Tracy E. Barnhart & Gary T. Klugiewicz
We wanted to write an article on a topic that you
might have thought that you never would read about
in print. This article is going to discuss how
and when to use deadly force in a correctional
facility and most importantly how to defend your
actions. Since most corrections officers are not
trained or equipped with weapons designed to
deliver deadly force the techniques we are going
to discuss will need to be unconventional. The
following information is the kind of stuff we talk
about before roll call when we hear about an
assault on an officer from the previous shift.
This type of violent assault against a corrections
officer could happen anywhere. It could even
happen in your facility. These life threatening
assaults could happen to a friend or someone who
you went to the academy with or it could happen to
you. Hopefully it’s doesn’t end up like the
incident referenced below with an officer being
killed.
Corrections Officer William
Hesson dies at Cuyahoga County
Juvenile Correctional
Facility after incident with youth
May 01, 2009 07:31AM
HIGHLAND HILLS: A 39-year-old corrections officer
at the
Cuyahoga County Juvenile Correctional Facility
in Highland Hills died Wednesday after an incident
with a youth, according to the Ohio Department of
Youth Services. The Ohio State Highway Patrol is
investigating, and was interviewing staff and
youths at the facility on Friday. Hesson, of North
Canton, who had worked at the facility only a few
months, was rushed to a hospital and died soon
after he arrived.
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/05/corrections_officer_william_he.html
This article is going to be about the need for
corrections officers to deliver deadly force to
protect themselves and others from inmates who are
trying to kill them. It is going to deal with
unconventional means of delivering deadly force
when justified – even though corrections officers
are not usually trained or equipped with such
weapons. This article is not about being giving
officers a green light to use force
indiscriminately but instead is meant to give
officers the information and clear understanding
of the when, where and how to use force capable
of taking a life. This is not about feeling
good about killing someone using unconventional
means. There is nothing “good”
about the taking of a life during a violent
situation. It may become a necessity. Officers
who have committed this ultimate seizure and have
not been properly prepared and debriefed
afterwards have often resigned from the profession
because of the stress and turmoil it has caused.
This extreme response to the danger of your very
own death or great bodily harm will leave a
lasting imprint on your own psyche. The taking of
a life should not be entered into lightly but with
great understanding and a sense of duty.
Corrections officers are assaulted and sometimes
killed daily in correctional facilities all over
the world.
Yes, it is a
fact that each year corrections officers are
assaulted and killed by inmates in our care &
custody... We have taken on a
profession that places brother and sister officers
inside a locked facility with the most violent
individuals and asked to maintain safety and
security unarmed and heavily scrutinized. There
is an inherent danger associated with the
correctional profession. Whether an officer is in
a county jail or a closed security segregation
facility, wearing a uniform will put them in
dangerous situations. Threat assessment is the
act of becoming aware of a situation directly
through the senses, including hearing and seeing,
thereby making a reasonable determination about
the risks involved. Any inmate potentially can be
assaultive and ultimately use deadly force against
us. Therefore, approaching every inmate in a
potential threat is both reasonable yet
understandable.
Your
goal should be to develop an “unbeatable
attitude"
that can be maintained throughout your entire
career. We have heard officers say, "It
could never happen to me like that."
While it is true that it may not, the simple facts
support that it could. You must plan for the day
when you may become involved in a life threatening
encounter. This is the only way to be truly
mentally prepared for involvement in a critical
incident where you may have to take a life. You
must believe that it will happen during your
career. If you believe this, the question in your
mind will be, "When is it going to
happen?"
With this
type of mind-set, you have the advantage of
reinforcing in your mind the fact at any time you
may be faced with a life or death situation. By
being continually conscious of this, you will be
more alert, knowing that each inmate encounter
could be the ultimate test of your training and
experiences.
The proper survival mindset should be built with
this axiom as its foundation: “I know it’s
going to happen, I just don’t know when.”
Of course, this is a violent confrontational
situation during which you’ll have to use force to
save your very life. We face verbal threats every
day that inmates may or may not follow through on.
However, you may not be able to predict with any
certainty how the violent scenario will begin, you
must prepare yourself mentally and physically to
the extent that you can to win any confrontation
that you become evolved. Use the Caliber Press
Street Survival Positive Self Talk Phrase saying
to yourself, “I WILL SURVIVE AND KEEP GOING
– NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS!”
"The military trains and
trains and trains and rarely fights, whereas
corrections officers fight every day, but rarely
have time to train."
There is an understandable reluctance by
corrections officers to use deadly force. Officers
are good people and they do not want to harm or
kill anyone. So, many times when a corrections
officer faces a situation in which deadly force is
the appropriate level of force, the officer may
hesitate or seek some other lower level of force,
which generally decreases their very own safety
and may lead to the death or serious injury of the
officer. While in some respect this decision may
be admirable, the fact is the officer must survive
and win the encounter, not just for his or her own
well being, but for the safety of others and for
the well-being of the correctional community as a
whole.
To survive is defined as “to
remain alive or in existence”. This is
another very necessary element of your training
that is often overlooked. Regardless of how much
we train, there may be circumstances in which
fighting may not be our best choice. This is one
of the hardest things to accept for an officer who
wants to immediately control the situation... Our
ego might tell us that we can take on an
assaultive inmate alone because we are in better
shape or we know this great particular technique,
martial art; or high percentage move but in truth,
the chaotic nature of real attacks and real
fighting leaves far too many variables. Sometimes
the best option is to disengage or call for more
assistance before it turns bad but you have to
know the difference between the two options. This
disengaging option may be the best tactical move,
keep you physically safe, and assist you in
defending your defensive combative responses,
“I tried to back away, but he kept coming at
me!”
In order to test your survivability in a life
threatening physical assault on you or another
person, let us ask you a few questions and see
what your answers are. It’s your call Can you? /
May you? – use deadly force to save your life.
Remember that in a correctional institution you
very well may not have the traditional weapon,
i.e. a firearm to “stop the threat.” Are you
ready to take a life to save your life, a life of
another staff member, or an inmate’s life? You
had better decide in advance and know what you
“can” do once you decide that you “may” use deadly
force. If you ever feel that “you want to shoot
someone but can’t (because you don’t have a gun),
you had better have come up with some ways for the
Unconventional Delivery of Deadly Force in a
Correctional Facility.
1. You and your partner are in a dayroom making a
walk through. An inmate goes berserk and stabs
you partner and then turns on you. Can you? / May
you? – use deadly force to stop the inmate from
stabbing you too by picking up a chair and driving
the chair leg into the inmate face.
Photograph by Gary T. Klugiewicz
2. Your partner is being beaten to death by
three gang members. The other officers on the
shift are responding to a different disturbance.
No one is coming soon enough to help. It’s your
call. Can you? / May you? - use deadly force by
striking the first inmate multiple times in the
back of the neck to stop his assault on your
fellow officer.
Photograph by Gary T. Klugiewicz
3. You are escorting a couple of inmates when
suddenly at the top of a staircase they assault
you. You take a couple of punches in the head and
you know that you can’t hold out much longer. No
one else is coming. You can’t even get to your
radio. You grab one of the inmates in
desperation. You spin him around so he is moving
towards the staircase. Can you? / May you – use
deadly force to save your life by throwing him
down the staircase before turning to deal with the
other inmate.
Photograph by Gary T. Klugiewicz
4. You are being choked out in a chair by a much
larger and stronger assailant. You are feeling
yourself “fading to black.” You will soon be
unconscious. No one else is coming. It’s your
call. Can you? / May you? – use deadly force to
stop this live threatening assault by stabbing the
inmate in his eyes with your pen.
Photograph by Gary T. Klugiewicz
Well what do you think? What are your answers?
Are you prepared to survive? Can you do what you
need to do to keep yourself and others safe and
ultimately alive?
If you can do what you need to do, great. If not,
you need to get your mind right.
The situations described above, may not be taught
in your academies but this doesn’t mean that they
can’t be justified.
These are three types of force responses that
may be justified.
-
A Trained Technique.
-
A Dynamic Application of a Trained Technique.
-
Not Trained but Justifiable under the
Circumstances.
Obviously, when appropriate, the photos posted
above are examples of the third type of
justifiable technique – The Not Trained but
Justifiable under the Circumstances. These are
the wild, grasping for straws, attempts by
officers to keep themselves and others safe in
life threatening situations when what they are
taught doesn’t work, isn’t appropriate for the
level of threat, or are not possible. The
question remains: “May I do these not
trained, often, extreme measures?”
You know you have talked about it among your
fellow officers. After a serious officer assault
or hearing about an officer being killed, officer
talk about what could have been done and if they
would have done it, how could it be evaluated by
administration. We have all stated that we would
do this stuff but do we know when we actually may
do them? The answer is this, “It depends,
on the totality of circumstances!” Any
use of force decision, including your use of
deadly force, must be made within the
“totality of circumstances” surrounding
each specific incident the officer confronts every
time.
The State of
Wisconsin Law Enforcement Training & Standards
Board Principle of Subject Control Student Text
States: “According to the general principles
of the Graham v. Connor decision, the factors
which - in general - affect whether or not force
used in a correctional setting was "objectively
reasonable" include:
· whether
the person on whom the force was used posed an
imminent threat to the safety of jail staff, other
inmates, visitors, etc.;
· whether
the person on whom the force was used was actually
resisting or attempting to flee;
· The
severity of the alleged crime at issue.”
If an inmate is trying to kill you or another
person, you are justified in defending your life
with all means available – trained, and if
reasonable and necessary, untrained techniques.
There are many considerations within this “Totality
of the Circumstances” that affects the
necessity to use reasonable and appropriate levels
of force. They may include, but are not limited
to:
-
What is the level of threat presented by the
inmate?
-
Does the officer have the ability to disengage?
-
What are the ability, age, gender, physical
condition and size of the officer compared to
that of the inmate?
-
What is the correctional experience level of the
officer?
-
What are the numbers of officers, compared with
the numbers of inmates?
-
What is the distance from the officer to the
inmate?
-
What is the background or history of the inmate?
-
What is the officer’s intended or desired result
from the escalating force?
Answering these questions will assist the officer
in justifying and/or determining the necessity for
the escalating or de-escalating of the reasonable
use of force level up to and including lethal
force. The officer must keep in mind that these
considerations can change at any time and they
must be mentally aware and able to adapt to the
changing circumstances.
Do you actually know when to pull out all the
stops and escalate high enough to control the
inmate during a use of force incident? Do you
fall into a condition black and lose all mental
faculties falling behind the eight ball when an
inmate attacks you? Are you prepared to take a
life one night in the middle of your shift? You
better be because you might just have to do just
this.
An officer is not required to place him or
herself, another officer, in unreasonable danger
of death or serious physical injury before using
deadly force. Determining whether deadly force is
necessary may involve instantaneous decisions that
encompass many factors. Thus, an inmate may pose
an imminent risk or danger even if he or she is
not at that very moment in possession of a weapon
attacking the officer if, for example, he or she
has a weapon within reach or is running for cover
carrying a weapon or running to a place where the
officer has reason to believe a weapon is
available for the inmate to use.
Gordon Graham, a nationally known law enforcement
trainer and risk manager, and attorney like to put
it this way Treat everyone you meet like a
million bucks but have a plan to take them out if
necessary." Maybe a little bit drastic but
the complacency and the routine mindset can get us
and our fellow brothers and sisters killed.
Remain Alert, Be Decisive, and have a Preplanned
Practiced Response for doing what you need to do
to keep yourself, your fellow staff members, and
the inmates in your care & custody safe for when,
not if, that day when you have to deliver deadly
force comes.
About the
Author
After
completion of a Marine Corps combat tour of
duty in Iraq in 1991, I completed the National
Registry requirements as an Emergency Medical
Technician. I responded to calls of emergency
medical nature for over three years until I
became a police officer for the City of Galion,
Ohio. I attended the Ohio State Highway Patrol
Academy where I attained my Ohio Peace Officers
Certification. After three years on patrol I
was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant where I
was in command of the patrol first shift
motivating, stimulating and educating over 10
patrol officers under my supervision. I
established active community oriented policing
concepts and strategies that promoted a
stronger law enforcement / community
relationship. Later leaving the City of Galion
I was hired as the Chief of Police for the City
of Edison, Ohio for the next three years. With
a total of ten years experience in a law
enforcement capacity I changed careers leaping
into the realm of corrections where I am
currently employed at the Marion Juvenile
Correctional Facility and have been since its
inception in 2000.
I have attended
countless continuing educational courses
through the P.A.T.C., Ohio Peace Officers
Training Academy and the Ohio State Highway
Patrol. I currently instruct law enforcement
and correctional courses for the Ohio Peace
Officers Training Academy as well as the Ohio
Department of Youth Services. I am the Law
Enforcement coordinator the Tri-Rivers Public
Safety Adult Education where I coordinate and
conceive continuing educational courses for law
enforcement and correctional officers. I have
established courses on verbal de-escalation,
Criminal behavior analysis, Use of force, and
ground fighting and take down techniques for
law enforcement. I am currently training in
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to further my knowledge and
combative base so that the information and
techniques I instruct are tested and proven to
work. I not only train proven techniques
in the academy, I test them on a daily basis
inside my facility.
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