One of the most dangerous things we do as correctional officers is the transportation of inmates. Reason for transports vary from doctor’s appointments to inter-facility transports, but all of them are high-risk.
I won’t get into specific transportation procedures in this article, as there is no way to control who will ultimately read online material. You should keep this in mind also when you discuss transportation issues in any forum, or when speaking about it with your partners. The best thing we can do to keep our transportations safe is to leave some mystery relating to our procedures when we head out. A secure forum is only as secure as it’s users, and I have found many “secure” answers to questions posted in non-secure forums after someone cut and pasted.
Having stressed confidentiality enough, we can start to look at universal truths as they relate to prisoner transports. First and foremost, secrecy is our biggest ally. It is critical for regularly scheduled transports to be kept under wraps to everyone except the transporting officers until the last possible minute. This can be difficult, especially when a lot of planning has to happen before we can take a prisoner outside of the confines of the institution.
One common mistake I have noticed is that when an inmate goes to the doctor, a follow up appointment is often set up with the inmate present. This is a horrible practice. Make it a habit for the doctor to contact you when you get back to the institution to set up the next appointment. The inmate has no reason to know the exact date of his next transport. Until prisons have adequate care on-grounds, these transports will grow in numbers under new federal mandates for inmate health-care; so it behooves us to put a procedure in place to keep these transports as safe as possible.
Another common mistake is telling the inmate about the transport the night before it happens. This is commonly done often to arrange for the transport of the inmates property if the transport is to another facility. Many inmates have access to telephones, and want to let their families know that they are leaving their institution. This is an unacceptable practice, and great care needs to be taken to avoid allowing inmates to make this call. The inmate can contact their family from the new institution, after the transfer is complete. A good remedy for this is to make it commonplace to pack the inmates property days, if not a week before he transfers. Keep the exact date a mystery, so even if the inmate is able to contact his family, there will be no specifics.
I will not get into the type of weapons that are used for transports, other than to stress the importance of checking their function before you leave. Even on an emergency medical transport, it is critical to take the extra minute it takes the check the function of all of your tools.
There is nothing more critical than the searching of the inmate and anything he will be taking with him. As a general rule, the inmate should not have anything on his person during the transport. Unfortunately, many court transfers require the inmate to bring legal material with him. If this is the case, make sure that it is properly searched. If it takes you 20 minutes to go through a legal brief page by page, then do so. Inmates rarely get good news from court appearances, and this may be the day they try to make a run for it. If the inmate is required to take papers with him, keep them away from the inmate during the transport. There is no reason the inmate should have access to anything during the transport. At no time should the inmate be able to take a book, magazine or anything else to pass the time. We are a prisoner transport, essentially a moving prison; not a tour bus.
The inmate should undergo a thorough search, obviously an unclothed body search, and should be issued his clothing from the transporting officers. Inmates should never leave the institution in their choice of clothing.
These are just some of the basic ideas, there is much more to discuss. The problem is that this is not the place for an open discussion about exact tactics, weaponry, or vehicle abilities. This should be reserved for private and secure conversation during briefings and training sessions. Many have asked what other departmental policies are regarding transports. These types of inquiries are best handled on departmental letterhead through good old-fashioned mail, or over the telephone, where both parties are at work. You never know whom you are speaking to on the Internet; please keep this in mind.
The less the general public, and the inmates know about our transportation habits, the better. It is critical that we protect the public and keep ourselves safe. Remember that secrecy is your biggest ally in this task. Be safe out there.