Jailers at the new Dent County Jail were trained recently to respond to cell extraction situations involving uncooperative or suicidal inmates to be housed at the facility when it opens this spring.
The training, by members of the Corrections Emergency Response Team from the South Central Correctional Center in Licking, is one of several training sessions planned for jail personnel through the month of April.
Sheriff Bob Wells said up to eight of the 16 jailers at the new facility will be trained as members of the local response team and be activated as situations arise.
“For one thing it will make it safer for the officers,” Wells said “And of course the training will help us deal with troubled people that we’re going to have more of than we’ve ever had because of our capacity.”
Trainer Lt. James Thompson, a Licking prison CERT member, said more complex situations sometimes occur at a larger facility.
In those instances, an inmate in a cell may refuse to cooperate and become uncontrollable, Thompson told The Salem News. When non-violent means like the use of pepper spray don’t work, what’s called a movement team or response team comes into play, he said.
“If it’s one person we’re going to extract from a cell into another area, there’s five officers who are outfitted in basically riot-type gear and they come in with a capture shield and they capture the person when they refuse to cuff up and come along peaceably,” he said. “They will go in and they will forcibly place the restraints on that person and move them from that area to an area where they’re more secure.”
A typical scenario would be an inmate who’s angry about not receiving something he wants. “Or It could be that they’ve said they’re suicidal and we need to move them for their protection into an area where we can observe them more closely,” Thompson said.
Each cell door has a food port where meals can be passed through. When an inmate is being moved, they face away from the door and extend their hands through the food port to be cuffed. “We place restraints on them for their safety as well as ours,” he said. It can turn into an extraction situation if they refuse to “cuff up,” he said.
The inmate is repeatedly asked to submit to restraints before the five-member response team goes in quickly, fanning out to keep the inmate from coming out the door. Members use the capture shield and their sheer weight and bulk to trap and subdue the inmate, then take him to the floor and apply the restraints before either carrying him and walking him out of the cell.
Wells said he’ll have cell extraction teams set up to respond in those situations. “We’ve got the gear bought to do it.” he said. “That’s what this training’s about: how to use the gear and pressure points to control people without doing bodily injury to them.”
He said the SCCC CERT members from Licking “do a lot more of this than we ever will, so they’re good people to be training us…These are not things the public thinks about going on, but we have to have a plan to place to handle it.”
With a capacity of 84 beds at the new jail, there will be room to bring in inmates from outside the area to generate more revenue for the county.
“We plan on renting to other counties of course,” Wells said. “I’ve got other counties waiting for us to open so we can house part of their people. That will bring its own set of problems I’m sure.”
The new facility is expected to employ about 24 local people in all, including 16 jailers spread over four shifts of 12 hours each. Administrative staff and food service workers account for the other positions. Jailers also help serve meals, book inmates and help keep the place clean, Wells said. Six will be certified as medical technicians so they can administer doctor-prescribed medications to inmates.
Training sessions already held or planned over the next several weeks include state statutes, dealing with aggressive behavior, justifications for use of force, tactical communications, de-escalation, bonding, serving papers and warrants, transporting inmates, prisoner rights and privileges, aerosol weapons, CPR-first aid/jail booking, scanners, TASER training, shotgun training, jail orientation, shooting stance, handgun skills development and qualification, and Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System (MULES) training.
“My plan is to be the best jail in the state.” Wells said. “That’s my goal.”
