We use a five man team, each CO is in a line holding onto the back shirt of the officer in front of them. The 2nd officer is the guide who turns the first officer with the shield in the direction of the inmate. We do this in a slow manner not rushing the cell, this corners the inmate and doesn’t give them room to hit the floor or try to get by the team. This is always video taped for training and in case we need it for evidence. They are still working on developing a CERT team based on the Federal prison model.

We use a 3 man stack with a 1 man support if needed. The pointman being me, utilizes a Taser shield. This system has worked the best for our faciilty and areas so far. Right now I’m the Team Leader and I’m trying to get the ERB Belts established for us. So far we don’t use less lethal munitions.

Cell Extraction Methods:

http://www.ourdigitalmags.com/display_article.php?id=368124

http://www.uscsog.com http://www.CorSpecOps.com

We deploy some of the same methods mentioned above. We utilize a few non lethal weapons, impact and spray type, they are not utilized till compliance only a way to disorient or off kilter the subject. A big problem we have run into is people barricading themselves into their cells. Yes into, sounds dumb I know but if we can’t get them out we are very hesitant to use force due to the fact if something happens we can’t get to them. You say “wait it out”, but the problem goes beyond that, now we’d have a pod out of service, not to mention they basically are showing we are powerless to control. Explanation on how they are accomplishing barricading: Our cell doors are metal and are hinge doors, some have pass thru in the middle of the doors, but the less security units don’t. Our locks are a single rolling locks located about the middle of the door. The lock rolls out from the wall when the door is shit and secures the door. The inmates are pushing the doors out and using books to jam in their side of the door frames causing the doors to exert pressure against the locks making them not roll back into the wall. We found that 3 big guys pushing on the doors makes the locks begin to rotate and after a long struggle they will open, with lots of force. Not very tactical and defiantly a hardship on the officer sacrificing shoulders against metal doors. Any thoughts or experience of defeating this type of behavior?

Using K9 is one option but you’re risking liability issues. I know many courts frown on using a dog’s bite to gain compliance may be a little extreme to the eyes of a civilian, especially an unarmed inmate who is confined in a limited space. I also do not agree with the old school method of sending in a “goon squad” to go in and fight a combattive inmate when it’s not absolutely necessary. Nine times out of ten the officers end up hurting each other and the extraction never goes down as planned due to murphy’s law. Fortnately, corrections has turned into a big business and there are several tools an extraction team has nowadays that limit the amount of risk for the team as well as the potential for injury to the inmate. Our team uses a variety of tools, taser, pepperball, less lethal shotgun and distraction devices of many kinds. Every once in a while we elect to go “hands on” because the use of intermediate weapons are not prudent, such as with elderly inmates. We also use a variety of staff levels ranging from 2-6 man teams depending on the threat. If we have several threats such as in a dayroom we may use several teams, or iplement the use of additional staff not on the CERT team. It all has to remain fluid. A good team must have the freedom to exercise different techniques to achieve the desired result and not be hindered with excessive policies and s.o.p.’s that usually restrict a positive outcome rather than enable it.

I didn’t find any video, but did find this regarding what states use k9’s to extract inmates:

_From The NewStandard (it ceased publishing on April 27, 2007): Prisons Sic Attack Dogs on Inmates, Report Finds by Shreema Mehta

Four states authorize the use of attack dogs to intimidate resistant inmates out of prison cells, according to Human Rights Watch, though two of the states have rarely put the policy into the practice. The organization is calling for the states of Connecticut, Iowa, South Dakota and Utah to ban the practice, which sometimes results in prisoner injury._

OCCD do you know of any video available anywhere of a K-9 involved extraction?

RI or Connecticut DOC still use dogs.

Our department has developed a 3 man team with OC anda host of treatment personell if that doesn’t work finally they allow for us to BRING THE NOISE!

We use a 5, an 10 man dependin on past encounters with the inmate or if they have a celly, we use the shield which normally will be a pretty big guy an thats our 1 man, our 2 man go’s for the left hand and/or weapon hand an if we dont have anymore big guys its normally a pretty strong small guy, our 3 man goes for the right hand and/or non-weapon hand an has the cuffs an is usually the most experienced, our 4 man goes for left leg an our 5 man goes for right leg an has leg irons. And if the inmate has a celly its just duplicate. but we do use chemical agents to get compliance first but its always fun to bust’em up.

Someone on here had brought up using a K-9 for cell extractions. I’ve still never seen this method would love for someone to post some video somewhere. I always found it funny how some of the toughest badasses turn to screaming girls at the site of a charging dog.

Why risk injury to officers to extract an inmate from a cell and/or confined space . deploy chemical agent gas their butt until you get tired. If still no compliance give them some voltage if possible . Its amazing how them little rubber balls making contact with their non-compliant butt at 650 to 900 fps gives them a change of heart . 95% of the time the mere presence of these non-lethal weapons will make them get in check . So weather its a 3 or 5 man extraction team try to use all other resources.

I have recently been assigned to lead training for forced cell extractions. We are going to use the 3 & 5 man method. I anyone has any training info on forced cell exxtractions I would appreciate all info. My email is pletch0822@yahoo.com. Thanks and hope to hear from you.

We use a five man team with the shield as well. The Shield leads, the 2 man gets one side arms, the 3 man gets the other side arms, 4 man is legs, and 5 man is equipment (i.e. cuffs and leg irons if necessary, spit mask, etc.) When the door is opened it is full go, smash and grab. Pepper is usually used first in most cases, then we go in.

We use a 5 member extraction team. 3 tactical officers enter the cell in most instances, but are backed up by 2 door breachers if need be. This has worked out successfully for us for many years now. We also deploy chemical agents and a pepperball launcher in most extractions. If you would like more details e-mail me at rolbsned65@att.net.

We always ran a four man team, with the last guy in (usually the smallest) handling the restraints. The smaller person was usually able to move around easily enough to apply the restraints after the inmate had been subdued. Depending on the agitation state of the inmate, we might use chemical agents prior to entering the cell, or electronic devices during the extraction.

the 5 man with the shield works the best for us. it seems that most of our extractions are in the mental health unit. you and your team have to be on your toes. practice, practice, practice. the way u train is the way u fight. we have done 3 man extracts before especially on saturdays when everyone takes the day off.

My SERT uses a base three man stack with a restraint control officer outside the cell. My department has minimum distances for our less than lethal munitions, so my shotgunner or 40mm officers take up positions out side of those minimum distances. I’m not a proponent of utilizing a shied during entries. The shields get in the way and with limited space inside the cell it becomes cumbersome. After softening up the inmate who 90% of the time complies afterwards, my stack will enter after the door is opened and spread from a stack to a three man skirmish line, slowly stalking the inmate. Each officer has a specific area of the inmates body to control. Once the inmate is controled by the entry team, they call for restraint control officer to handcuff and leg shackle. We train this quite a bit in our isolation unit in empty cells so the officers can feel the environment. My munitions officers shoot through the food port on the door to prepare themselves for the real thing. Realistic training prepares my team for the real thing and they have responded very well with real life cell extractions.