By C1 Staff
ELLSWORTH, Kan. — Ellsworth Correctional Facility officers trained with the Kansas Army National Guard to quell a simulated inmate uprising at the prison during an exercise on Sept. 24.
DVIDS reports that the exercise was sponsored by the Kansas Department of Corrections. Together, the military and corrections officers practiced airborne tactical response to a crisis within prison grounds.
The goal was to improve communication and teamwork between command structures.
Two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, piloted by soldiers, flew to Ellsworth to pick up and then aerially insert the Special Operations Response Teams, comprised of 36 Ellsworth corrections officers into the facility to suppress a crowd of unruly inmates played by prison staff.
This isn’t the first time the ARNG and the Ellsworth facility have teamed up: over the past 20 years, the two organizations have run many training scenarios, including another airborne exercise in 2009.
“We’re the only [correctional] special operations team in Kansas that works with the military,” said Capt. Troy Frimmel, commander of the SORT.
Putting boots on the ground is the objective, and Frimmel said response time is greatly reduced with the use of helicopters. Aircraft may provide the only access inside a compromised facility once the entry and exit points are overtaken.
This type of airborne mission was a first for many members of the SORT.
“I was a little nervous,” said Chris Dean, a staff sergeant at the prison who had never flown in a helicopter before. “But this exercise is something more SORT members look forward to and once I got up in the air all the butterflies were out.”
The deputy warden of the facility, Marty Sauers, praised the ARNG, and said it was valuable to know they had the Guard at their backs in the event of a really bad situation.