Speaker 0    00:00:00    Exercise 1, 2, 3, 4.  

Michael Cantrell    00:00:10    Running a podcast takes a lot of time and running a good one takes even more. You know, I've been asked quite a bit with emails and, uh, people have approached me to provide more content, but with my schedule as an instructor and the writing that I do, and of course trying just to edit, record and schedule guests for this podcast, I'm just, I haven't had much time. Um, there's been a lot of interest from schools and academies and agencies, uh, who've told me that they really enjoy some of the basic correctional officer subjects that we've covered on here. So in order to try to provide more content and provide more episodes on, on those skills that correctional rookies need, uh, the Prison Officer Podcast will begin publishing short, uh, 10 to 15 minute skill-based episodes. I may go a little longer on some, but I'm gonna shoot for 10 to 15 minutes and we're gonna produce those on the off weeks.  

Michael Cantrell    00:01:06    Right now I have episodes every other week, usually on Monday, and those full episodes will continue, but these episodes will be released on Mondays in between the full episodes. I'm gonna call these the basics, the Correctional Basics, and you know, there's gonna be about 10 episodes that will cover some of the things that, that you first need to know when you walk into prison. So, um, this content will be free, just like the podcast, no subscription, nothing to join, although if you really like what we do, uh, I would love for you to, uh, you know, click on the donate and buy me a cup of coffee or go to www the prison officer.com and you can click on the links that'll take you to the store or buy one of the books, correctional books off Amazon. We get a few cents when those sell.  

Michael Cantrell    00:01:54    So let's get started on some basic training. Hello and welcome to the basics episode one. The first subject I want to tackle is, well, it's the one everyone should do well, counting inmates. And I know, I know, uh, that sounds simple, but as I'm gonna help you see in this episode is it's probably more important than you realize and being done improperly more than you know. So how important is counts? Well, I was told very early on that if you don't do anything else right, that you should count correctly. And I took that to heart. Our whole job, our whole career, is ensuring that those inmates stay inside the fence and so that they can't hurt the public. You know, societies determined that they shouldn't be out there, they shouldn't be in contact with society. And my job is to keep 'em in the fence.  

Michael Cantrell    00:02:48    And the only way I can make sure that they are in the fence is to count 'em. And we do that several times a day. I know different agencies, um, uh, do it at, at different times. Uh, with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, uh, we did it midnight, three and five was the ones overnight. And then during the day we would usually do, um, a 10:00 AM count on the weekends, and then a four o'clock standup count, and then at 9:00 PM standup count. Now we did census counts in between there, and that was a time for the officers to walk through the unit and do a brief count of who was in their unit, not only to ensure that, you know, the inmates that were supposed to be there were there, but to look around and make sure that inmates that weren't supposed to be on that unit weren't hanging around doing something.  

Michael Cantrell    00:03:41    So, um, those were called census counts, but we had those standup counts and the standup official counts at midnight three and five, and then, um, 4:00 PM 9:00 PM and on weekends there was a 10:00 AM one. And so that's what I was used to. I always took counting very seriously, and I know there were people who just kind of walked through and lollygagging and looking in the cell a little bit. But there's some very serious things that we're supposed to be doing when we walk down that tier. And as you walk down that tier, you need to actually stop. You can't do a good count going at full speed down that tier. And if you don't stop, you should at least slow down a lot so that you can look in each one of those windows so that you can get a feel for the cell.  

Michael Cantrell    00:04:27    Because you're not only looking that there's somebody in there or something that appears to be somebody you know, they can, has been evidence in the past. And it's happened many times where inmates have made dummies and put those in the bed and people have walked by and counted those for many counts. So when we walk by there, we're looking in that cell for several things. One, we're looking to make sure that that inmate is alive and on standing counts. That should be real easy. Now, I've worked a lot of places and I understand and have seen where people don't enforce standing count. I even worked at a, uh, a medical center. I've got guys with, you know, missing both legs and or guys that are bedridden. Um, so how do you do a standing count there? Well, the thing I required, if you could stand, you should stand in your cell and you weren't allowed to stand and look out the back window or something like that.  

Michael Cantrell    00:05:23    You stood in your cell, you faced the window so that I could do eye to eye contact with you. There's people that believe you can look for chest rise and that's good enough. And, uh, for me, a standing count, I want to see their eyes. I want to see that they're there and, um, have that nonverbal communication with them, I guess. So now, if it's a guy that's bedridden if it's a guy that has no legs, that's fine. They don't necessarily have to stand, but they're gonna make eye contact with me. I'm gonna know that they're, they're alive and they're well inside that cell. This is also a good time for me to look around that cell. And I'm always on, you know, the alert, uh, paying attention for unusual things in the cell. You know, somebody making rope, somebody, um, you know, bags where you see fruit or stuff laying out on the bunk.  

Michael Cantrell    00:06:17    This is a good time to see that. Cuz sometimes, um, the, when everybody's locked in, that's the inmates will take that time to work on whatever nefarious or uh, wrong thing that they may be doing. So, but we do that count, we take our time, we walk the entire length of the walk. Um, when I get to the end, then I'm gonna stop and I'm gonna turn around and I'm gonna watch the, the walk and then I'm gonna have the other officer come behind me and now he's gonna count while I make sure nobody moves. Now, here I'm talking about a locked unit, but the same thing works in, if you've got an open bay unit, you don't walk together to do the count, you should walk to the end of that um, area. You do your count and then you turn around and make sure that nobody's moving while the other officer does their count.  

Michael Cantrell    00:07:11    And when you get to the end, then you're gonna compare whether it be that cell that range, that, uh, whatever it is you're counting. So for official counts, that's, that's the way we want to do it. Uh, we wanna make sure that nobody's moving and that we have counted everybody as a live breathing body. And on a standing count, we want to ensure that those inmates are standing, that they're paying attention to you. The most important thing for me during the day is account. And I always, I don't know, express that to the inmates too. I would not allow them to make count into something that wasn't important. So it was important for them too. If they wanted the privileges, if they wanted to come out of those cells on time, if they wanted rec that day, whatever it was, then I was going to get a good solid count.  

Michael Cantrell    00:08:03    I didn't ask for much out of them, a clean cell and a and for them to pay attention during count time, you know, were my two biggest things when I worked. Another thing I, I want to talk about, and one thing that we don't allow during count, and you'll have inmates do it and that's distractions during count, there should be no distractions during count. The only thing that's gonna stop you from doing your count is if you have an emergency. If you're walking the count and you see somebody hanging or you see a fight, you see something like that, that's gonna stop your count. But we're not gonna stop and talk to inmates. Uh, inmates will do this quite a bit, especially in places where counts aren't taken seriously. Um, the reason they want to do this of course, is some form of manipulation. They're trying to get your attention, they're trying to, uh, keep your mind off what you're doing.  

Michael Cantrell    00:08:52    And while that's happening, while you're paying attention to them, something else is going on. Somebody's moving contraband, maybe somebody's moving cells to cover for another inmate. So this is something that we don't want to allow while we're doing counts. Another thing that we won't allow during counts is movement of any kind. Um, now standup counts and you're in an open bay. They stand up next to their, their bunk and they're assigned spot and they stand there and wait for you to pass and then wait for the other officer to pass. There is no movement during that time. They're not getting in and out of their locker, they're not making their bed, they're not doing any of that. The most important thing during that count time is count. And you need to enforce it that way. If you set up your housing unit and you enforce it that way and you do it that way every day along with the other officers, which is sometimes the tough part, you have to, you know, uh, show your leadership sometimes and bring everybody on the same sheet of paper because all three shifts, if you get to doing that count the correct way and you do it that way every time, it's gonna go by quick, it's gonna be accurate.  

Michael Cantrell    00:10:02    You're not gonna have mistakes, you're not gonna have problems. And you're gonna know at the end of the count, of course, what are you looking for that all the inmates are there. And you're gonna know that. You're not gonna have to wonder that, well, did I get that? Did I miss something? Because you're doing these counts correctly. So don't allow any movement during the count. So what do you do if you find somebody in your area during count that's not supposed to be there? What do you, how do you handle that? The first thing you're gonna do is secure that person and you're gonna secure them in a cell or an area rec cage, something, but you're gonna secure them in an area where you're at. Once you've done that, you need to call control center because control center and your supervisor need to know where this inmate's at.  

Michael Cantrell    00:10:51    There may be people in the housing unit he's supposed to be in, uh, looking for him. This may be a clue that more is going on. He may be a distraction while somebody else is attempting an escape. And if you'll look back through, uh, you know, stories and histories of, of escapes over the years, that often happens where somebody will cause that distraction or have a fight. And while all this is going on and while staff are going to that area trying to fix this and um, you've got somebody else trying to go over the wall at the same time cuz everybody's focus is on, what's going on is on the distraction. So first thing we wanna do, secure 'em, we want to call control. You want to notify your supervisor and then that inmate is never allowed to move from where they're at to where they're going without officer escort during count.  

Michael Cantrell    00:11:47    We don't open the door and say, Hey, go over to that housing unit because too many things can happen between here and there. So there's gonna be an officer escort that inmate from one point to another if you found them in the wrong place and follow up with disciplinary if, if they are not supposed to be where they're at. Accidents don't happen like that. And I've told rookies this before, inmates know where they're at in a prison at all times. Now they're gonna try to convince you that, oh, I was confused or I didn't know, you know, where I went and I stepped into out of bounds or I thought I was in the other housing unit. And that's just not true. That's just plain old manipulation. Uh, because inmates are very aware 24 7 where they're at inside that prison. Not necessarily because of us but because of the other inmates and because of territories and fights that can happen and problems that they can cause with the other inmates.  

Michael Cantrell    00:12:46    So don't let 'em tell you though, I accidentally ended up on your unit. No, if you found someone out of bounds, if you found someone in the wrong unit during count, this needs to be looked into. Um, because something's going on, manipulation is happening at some level. So that's the basics of count and the things that I think are really need to be highlighted for a newer officer when they count. Let me talk a little bit about counting at night. So like I said, with the Bureau of Prisons and many other agencies are the same way. Um, we had counts at midnight three and five. So why are the counts closer together then? Well, because more escapes happen at night. There's fewer staff, less staff are aware of what's going on with the individual inmates cuz we're only checking on 'em usually every 30 minutes.  

Michael Cantrell    00:13:37    So we do more counts. But on those nighttime counts, um, you've got a couple of things that you need to worry about. One is, are you counting a living, breathing inmate? And where I come from, that's part of policy and that's always been, uh, a little bit of a contention. How can I count a living breathing inmate? How do I know that? Do I have to stand there and look for the chest rise? Well, a few of the things that we're gonna look for is can you see skin? Don't allow inmates to cover up completely. If they do, then you're gonna have to wake 'em up, say, Hey, pull your blanket down. They cannot cover up completely. You've got to see skin. And for the most part, humans are able to recognize skin over things that might be made to Aiden and escape like plaster, a Paris and you know, maybe a mask made out of that kind of stuff.  

Michael Cantrell    00:14:32    So, um, we want to see skin and get their hand out, get their, uh, their face is gonna be out always. I wanna see their face. A lot of 'em, you'll see 'em, they'll wear their stocking cap and they wanna pull it up close, that's fine, but you're gonna leave your face out where I can see it and if not, then I'm going to have to wake 'em up. Now the inmate that does what he's supposed to, he's not covered up completely. He's there where I can see that he's a living, breathing body. Um, I'm gonna do my best not to shine the light right on their eyes or right on their face. Um, there's no need for that unless we have to do that. You can shine your flashlight into the cell and look in the edge of the light and see that that inmate's there.  

Michael Cantrell    00:15:15    He's living, he's breathing. We don't have to shine our flashlight directly in the eyes of the inmate every two hours when we're doing those midnight counts. So, so one more thing I'll mention about doing those midnight counts is always trust your gut. When you're doing those counts, you go through there, you're shining that flashlight. If you see something that looks out of the ordinary that makes your, you know, deep down your gut, you seem, well that doesn't seem right. Maybe you see someone's arm that's at a strange angle. I'm gonna check that out. Yes, it might, uh, cause a little bit of a problem initially, but I wanna make sure that I am counting a person that I don't have a bunch of pillows and blankets and stuff shoved up under, you know, those sheets making it look like a human body's there. So if something doesn't look right, if it looks contorted, if it looks off color, um, that's something you want to go ahead and investigate further.  

Michael Cantrell    00:16:10    And I'm gonna say one more thing, right, while we're talking about, you know, making dummies and stuff like this, and we'll talk more about this in some follow up episodes, but contraband, if you take a look at, at 90% of the escapes where they used dummies and they put stuff in the bed in order to make it look like somebody was laying there, there was too much state property or or agency property allowed in that cell. They had multiple sheets, they were able to go and get, um, paint and and plaster a Paris and, and all this stuff. And it comes down to contraband and it comes down to good searches. If we limit that stuff, you're not giving them the opportunity to make those dummies. So that's just a little bit of an afterthought. I think that covers counts pretty good. And the, and the high points that I wanted to hit, just make sure that you're, you're doing count and that you're taking it serious and that not only that you take it serious, but that you have your inmates take it serious.  

Michael Cantrell    00:17:12    And if everybody does this, we're gonna have fewer problems. And I guess the final thing is just, and I hate to say this, but you cannot skip, don't do paper counts. And I guess I was naive. I I truly was naive for many years. Uh, I was told and I was shown how to do counts when I came into the agencies and when I got promoted to lieutenant, they had a camera system that showed if there was movement on a unit and one of the lieutenants was showing me how to use that and giving me my first access to the camera system. And so, so I'm going through there and I'm taking a look and I see a unit where the little red bars show that there's been no movement for several hours. And this was between midnight and uh, I think five in the morning or something.  

Michael Cantrell    00:18:02    So I asked my, my senior lieutenant, I said, step over here, take a look at this. Uh, what is this? He said, well go back and look at the cameras and I I can still right now talking about it, I can feel, uh, my heart just dropped cuz I did not know that there were people who absolutely did paper counts. And when I went back and viewed that camera, not only an officer, but a nurse who was supposed to come over and help with count, both signed two count slips and never once walked on the unit for two counts on midnights. And not only are you putting yourself in a situation where if that escape happens or somebody dies or something happens, you're putting yourself in a liability situation and administrative discipline situation. But think of who else you're putting in danger during escapes. People get hurt, you know?  

Michael Cantrell    00:18:58    And if it's not the people that are trying to prevent it, the officers that work with you, it's, if it's not them preventing that escape, think about the society on the outside. You know, those escapees, they're, they're criminals and they don't care who they hurt. It's so important that we ensure that they stay in, we have one job and that's to make sure those inmates stay inside the fence. So I guess I'm gonna end this with, just make sure you do your counts. Make sure you do them right. It is such an important part of what we do in our prisons, in our jails, in our correctional centers. Until the next episode, have a great day.  

Speaker 0    00:00:00    Exercise 1, 2, 3, 4.