[Cbt Nuggets Ccie Lab Concepts Torrent Downloadl
Melvin Amey
The CorrectionsOne Academy features a 1-hour course on contraband control that outlines how to effectively identify, search for and document all forms of contraband. Visit the CorrectionsOne Academy to learn more and for an online demo.
There are many different styles and approaches to teaching contraband control to corrections professionals. Some are heavy with hands-on advice, while others dispense a firm foundation of concepts. But how do you determine what your facility needs and which training styles benefit the learning capacities of your staff?
Approaches to a contraband control module will vary, with the institutional training officer and warden having the final say on specifics. The main goal for any corrections facility is a well-prepared body of staff willing and capable of identifying, removing and documenting contraband in order to maintain a safe facility.
What are the five most valuable nuggets of advice in teaching contraband control? Ask 10 corrections professionals this question and you will likely get 10 different lists. When advice is given in light of the needs and experiences of the practitioner, there is likely to be diversity in answers.
It is true that finding dangerous contraband is great for the safety of the facility, but the searchers need to consider their own safety first. (See the two related classroom exercises below: Wash your hands and Time to take off the gloves.)
Do you want prisoners to observe you searching? Is your intent to project to offenders that there are searches going on in order to dissuade concealing of contraband, or should it be a hidden search in which the searcher does not wish to tip the hand?
Contraband does not have to hurt you directly to be dangerous. Information can bring harm if it inspires fear or has tradeable value. This sort of intangible contraband is found in private information of staff such as social security numbers. Other instances of information as contraband are plans to the prison design and computer passwords. (See related classroom exercise below: Take note: I love you to pieces.)
Do not forget to ensure that you are keeping personal items that may be deemed as contraband outside the secure perimeter. Self shake and comply to all searches at the gate and inside the facility. Do not supply contraband opportunities through your own negligence. (See related classroom exercise Why we secure our vehicles.)
If it seems like there is less contraband in the facility, perhaps trade has tapered off. Perhaps offenders have analyzed the search methods of staff, leading to better concealment strategies. Whether it is poor timing, clever concealment, or any other factor, it is wise to routinely consider modifying your search techniques and strategies.
Theories and concepts are important. They allow us to look at models in order to understand commonalities in circumstantial differences. For example, learning the basics of changing a flat tire can be adapted for all sorts of occurrences. The key is to use the right principles in all sorts of weather. However, we should caution on certain circumstances, like changing a tire on an incline. It may seem like stating the obvious. However, once stated, the cautionary tale for special circumstances is in the mind of the future practitioner.
We can also, for example talk in broad terms about the benefits of contraband control. While it is important to see the many groups impacted by good searches, what about the pitfalls? Is a talk about contraband control complete without addressing the ubiquity of potentially infectious materials?
6. With a red marker or something contrasting the text on the board, the instructor asks if each act is potentially infectious. For example, turning a door knob with a bare palm could be potentially infectious.
8. Remind participants that it is best to look rather than feel when searching for contraband. Many experienced corrections staff know someone who searched with their hands rather than their eyes and was poked with a sharp object.
Because we are trained to think of everything as potentially infectious, universal precautions are important in our profession. Like teachers and healthcare staff, corrections professionals work in a petri dish. Can you conceive of corrections without latex gloves?
Many students with no experience inside might not even consider the risks involved in this environment of infection. It is up to correctional trainers to impress the thin barrier between a CO and harmful infection. There is no way to overemphasize that gloves are critical tools.
5. The person with the most points can select a small item from a box of dubious prizes as selected and compiled by any good instructor. This can be comprised of key chains, plastic snakes and the like.
Information is power. Contraband can come in the form of what seems to be a simple note passed from one prisoner to the next. However, the note that you intercept may be a matter of life or death. Is it ever as simple as finding a note and showing it to the inspector? Not always.
Prisoners know that information is power, too. In fact, the task of relaying written information to other prisoners under the collective nose of staff is not easy. That is why offenders utilize codes, misdirection and camouflage. Whatever their motivation to relay information, it is likely that the more important the message, the more likely it will be hidden.
1. Read the following scenario: As an officer in the education building, you see a prisoner who leaves the classroom and goes to the restroom. The next prisoner to use the bathroom is from the library. Then the same prisoner from the classroom appears again in the restroom. You know that these prisoners are from different units and are unlikely to intermingle. You believe that the bathroom is a drop and pass location. When the restroom is empty, you don a pair of gloves and commence a search.
Elusive! Sometimes you look for something and it is not there. Just because a note is torn up and placed in a trash receptacle does not mean there is anything of consequence on the note. It could be a ruse. It could be a test. It could be a note written out of boredom.
You discovered information that prisoners did not want you to find. You went the extra mile and with gloved hands pulled out this note. Sure, it was in the bathroom trash. Certainly, no one knows what sort of infection it may harbor. Yet, you diligently reconstructed this missive with tape, patience and logic. The bad deed that was intended can now be thwarted. Because of this, staff, prisoners and the public will be safer.
Never doubt the importance of contraband control instruction. Although education on contraband control is taught in the classroom, the practices are best applied and improved in the facility itself. The payoff is when the training becomes effective so that it improves the safety of staff, inmates and the public.
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