Trending Topics

Hospital Watch: The weakest link in the chain of custody

The safety of our officers and the community depend on us being able to protect them during the duty of transporting inmates to and from the hospital

We received many comments from part one of this article through the Corrections1 Facebook page, as well as through the TierTalk podcast I did with host Anthony Gangi.

We’ve gathered some of the thoughts and ideas below with the goal of putting before our great nation of correctional officers and administrators in hopes that we may unite and come up with a standard policy and procedure for hospital watch.

The safety of our officers, the hospital staff, hospital patients and the community depends on us being able to protect them during this dangerous duty of transporting inmates from the prison or jail to and from the hospital.

Highly Alert and Tactical Minded Officers
Officers who have just finished a 12 hour shift should not go on the transport and if they must go due to staff shortage then immediate relief should be sent to the hospital with fresh officers. Working a double shift on hospital watch spells trouble. We have many occupational stressors that are unavoidable but hospital watch should not be one that we take risks with. Hospital watch is a dangerous shift and supervisors need to know this and respond to assignments in a positive way keeping safety in mind for everyone.

Common sense should help us to understand that a female officer should never be assigned solo to a male inmate and the same goes for a male officer with a female inmate. We must be gender specific or we run into problems:

  • Monitoring inmate restroom breaks
  • Strength and size of inmate
  • Escape history of inmate
  • Allegations of improper conduct

Transporting to the Hospital
The ideal set up for transport in my opinion and the opinion of many others based on the response from part I of this article is to have one officer armed in the front of the ambulance and one unarmed officer in the back of the ambulance with the inmate.

A chase vehicle should follow with an armed officer as well. If the ambulance for some reason loses the chase vehicle we still have an armed officer in the ambulance but not with the inmate for safety reasons.

The unarmed officer in the ambulance with the inmate may have a non-lethal weapon such as a TASER or “Deftech MK3,” a non-flammable and Electronic Discharge Weapon-safe foam spray. This foam has the extreme intensity of regular pepper spray but only has a range of 4 to 6 feet and will not contaminate the air. The one drawback reported by officers was the inmate can throw the foam back onto the officers leaving this option as a maybe?

While some agencies are using the above method, many others report they are not for several reasons. One being staff shortage, another being the fact some policies will not allow an officer in the front seat of the ambulance.

Because of these issues many agencies still send one armed officer in the back of the ambulance with the inmate and one armed officer in a chase vehicle. If you must be in the ambulance with a weapon and an inmate please practice weapons retention.

In the first article I mentioned that training officers in this high liability area is paramount to the safety of officers and the public. However, I see very little if any training on hospital watch being conducted. We must train to standard. We have to know how to look for the signs the inmate gives off and be ready to respond or take preventative action.

At the Hospital
Arrangements should have been made prior to arriving at the hospital regarding what entrance to use and the room number to take the inmate. Keep your head on a swivel and watch for unexpected guests. Remember inmates have ways of getting messages to family members.

When escorting the inmate be sure to be right behind the inmate slightly off to one side but close enough for custodial touch. Never allow the inmate to walk behind you or beside you. I cannot say this enough. Many officers have been injured being complacent. Stay Alert.

In terms of positioning of the officers and the weapons available, many agencies use one unarmed officer in the room with the inmate and one armed officer outside the door. I like this method but I also would like to have the officer with the inmate carrying a TASER or a foam spray for added protection. If the inmate does obtain the TASER or foam spray he still has less firepower than the armed officer outside the door.

Some agencies differ in this area. Some have no weapons at all and some have both officers armed in the room with the inmate. Remember no matter what your agency requires, follow your present policy and procedure. We do not want anyone to get into trouble with the administration.

I have always been for restraining the inmate with one arm to the bed frame – not the bed rail – and opposite leg shackled to the bed frame. Many officers sent in comments stating to never restrain to the bed rail always use the bed frame. The rail is too weak and the inmate can break it off giving the inmate an instant weapon.

The hospital makes for an easier escape route and the inmates know this. Handcuffs and shackles for some agencies are the only tools they have on hospital watch. Use the cuffs and shackles to prevent escape. I cannot imagine why we would not want to use all tools available during a hospital watch. Just use these tools with common sense. Practice weapons retention and know your inmate’s history before taking over the watch.

Final Thought
As we have learned from reader’s comments, the policies and procedures for hospital watch vary from one extreme to the other. I hope one day more attention to detail is placed by administrators on hospital watch and more training is provided.

Officers deserve to be provided with the proper tools for the job and the manpower necessary to get the job done. We cannot take this lightly. Hospital watch is not just another day at the office. The front line staff needs the support of the supervisors and administrators.

We must not forget where we came from after getting a desk job. It is our responsibility to ensure our officers come home safe every night or every morning to their families. This is the weakest link in our inmate chain of custody and we need to bring more attention to this dangerous watch.

Gary York, author of “Corruption Behind Bars” and “Inside The Inner Circle,” served in the United States Army from 1978 to 1987 and was honorably discharged at the rank of Staff Sergeant from the Military Police Corps. U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Gary York completed the 7th Army Non-Commissioned Officers Leadership Academy with a 96.6% in the Train to Train method of instruction. Gary received the Army Commendation Medal and Soldier of the Quarter Award while serving. Gary was a Military Police shift supervisor for five years.

Gary then began a career with the Department of Corrections as a correctional officer. Gary was promoted to probation officer, senior probation officer and senior prison inspector where for the next 12 years he conducted criminal, civil and administrative investigations in many state prisons. Gary was also assigned to the Inspector General Drug Interdiction Team conducting searches of staff and visitors entering the prisons for contraband during weekend prison visitation. Gary also received the Correctional Probation Officer Leadership Award for the Region V, Tampa, Florida, Correctional Probation and he won the Outstanding Merit Award for leadership in the Region V Correctional Officer awards Tampa, Florida.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU