Topic: Security Central / Officer shakedowns

Unfortunately you can never totally prevent “Dirty Officer’s” from infiltrating our midst. I worked for TDCJ as well and we had our share. Now I work for a county agency and we still have our share, though they are much less. Just shaking down staff is not the answer at all. It begins with screening, hiring and training professional corrections officers. When the Texas Workforce Commission (unemployment office) mandates a person apply at TDCJ before they can receive their welfare, you’re asking for trouble. The job should be competetive and offer incentives and pay that attract qualified persons, even then there will still be those who lack integrity or they’re scared to say no and turn to the dark side. Then there has to be such a negative stigma placed on integrity violations that it discourages that behavior, sort of like unit cohesion and coping with battle stress in the military. Peer pressure is a mother—. Lastly there needs to be much stiffer penalties for committing acts such as these. Just firing someone for bringing in drugs, sexual relations or what have you is not an adequate deterrent. Staff should be much more scared of what will happen when THEY become the inmate than what the inmate will do if the officer simply remained professional and did not succumb to con games. Personally I think they’re only a notch above a child mohlester or a terrorist if they betray their fellow officers who depend on each other for their personal safety. There has to be a line between us and the inmates, period.

Topic: Security Central / Tasers in the Jail?

We began using tasers in the jail for our CERT team in 2005 and since that time our incidence have dropped to a rediculously low number. Our agency has been extremely supportive of their use and we have not had any major injuries or pending litigation due to their use. In fact, statisitcs show that the injuries among staff and inmates alike have dropped dramatically.

Topic: Security Central / death row

In Texas all the male death row inmates are housed in one unit totally seperate from where they are to be executed, same with the women. Usually the day of the execution they are driven to the unit they are to be executed at in Huntsville.

Topic: Security Central / Which cell extraction methods work best?

Using K9 is one option but you’re risking liability issues. I know many courts frown on using a dog’s bite to gain compliance may be a little extreme to the eyes of a civilian, especially an unarmed inmate who is confined in a limited space. I also do not agree with the old school method of sending in a “goon squad” to go in and fight a combattive inmate when it’s not absolutely necessary. Nine times out of ten the officers end up hurting each other and the extraction never goes down as planned due to murphy’s law. Fortnately, corrections has turned into a big business and there are several tools an extraction team has nowadays that limit the amount of risk for the team as well as the potential for injury to the inmate. Our team uses a variety of tools, taser, pepperball, less lethal shotgun and distraction devices of many kinds. Every once in a while we elect to go “hands on” because the use of intermediate weapons are not prudent, such as with elderly inmates. We also use a variety of staff levels ranging from 2-6 man teams depending on the threat. If we have several threats such as in a dayroom we may use several teams, or iplement the use of additional staff not on the CERT team. It all has to remain fluid. A good team must have the freedom to exercise different techniques to achieve the desired result and not be hindered with excessive policies and s.o.p.’s that usually restrict a positive outcome rather than enable it.