No worries. Glad to help

Great way to think about it. Not abrasive at all. Thank you for your perspective!

Being a non DRC employee the best thing to do would to be let the security staff handle it. We “ask” inmates to do certain tasks but once blatant disrespect is shown then there is no more “asking”. It then turns to orders and if not followed have unfavorable outcomes. Your being contracted to do a specialized job, so look at ours the same way. Yours is doing information gathering audits and ours is safety and security. Best thing to do is focus on your work and we’ll focus on ours. Course this isn’t ment to be an abrasive answer, but just my way of saying if you have good staff with you then this shouldn’t be an issue for you. If you have problems with an inmate, inform your escort officer and let them deal with it.

Thank you for your response. A follow up question if you don’t mind: If an inmate is clearly disrespecting me, or my personal space – how do you de-escalate, or at least not escalate the situation by asking them to back off?

Rule #1, Don’t be friends, deal, make physical contact (i.e. shaking hands etc.), share personal stories or information with the inmates. This is bad on so many levels. Rule #2, Treat others how you want to be treated, as in give respect get respect. Rule #3, Don’t allow them unreasonably close to you. If they are close enough to make you uncomfortable (within reason) then they are too close, this also applies with behind you as well. I never allow an inmate to be directly behind me. Rule #4, Listen to what the staff at the prison tell you. Chances are if they tell you what to do or not to do it’s for good reason. Rule #5, If you have questions, ask. The old saying “easier to ask forgiveness than permission” does not apply in this setting. If your not sure how to handle something, a situation doesn’t seem right, or you don’t undertand what to do, by all means ASK.

I could ramble on for pages, but these are some good general basics to start with.

Hello,

I found this forum from a google search. I am preparing to do energy audit related work in several medium and maximum security state prisons. The scope of the work includes surveying each and every room in the facility. This will no doubt result in a lot of exposure to the inmates. From what I understand I will have a corrections officer with me, but I was wondering if any of you would be able to give me some tips regarding interaction with the inmates?

Thank you!