Term Paper on "Arizon Department of Corrections Morey Unit 2004"

Term Paper 5 pages (2200 words) Sources: 3 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Arizon Department of Corrections Morey Unit 2004 hostage situation

2004 Hostage Situation

Hostage taking or any other crisis can be envisioned and contingency planning and crisis planning can be created and planned in advance so as to get the optimum results at the smallest possible time. There e are two problems in the hostage issue, one pertaining to the poor quality and experience of the staff, and the poor prison system. By correcting some of the drawbacks and also by creating a crisis plan the incidents like the prison stand off could be mitigated or even avoided.

The Incident in Brief on Sunday January 18, 2004, Two prison detainees Ricky K. Wassenaar, with a conviction of 26 years and Steven J. Coy, a lifer took hostages and made an attempt to escape from the Morey Unit of the Lewis Prison Complex at Buckeye, Arizona. The Morey Unit is designed to hold 800 prisoners while at the time of the event it was filled with 840 prisoners. There are facilities for the segregation of dangerous and violent prisoners. One hundred prisoners were convicted for life. It is the largest number of such dangerous inmates in any prison of Arizona. Ricky K. Wassenaar, and Steven J. Coy took two correctional officers on duty using palavers as weapons and managed to breach the security system using the officers uniforms to gain entry into the weapons store and thus armed took control of the tower from where for fifteen days they had held the officers hostage and also caused a long drawn out negotiation and stand off for fifteen days which is the biggest in the history of the country. The negotiations and actions resulted in a surrender and unharmed release of the hostages although at the time of the attempt some officers did get injured. ("The Morey Unit Hostage Incident," 2004)

We have to remember that the prison housed more than one hundred dangerous prisoners and the security system still was such that two convicts could hold two officers to ransom and then continue to go into the control area with simple weapons and thus create a hostage situation. The problem mostly stems from human negligence of established procedures or in implementing the proper security measures as required. The unfolding of events as reported by the reports presented and the contemporary news shows that there was practically little resistance to the attempt, and secondly there was a situation where the convicts could get at the radio codes, security check routine and even use the alarm to their favour. These observations show that the system design in terms of the physical, personnel and the procedural structures were faulty. Of course after the incident the system may have been corrected, and the longest stand off perhaps served the purpose of strengthening prison security all over the state. The long arm of justice took in the inmates who staged the kidnapping and the two inmates Ricky Wassenaar, was later tried and pronounced guilty of offences like "kidnapping, sexual assault and aggravated assault" and was sentenced to sixteen life sentences and an additional thirty seven years in prison. He is incarcerated at the Ohio State Prison. Steven Coy who pleaded guilty to the charges has seven life sentences at the maximum-security prison in Maine. The sentences were awarded on 18th January 2005. ("From Her Desk," n. d.)

Analysis of the incident

In analyzing the flaws and the handling of the episode, which is the longest standoff to occur in a prison so far, the issues that were considered by the report of the Governor's office fall into these main categories: The events that led to and the process of taking hostages, Response of the DOC; Issues regarding the security at various facilities of the prison, the defense planning, and procedure for emergency, Negotiation and other activities and the action plan in contingencies. This method of analysis of the events and the drawbacks noticed at each stage ought to give a preliminary idea of how the process could have been handled or even avoided through the use of contingency plans and proper use of the negotiation process. ("The Morey Unit Hostage Incident," 2004)

The Prison system and preparedness

The problem of Arizona's prisons, were discussed in 2004 after the hostage incident and the interviews to the press highlighted the problems that the prison officials faced which shows one of the major reason why the abduction occurred. One problem is the employees of the prison who are or were at that time underpaid and over worked. There was a very poor turn over rate of correctional-officers and therefore the prison was manned by inexperienced and underpaid staff. Following the abduction and stand off, the Blue Ribbon panel assembled by Gov. Janet Napolitano issued a statement which indicated that there was complacency in the functioning and lack of awareness. The answer to this was that the pay was not in proportion to the work load. It was felt that increasing pay was one of the important things in avoiding such occurrences. Simultaneously a budget deficit had forced the Arizona Legislature to direct the reduction of staff to ten percent of the requirement. There were over nine hundred vacant posts for correctional officers. On the day of the prison break of the twenty on duty fourteen officers were inexperienced or with one years experience. The recommendations given by the blue ribbon panel to increase training provide better pay, weapons, and more staff will have to be implemented. This news review shows some of the problems that were prevalent at the time of the attempt within the institution. (Garrett, 2004)

The Drawbacks

It was found by the committee that enquired into the incident that there was not even a simple distress signal system and the inmates had gathered knowledge on communication and radio codes. A distress signal system was recommended to be ensured. Similarly the system of alerting individual distress like in the event of a personal attack - 'a man down alarm' was not available and no such procedure was established. The report confirmed that the "Correctional officers lacked situational awareness." ("The Morey Unit Hostage Incident," n. d.) the agencies involved in the negotiation process have not practiced negotiation tactics and are not trained extensively. In other words, the report pointed out faults that were inherent in the system, like understaffing, poor infrastructure and lack of emergency material, and further pointed out the second flaw in the human element that manned the system. Thus we see that so far as the prison is concerned.

The mitigation and avoidance

One of the key element in avoiding the hostage drama that took place in the prison, and even if such an attempt was made, mitigate the time and loss is by being aware of all the potential threats that could emanate from the various factors like inmates, guards, carelessness and oversight. The main thing is therefore to be aware of all the possibilities that can occur. To be 'forewarned' is considered to be 'forearmed'. (Corcoran; Cawood, 2003) the analysis of such a situation must take into account the involvement and participation of the victims. The important fact that we have to note, especially in the case of dangerous and often stressed filled situations like a prison camp where dangerous persons are hosed is that the authorities, while dealing with instigators, the critical component toward mapping and understanding the potential threats and the situation in context will have also to take in the victims' state of mind, physical condition and the emotional balance. Understanding the situation between the victims and the perpetrator will help understand how to raise or lower the risk factors. The assessor of the situation must therefore make this assessment because more there is a personal relation the stronger is the tendency for violence. Another question is how the victims perceived their roles. (Corcoran; Cawood, 2003)

In the incident we find that the officers did not exhibit a high degree of alertness and gave in to the two prisoners very easily. While it is laudable that the crisis ended without loss of life and blood shed, we have to remember that the negotiation took a long time and virtually got the state on a stand still situation. This could have been avoided if the officers received better training and are armed with fore thought and always put on alert. In such situations where there is a dealing with dangerous persons, like terrorists who hijack a plane, or dangerous prisoners in maximum security prisons, there must be a classification and demarcation in dealing with individual types and a study of the character and behaviour. (Carter; Glaser, 1977)

There are generally two perspectives on the violence possibilities in prisons. One is the identification of potential detainees who may be violent. They are likely to create situations by the disposition they have. These persons can be identified and observed with care. The second type of violent behaviour and unrest is caused by… READ MORE

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