Day 6 of OJT

Tonight I arrived to work another OJT day at 2330, only to find out that they had changed my schedule to 1530. No big deal, said the Supervisor because I showed up for when I had originally been scheduled to work. Tonight I was a Floater which means I basically spend the night doing interior and exterior perimeter checks, serving meals in the Segregation Wing and conducting pat searches and strip searches in the booking area. Only a few days left for training, and then I will be assaulted with all sorts of overtime. I'm looking forward to it.

Day 5 of OJT

Tonight I worked the Second Shift in the Charlie/Bravo unit, which is on the men's side (Bravo) a working unit, where the inmates go out during the day and work at various jobs and return in the evening where they are stripsearched and locked in for the night. The Charlie unit, which is completely removed from the Bravo Unit is a women's unit which house women who are temporarily being held there (i.e. serving weekend sentences). A lot of running back and forth. I have one more week of jumping around on the schedules including two shifts on Third Shift, two on First Shift and then my final OJT Day on Second Shift.
I must say that this was the smartest thing I ever did, leaving IBM and taking this job. It is interesting, demanding and every single moment is different from the one before it. There is no downtime.
I went into IBM last night after work to resign from the company. My manager, who has been very supportive of this endeavor began the paperwork. It should be all done next week.

Day 4 of OJT

Sorry I didn't blog yesterday, but was very busy. Today I worked in the Close Custody Unit, which has nine cells with a total population (at capacity) of twenty-two inmates. This unit allows the residents to be out of their cells for 3 1/2 a day, and locked in for the rest. Only half the cells are open at any given time. It gets a little crazy sometimes. I did well I think, and the feedback I got back from my trainer was positive, saying I needed to practice my radio skills some more. I agree. Tomorrow, I work in the Furlough Unit and then next week I work a couple of days on Third Shift. two days on First Shift, and one on Second---then I will be moving to Second Shift for the foreseeable future.

Day 2 of OJT

A busy day today...worked in the Privileges Unit, where all the inmates have work, whether it be in the kitchen, laundry etc. It was VERY busy, with constant comings and goings of inmates going to their various jobs. This of course required almost constant logbook entries and it got a little frantic, while combined with headcounts and room inspections. Also did about four patsearches on inmates returning from art class. A challenging day, but what I expected.

First Day

Things went well today, I worked in the Echo Unit which is a Protective Custody Unit. Very quiet. I learned how to do head counts, room inspections, chow call, rec call and some radio protocol. I wrote a facsimile Incident Report for the practice and mostly just asked questions of my Field Training Officer. I think it went well.

Stickin' with the Big Man

I'm sticking with St. Michael. Nobody messes with him.

Patron Saint of Corrections Officers III

Michael the Archangel

Memorial

29 September
8 May - Apparition of Saint Michael and Protector of Cornwall

Profile

Archangel. Leader of the army of God during the Lucifer uprising. Devotion is common to Muslims, Christians and Jews with writings about him in all three cultures. Considered the guardian angel of Israel.

The feast of the Apparition of Saint Michael commemorates the 6th century appearance of the archangel on Mount Gargano near Manfredonia in southern Italy. Michael requested a church built in his honor at the site. If you find medals or holy cards with 'relics' of Michael, they are probably rock chips from the cave, or pieces of cloth that have touched it.

Born

not applicable

Died

hasn't

Canonized

Pre-Congregation

Name Meaning

Who is like God? (the battle cry of the heaven forces during the uprising)

Patronage

against temptations; ambulance drivers; artists; bakers; bankers; banking; Basey, Samar, Philippines; battle; boatmen; Brecht, Belgium; Brussels, Belgium; Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico; Caltanissett, Sicily; Castel Madama, Italy; Cerveteri, Italy; diocese of Coimbatore, India; Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel; coopers; Cornwall, England; danger at sea; Dormagen, Germany; Dunakeszi, Hungary; dying people; emergency medical technicians; EMTs; England; fencing; Germany; Greek Air Force; greengrocers; grocers; haberdashers; hatmakers; hatters; holy death; Iklin, Malta; diocese of Iligan, Philippines; knights; mariners; milleners; archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama; Naranjito, Puerto Rico; Papua, New Guinea; paramedics; paratroopers; diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida; police officers; Puebla, Mexico; radiologists; radiotherapists; sailors; diocese of San Angelo, Texas; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Sant'Angelo Romano, Italy; Saracinesco, Italy; archdiocese of Seattle, Washington; security forces; security guards; Sibenik, Croatia; sick people; Siegburg Abbey; soldiers; Spanish police officers; diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts; storms at sea; swordsmiths; Umbria, Italy; watermen; Zeitz, Germany

Prayers

Prayer I to...,
Prayer II to...,
Prayer III to...,
...for Help Against Spiritual Enemies,
Prayer V to...,
Novena Prayer to...,
Police Officer's Prayer to...
Litary to...

Representation

banner; dragon; scales; sword

Images

Saint Michael's Church, Charlestown, IN, Gallery of images and links
Gallery of images of Michael the Archangel [64 images, 1,095 kb]

Storefront

Commercial Links related to Michael the Archangel
Commercial Links related to military religious items

Additional Information

Goffine's Devout Instructions
Google Directory
Christian Biographies, by James E Kiefer
Catholic Online
The Saints, by John Coulson
Lives of the Saints, by John J Crawley
Catholic Encyclopedia
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
New Catholic Dictionary

Print References

Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints

Patron Saint of Corrections Officers II

Hippolytus of Rome

Also known as

Hippolytus of Porto; Ippolito

Memorial

13 August

Profile

Third century Roman soldier assigned to guard Christian prisoners. Converted by them to the faith. Martyred for assisting at the burial of some his martyred charges.

Due to a clerical error, Hippolytus was inadvertenly listed as two people, Hippolytus of Rome and Hippolytus of Porto, on some calendars. The second entry had the feast day of 22 August. This problem was corrected in the calendar revision of 1969.

Died

strapped to two wild horses who were then turned loose to drag him to death; collected body fragments buried along the Via Tiburtina, Rome, Italy

Name Meaning

loose horse

Patronage

Bibbiena, Italy; horses; prison guards; prison officers; prison workers

Representation

horses

Patron Saint of Corrections Officers

Adrian of Nicomedia

Also known as

Hadrian of Nicomedia

Memorial

8 September (Roman calendar); 26 August (Greek calendar)

Profile

Pagan officer and body guard at the imperial court of Nicomedia. He was so impressed by the strength and faith shown by persecuted Christians that he declared himself a Christian, though he had not even been baptized. He was immediately arrested and tortured. He and fellow prisoners were tended by his wife, Saint Natalia until they were executed.

Died

hacked to pieces on 4 March 304; body burned, but when a storm extinguished the fire his wife salvaged his hand as a relic, and took it to Argyropolis near Constantinople; other relics at Grammont (Geertsbergen), Belgium

Canonized

Pre-Congregation

Name Meaning

of Hadrian, Italy

Patronage

against plague; arms dealers; butchers; plague; plague epidemics; prison guards; soldiers

Print References

Dictionary of Saints, by John Delaney
Nuttall Encyclopaedia

First Day On The Job Tomorrow

Well, all is done and I report for duty tomorrow morning at 0730 hours. I will be doing On The Job Training for the next two weeks, and will start with a stint in the Echo unit, followed by House 1, House 2, Foxtrot and the Bravo Unit. The schedule for now will rotate between first shift (0730-1530) and second shift (1530-2330). I am looking forward to it all, of course there is a little nervousness. I believe I can do this job...only time will tell.
A piece of good news: at the graduation, the security director of my facility informed me that my employment status has been converted from Temporary to Permanent. This means pension, union membership, 401k etc. I am on my way!

Thanks

This one is for you, Dad. I miss you. I hope I made you proud.

Final test. Passed. I did it.

Took the Fire Prevention exam today…didn’t get back exact score, but definitely passed it. Then to the smokehouse…completely white with smoke, literally a three foot visibility. My partner and I began a right hand sweep which is me trailing my right hand along the wall, while my partner holds my left wrist at arm’s length and sweeps the floor with a flashlight…we found the mannequin hidden behind a barrel and I contacted the Supervisor via throatmike and informed her victim was found and the body was being brought out.

I passed. The last test.

I am now a CO.

Passed another exam...only one left!

I took an exam on Emergency Preparedness today that included information about hostage situations and prison riots and the chain of command that exists at that time. We examined the 1991 Montana State Prison Max riot that left five dead as well as other scenarios. I scored at 96 on it. Pretty good considering I missed 90 minutes of the class because I had to go back to the hospital. Tomorrow is Fire Prevention and the Smokehouse.

Diagram of Injury

For those interested, here is a chart of the muscle damage...as you can see, it is the muscle directly above the Achilles that has a slight tear in the sheath covering it. Knock on wood, it could have been much much worse.

False Alarm! All is well!!!

WRONG! WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! The orthopedic surgeon told me it was just a small tear in the sheath over the calf muscle. It will heal itself in a week or so. I did a little praying…I guess it helped.

Leg injury is in fact serious

Well it turns out that my painful left calf was in fact, potentially a partially ruptured Achilles Tendon or Cellulitis. They performed a ultrasound at the ER last night and it showed a large hematoma behind the left calf muscle. At first they thought it was a blood clot, but tests proved negative. I have no pain, I can put weight on the foot and climb stairs easily. They have me in a walking cast, and I am using crutches until I see the orthopedic surgeon today to determine my fate. I still have the smokehouse to get through. I WILL complete that. As for when I will be starting my new job, well we’ll see.

Today was Contraband and Shakedowns; scored a 100 on the Contraband exam and then participated in a four-man shakedown team, shaking down a cell with an “inmate” in it. While the other three Officers shook down the cell, I pat searched the inmate and unfortunately missed a shank he had hidden on him, due to some distraction techniques he used on me. I moved him to the door of the cell and informed him he was welcome to watch as long as he was not disruptive and he did not speak to the officers during the search.

Of course he was obnoxious, and continued to be verbally abusive whereupon I ordered him to the hallway outside of the cell. I should have removed him from the area entirely since he was argumentative and disruptive. I only stood and watched the inmate during the search in the “Interview” position, until the search was completed. One error we had was when an officer bent over in front of the inmate to examine a pile of blankets, thus becoming vulnerable to an attack by the inmate.

We then practiced the graduation ceremony a couple of times and it went well. I worked with the Trainees who have to retest on UOF on Wednesday, and we will practice tonight at 1800 hours again. They will pass, I am sure of it. I will make sure of it.

Penguin Plunge

I forgot to mention that I went home for the Penguin Plunge this weekend. Although I didn’t plunge myself this year (didn’t want to get sick with one week left in the Academy) I went down with the Elks Lodge Plungers and took pictures. A good turnout, we had about sixteen or seventeen Plungers this year.

Use Of Force Week, Day 5 & Wrapup

Sorry that I didn’t wrap up UOF Week on Friday…just wanted to get out of Dodge and go home for the weekend. We got called back to the gym at 1600 hours to run another cell extraction simulation. Quite interesting. These instructors definitely went home with some major bruises.

Well, I passed the written exam for Use Of Force with a 96. When I took the Practical, I actually failed two sections; Ground Handcuffing Position and Compliant Handcuffing. Both fails were a mere matter of adjusting my hand positions so I was either controlling the “inmate” with either a hand or the cuffs themselves. I passed both when I retested. Some others in the class were not so fortunate, so I have returned from Burlington early today in order to help them prepare for their retest on Tuesday. They really need to pass at that time. I will do what I can to assist.

Tomorrow begins the final week of this Academy. We will be covering Contraband, Searches and Emergency Preparedness. I was fitted along with the other Trainees with a SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) and we will be entering a “smokehouse” this week to find and recover a 180 pound mannequin and drag him out of the house. Should be fun.

Use Of Force, Day 4

Totally exhausted again today. We had to “pay” for someone leaving their radio at the gym by performing squats, pushups and leg lifts. Then it was rear wristlock-supported cuffings, takedowns and more hand-cuffing after that. I was handcuffed about thirty or forty times today and with my wrists, my arms were usually cranked up between my shoulder blades.
Then it was one to cell extraction simulations. I was the “shield man”, carrying a Plexiglas shield with which I pinned the inmate to the wall while my wingmen pinned his arms to the wall. On the next simulation, I was “leftwing” and captured the inmate’s right arm in a front wristlock, and he sent me flying out of the cell. Very tough day. Cuts and bruises everywhere. Bloody knees, wrists are all chopped up from handcuffing, matburn on my forehead and generally had the **** beaten out of me all day. Written exam on Use of Force at 0830, then practical exam where I have to demonstrate all the various locks and handcuffing techniques. Very tired. Discouraged. But only one more week.

I’ll make it.

Graduation Practice

We practiced for our graduation last night…lots of “about-faces” and “ten-huts”. For someone who was never in the military, it is difficult, but I look forward to wearing the gray.

Use Of Force, Day 3 (Part II)

Wow. I am truly at a loss for words. All I can say, is that if a police officer orders you to do something and tells you that you will be sprayed if you do not comply---COMPLY. A truly agonizing experience. First, they lined up three of us and ordered us to close our eyes. At that point, they deployed the OC spray and ordered us to wait for five seconds and then open our eyes. We then moved forward with a set of handcuffs to cuff another Trainee who was in the compliant position (leaning forward with arms behind him with thumbs up). Then we were assisted by another Trainee to a PVC pipe with holes drilled in pumping water upwards, where we rinsed our eyes continually for two or three minutes. Your nose runs continually and you also weep uncontrollably. For some, the addition of dry-heaving and vomiting added to the carnival-like atmosphere which included ten or twelve zombie-like figures staggering around the vicinity prying their eyes open with their fingers while mucous and tears stream down their faces. A glorious afternoon indeed.

By the way, we had two more resignations today, Eighteen left, with seven days left in the Academy.

Use Of Force, Day 3 (Part I)

We finished up the morning session with a lecture and an exam on the use of OC, scored a 100. At 12:30 today, I get sprayed. Took all sorts of advice from previous spray recipients such as drinking milk (expectorant) and keeping my hands at my sides and do not rub my face. Pictures will be taken, so stand by for those.

Use Of Force, Day 2

An exhausting day today…out of the classroom and into the gym. Today we practiced compliant and non-compliant escorts, front and rear wristlocks, handcuffing compliant inmates both standing and kneeling, high, medium and low blocks, palm heel strikes, knee strikes, edge-fist, horizontal forearm blocks, outside blocks, middle blocks, shin rake kick, front kicks and other techniques. My wrists are all black and blue from handcuffing practice and we finished this most delightful day by a nine-station course where we used each technique for fifteen seconds without stopping and then ran to the next station.

Tomorrow we get pepper sprayed. Many people here who have experienced firsthand tell me that they would rather be tasered than go through pepper spray again. The plan is to get sprayed, then you will be escorted by someone to an “inmate” where you will perform a compliant handcuffing action on them. This is all before the pepper spray is rinsed out of your eyes. Should be a lot of fun.

Use Of Force, Day 1

Use of Force started today, and we got right into it. Of course, I won’t be able to get into a lot of details as to the exact things we learned, but we discussed when force may be used, prohibitions on the use of course, levels and types of force, potential for deadly force, perception factors, special circumstances that mitigate use of force, the use of force continuum, how to handle pregnant inmates, disabled, infirm or injured inmates, SMI (seriously mentally ill), pre-attack cues, sucker punch indicators, officer’s body language,Vermont Law, the Civil Rights Act, Qualified Immunity, Case Law Hierarchy.

And so New York explodes...

Not a big fan of either team, but I will say that a lot of my friends are Giants fans so congrats…and I don’t mind seeing the “invincible” Patriots go down in flames.

Curriculum

OK, here’s the curriculum this week:

Use of Force
Cell Extraction Protocol
Use of Foreign Agents
Use of Restraints
Searches
Oleoresin Capsicum (Pepperspray)
Escapes
Emergency Preparedness

Use Of Force Begins...NOW

Tomorrow morning begins the most difficult week at this Academy...Use of Force. I start the day off with stretching at 6am, and then to class where we will cover restraints, takedown, cell extraction and on Wednesday, I will be sprayed in the face with "O.C." (oleoresin capsicum). Apparently, we use a 10% concentration, while the military uses a 22% concentration. Pepper spray (also known as OC spray (from "Oleoresin Capsicum"), OC gas, capsicum spray, or oleoresin capsicum) is a lachrymatory agent (a chemical compound that irritates the eyes to cause tears, pain, and even temporary blindness) that is used in riot control, crowd control, and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears. It is a non-lethal agent that can be deadly in rare cases. The American Civil Liberties Union documented fourteen fatalities from the use of pepper spray as of 1995.[1] The active ingredient in pepper spray is capsaicin, which is a chemical derived from the fruit of plants in the Capsicum genus, including chiles. Long-term effects of pepper spray have not been effectively researched. The HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) method is used to measure the amount of capsaicin within pepper sprays. Scoville Heat Units (SHU) are used to measure the hotness of pepper spray. A synthetic analogue of capsaicin, pelargonic acid vanillylamide (desmethyldihydrocapsaicin), is used in another version of pepper spray known as PAVA spray which is used in England. Another synthetic counterpart of pepper spray, pelargonic acid morpholide, was developed and is widely used in Russia. Its effectiveness compared to natural pepper spray is unclear and it has caused some injuries. Pepper spray typically comes in canisters, which are often small enough to be carried or concealed in a pocket or purse. Pepper spray can also be bought concealed in items such as rings. There are also pepper spray projectiles available, which can be fired from a paintball gun. Having been used for years against demonstrators [2], it is increasingly being used by police in routine interventions.[3]