5 deep. The front 3 carry the long shields (6’ High) which can be locked together. The next 3 carry the short shields (4’ High) again these can be locked together. They provide Top cover and or Side cover against missiles. The other 9 are the fighting/snatch teams.
I won’t go into details here about the tactics the unit employs but I will say that it has been tested and proven in real situations.

I loved the clip but it doesn’t deserve a damaging critique. Staff reactions would have been far different if it were a real event. In most scenarios it would be a lot more fun being an “inmate” than responding staff because the “bad guys” can act out a lot more and there has to be a conscious effort NOT to use some techniques that would take them out quickly and effectively. As a learning experience it was a spectacular success.

Take a look at this. And critique it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jucBFYGdQc