Had a Florida Officer relate this story to me... Went on shift at county jail. Did my first count and security check. Noticed shower curtain in day room was pulled closed. Day room door was open. Locked day room gate. Continued count/security check. Found cot with trash bags covered up by blanket. Pulled blanket through cell bars. Other inmates in cell just shrugged or faced the wall. Walked back to day room and called inmate out of shower. Called for backup. Removed inmate and secured in isolation cell. Found half of metal broom handle in shower. Later determined the inmate planned on jumping me when I made rounds and taking keys to enable him to open all the cells and escape. I have other stories but mostly..., Don’t ever let your guard down.
I'll never forget one night working SEG, we were doing some cell moves. I turned to see an inmate walking up the stairs with his property and uncuffed! I yelled at the gunner and my partner. Got him into cuffs. I went to his cell and there were boxes of toilet paper, mop buckets, mops etc in there. He had been sneaking out of his cell apparently for at least a day or two and grabbing stuff and bringing it to his cell. We never were able to figure out how he defeated the locking device or the control panel warning light.
Places with perceived limited access may be less limited than you think. Assaults, contraband, preparation to escape and a myriad of other bad things can and do happen. A secured cell is only as secure as it was last checked amd even that is open for debate. Complacency is situational awareness perceived, but not achieved! At a distance once in the furniture factory I saw an inmate acting oddly. I went toward him and he left. Now there was no cells there, just empty carts. Now everything there looked ok, so I called on the radio for other staff to look for the inmate that left. I started searching. Back in the corner I found a cart with burlap stapled across all of it. Inside was an inmate!
We had an out of service dorm that connected to the inmate clerk office but the door was locked. Weak staff though had unlocked it a to allow the clerks to use the bathroom rather than force them to use the one on the yard. As soon as I found that out I removed a hype kit, a shank and a cell phone from there. All trusted clerks all fired!
Had a Florida Officer relate this story to me...
Went on shift at county jail. Did my first count and security check. Noticed shower curtain in day room was pulled closed. Day room door was open. Locked day room gate. Continued count/security check. Found cot with trash bags covered up by blanket. Pulled blanket through cell bars. Other inmates in cell just shrugged or faced the wall. Walked back to day room and called inmate out of shower. Called for backup. Removed inmate and secured in isolation cell. Found half of metal broom handle in shower. Later determined the inmate planned on jumping me when I made rounds and taking keys to enable him to open all the cells and escape. I have other stories but mostly..., Don’t ever let your guard down.
I'll never forget one night working SEG, we were doing some cell moves. I turned to see an inmate walking up the stairs with his property and uncuffed! I yelled at the gunner and my partner. Got him into cuffs. I went to his cell and there were boxes of toilet paper, mop buckets, mops etc in there. He had been sneaking out of his cell apparently for at least a day or two and grabbing stuff and bringing it to his cell. We never were able to figure out how he defeated the locking device or the control panel warning light.
Places with perceived limited access may be less limited than you think. Assaults, contraband, preparation to escape and a myriad of other bad things can and do happen. A secured cell is only as secure as it was last checked amd even that is open for debate. Complacency is situational awareness perceived, but not achieved! At a distance once in the furniture factory I saw an inmate acting oddly. I went toward him and he left. Now there was no cells there, just empty carts. Now everything there looked ok, so I called on the radio for other staff to look for the inmate that left. I started searching. Back in the corner I found a cart with burlap stapled across all of it. Inside was an inmate!
We had an out of service dorm that connected to the inmate clerk office but the door was locked. Weak staff though had unlocked it a to allow the clerks to use the bathroom rather than force them to use the one on the yard. As soon as I found that out I removed a hype kit, a shank and a cell phone from there. All trusted clerks all fired!