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| The Road to Safety: First Prisoner Contact |
| By Joe Bouchard and Tracy Barnhart |
| Published: 10/05/2009 |
A conversation between Tracy Barnhart and Joe Bouchard
Many first time events are memorable, indelibly etched into our minds. One only need to think of the first day of school, the first car one owned, or even the first date to know that this is true. Those of us in corrections remember our first time with prisoner contact as though it were a meal ago. In fact, we can cite details of that time with greater clarity than our doings from last week. This must be because we were not yet acclimated to the new work paradigm and that first impressions are powerful. Joe Bouchard: Tracy, do you remember the first time that you had prisoner contact? I certainly do. I was to answer a grievance regarding library services from a segregation prisoner. I could barely hear myself explain policy and procedure. The grievant was not loud. However, most, if not all of the others on that wing were indescribably disruptive. The expletives ran the gamut from creative and sickly amusing to base and even horrifying. Looking back, I know that I was a different person, as the verbal abuse shocked me then. I suppose that one gets hardened to that sort of thing. Tracy Barnhart: I opened up a brand new maximum security state of the art institution and had been training in that very institution for ten long weeks. That amount of training was unheard of in our agency but we were the test case scenario. That was “OUR” institution and we knew it by heart. Then came the day the busses full of inmates transfers came into the sally port. I was assigned to unit 5-B, I remember it like it was yesterday I was excited, ready and confident. We were to take the escorted inmates and assign them a cell, place them inside and secure the door. We had a plan, or at least we thought so. As the violent inmates were escorted in I remember thinking to myself, “Some of these guys are pretty big.” One by one as they were escorted in and I gave my unit speak about the rules, procedures and how things were going to be I could see in their eyes the internal inmate reply, “Yeah Right, For Now!” Bouchard: I, too, started at a maximum security level. I have to say that opening a new place with many new staff is a challenge beyond the normal maximum security setting. Staff is apprehensive and confident at the same time. They are ready to implement their training. A fair share of prisoners, many of whom have more time served than staff has experience; look for vulnerable staff to test. To me it was like a post-training training. The month long classroom instruction was valuable. But the prisoner contact phase was crucial for the development of many professionals. Speaking for myself, firm but fair worked well with most offenders. Of course, I had to build personal confidence and experience from the early part of my career. Suffice to say, though other challenges would come, my first six months in corrections was a very difficult time. But, having weathered that, I had the tools to continue my career. Tracy Barnhart: My pod was now full of men looking out their cell windows at me and the lunch time schedule was just around the corner. Now I had to actually let them out, I called the operations manager to see if I could resend my application, but the answer was yes it was too late, open the doors. This was a new mental concept I had to get my mind around. Civilians visualize inmates locked away and constantly behind bars, that just isn’t so. As I was opening the doors to their cells I placed myself on high alert. For the most part they did what I expected of them as they too were apprehensive about what I could do to them as a consequence for disruptive behavior. It helped that officers from their parent institutions gave my new institution a scary reputation, claiming excessive force, riot squads and 23/1 lock down with only one hour out per day in a 10 x 10 dog cage. They as well as I were feeling each other out for weaknesses and vulnerability. Our control and intimidation over the new inmates was short lived, like about another two hours. Bouchard: Our facility also had a reputation as strict. Tensions on both sides were not to remain high perpetually. I do remember the stress as it was ongoing. It did seem to be a forever proposition. But, in this “walking max” (partial segregation units, partial general population), both staff and prisoners eventually ratcheted down the pressure. Sure, incidents did spike the blood pressure of all involved. And, unfortunately, staff did get hurt. But it was not constant. And there always seemed to be enough apprehension to dispel any complacency and to maintain a healthy watchfulness. One afternoon in particular, perhaps six months into my career, I remember the feeling of being caught up with my work and not being too stressed out. I believe now that was the point that I could move from jus t keeping up to becoming more proactive in the programming aspect of my job. Looking back, it was also at that point that I started to refine and strengthen my security role in the institution. That was possible mostly because the institution had calmed down a bit or chilled out. Tracy Barnhart I had been a police officer for ten years prior to this career and I thought I knew How to talk to people. I had been involved with the criminal justice system and arrested many individuals for various crimes prior to entering the prison. But now I realized that I had never truly had to utilize any sort of real verbal de-escalation skills. I mean, sure I knew some theories, read Doctor George Thompson’s book; Verbal Judo, I thought I had a handle on things in my mind. But now, these inmates were very persistent in their manipulations and the amount of aggression involved in many of the interactions was intense. The skills I thought I had were not working in any real sense. This unavoidably lead me down the road to learning, research and eventually writing down what I learned, what worked and what didn’t work. There have been many variations, revisions and updates to what I put down on paper ending with what you see on the sight today. The stress I experienced every shift was primarily placed on me by my own beliefs. I stayed in a constant high state of readiness even if the pod was quiet because I never allowed myself to get lazy. Ultimately, I never wanted to be carried out on a stretcher. Bouchard: Self preservation is a mighty persuader! And it could be thought of a result of the unique balance between the extremes of slovenly complacency and rigid paranoia. The balance between the two, in my thinking, is very narrow on that continuum. But, it is worth it for your contribution to the overall sense of safety for staff, prisoners, and the public. And it all comes from confidence. I see confidence as another balance – one between arrogance and fear. Think of the narrow working range there – it is like if the Earth were just a few million miles out of the current orbit. That might not seem much in terms of the universe, but it makes all of the difference. It would be either unbearably hot or incomprehensibly cold. All astronomical analogies aside, balance of confidence is so important to master in the first few months. When I first started in corrections, mine was a mindset of diplomacy. That came from all of my experiences and upbringing. I knew that I had to change that in order to survive the arguments and debates from some offenders. I began to see that confident wielding of policy and procedure worked. Outside the job, I still retain that part of my personality. But, the early acquired practice of firm but fair has served me well inside the walls. So, I think that I had to adapt in order to survive. Tracy Barnhart The key to maintaining consistent institutional authority I have found that has helped me many times over the years is:
Initial contact was difficult and truthfully a bit scary. But through your determination, dedication and willingness to learn from other officers, supervisors and the very inmates you are charged with keeping you will advance and make it through. Joe lets do this again real soon, I hope officers and future officers are learning something. When we look back on the first time we had contact with offenders, we see that we have changed. Often, we reflect in shame, as most of us inevitably made some rookie mistakes. However, it behooves all staff to think in terms of how we have adapted. The first time laid the baseline for your career. It represents how you have grown as a professional and is the starting point for many successes in safety and good communications. Therefore, your first time is a period in your career to recall with some professional pride. Other "Road to Safety" articles by Bouchard and Barnhart: Visit the Joe Bouchard or the Tracy Barnhart page |
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Interesting approach to getting your experiences across- great job! It gave me time to reflect my first experiences with inmate contact in 1974-