Officers Outnumbered, Inmates Unpredictable
Tracy E. Barnhart & Gary F. Cornelius
So how do we do it? Now, I am not a psychologist but the following is what I see as powers that officers use to maintain order over inmates everyday in their units. Maintaining a secure environment in prisons and jails often consists of an uneasy cooperation between the inmates and correctional officers. In addition, having a strong leadership structure supporting line officers results in a more effective and organized institution. Strong leadership in the administration can enable services to be dispensed to inmates, allow correctional facilities to be properly supervised, and minimize the level of violence within the institution. There are some factors that contribute to strong facility unit leadership. These include the officers having enough quality training and time on the job to fully understand the agency’s proposed policies and then implement those policies. Officers play a hands-on role within the institution and common practices that consider the officers’ needs are critically important. Read more…
One doesn’t have to look far to find the destructive side of the mob mentality. In fact, your head would have to be buried in the sand to miss it. There have been Ku Klux Klan lynching’s, Soccer-stadium trampling, Woodstock II, and the L.A. riots. Clearly, mobs have great potential for doing harm especially within our institutions. This may be one of the best reasons for individuals to join a prison gang once they’re incarcerated. The first impression and vision of prison to most people is a scary mental picture establishing fear. Understand that most people in a state of fear tend to congregate together for protection and security, hence the prison gang. Think to yourself that you are the new inmate and you have stepped onto the yard for the first time. Where do you go? With whom do you align? You will congregate and align with individuals whom you feel are like yourself. 
For professionals and I mean those whose job it is to say “No” to violent people this understanding defines the game he’s playing. This gives you a much wider variety of response options. Sometimes what the person wants is flat-out unacceptable and you will have to use force, perhaps extreme force in order to stop him. On the other hand, often you will be able to avoid a situation from becoming physically violent by working with the person to achieve an outcome that is acceptable to both of you. 
When you first start working in a juvenile correctional environment, you get hit with a culture shock. You realize that the inmates are not always locked in their cells, and they get more than bread and water to eat. Your preconceived notions of what privileges inmates should and should not have are challenged. It’s at this point many correctional staff asks themselves, “What have I gotten myself into?” Maybe you’ve asked yourself that today. In that case, a little understanding goes a long way in helping corrections officers keep their perspective and cool. Keeping your cool is particularly important with juvenile inmates, who, like most kids, are likely to test authority figures to the limits. Many of these kids come from extreme hardship and have seldom internalized boundaries or rules. So, in order to effectively communicate expectations in a juvenile correctional facility, we must first understand the reasons behind the aggression that is, what sets juvenile inmates off. 
As the Crips grew in South Central Los Angeles in the early 1970s they began targeting other gangs. It was during this time of conflict that several gangs joined forces to combat the growing Crip threat. The most well known gang within this group was the Piru Street Boys. They lead the revolt against the Crips and were instrumental in creating the Bloods gang in 1972. During the next 10-years the Bloods continued to operate and grow in a fragmented manner. Conflict with the Crips continued and the Bloods found themselves heavily outnumbered. 
A gang is an organization, association or group of three or more persons that has as one of its primary activities the commission of one or more particular criminal offenses, with a common name, identifying signs and symbols or other common characteristics, whose members individually or collectively engage in a pattern of criminal activity or provide support for members who do commit crimes. 
An officer, who is well liked and respected by his peers, returns from a well deserved break at 0230. The malicious darkness looms of what seems like an ordinary and routine third shift in the facility. But for him it’s a restless night and he knows that time will continue to drag. He wonders if his shift will end uneventful and after only eight hours or if he will be mandated to work first shift. He remembers the day an operational manager once told him that he was going to go places within the department. As quickly as the promise of his big promotional chance came, it vanished just a fast. Politics, idle talk, becoming a union activist, and not knowing who the resourceful players are has sent him down another path. In the darkness of a lonely midnight shift that leads to nowhere, he contemplates his current situation, his future. It is then that the exhaustion overwhelms him and even though he is comfortable, he begins to sweat. 
In the past I have been fairly critical of the supervision I have seen within the law enforcement and correctional community. I have given very graphics examples and descriptions of the poor efforts being applied by many managers in all aspects of the administrative roles of our agencies. And yet I have been given an opportunity to offer a solution to the problems administrators of today as well as the supervisors of tomorrow will experience. An action plans so to speak, a detailed roadmap to deal with change and how to become a better decision maker and a leader whom your officers will want to follow and excel for. They will sacrifice and extend loyalty and they will grow and develop. 
“Lions for Lambs,” stems from an expression that German soldiers used in referring to their British counterparts during World War One. Admiring the bravery of the English infantry while condemning the idiocy of their superiors, the Germans would remark “Never before have such lions been led by such lambs.”