Q: How many officers are needed for prisoner hospital transportation?
I am looking for policy information, from various agencies, regarding transporting offenders to local hospitals. The agency I work for has no set policy concerning the number officers assigned to transport offenders. Size of the transport detail is on a case by case basis. We have had misdemeanor offenders transported by two officers because of institutional behavior problems. We have also had one officer assigned to transport and guard offenders charged with murder. I would appreciate any info you can provide. My concern is officer safety and the safety of the public at large.
Response by Gary Klugiewicz, C1 Subject Matter Expert
A: Prisoner transportation to a hospital or medical clinic is an example of one of the most potentially dangerous assignments that correctional personnel undertake outside the correctional facility. As to the question of how many officers should be assigned to these hazardous assignments, the obvious answer is at least two fully armed officers for each prisoner so that the contact/cover principle can be employed. This concept has one officer staying close (the contact officer) and other officer staying slightly back (the cover officer) providing security for the contact officer from both the inmate, as well as, outside threats.
However, the safety that the contact/cover principle provide is dependent on both officers performing their respective function properly and not depending on the other officer to keep him safe. There is a reason that many experts consider the single police officer squad the safest way to patrol because the officer stays more alert since there is not another officer there that is supposed to keep him safe. This research can be translated to correctional prisoner escort and transportation. Two-officer prisoner transportation is safer than one-officer prisoner transportation – when done properly. But, complacency kills – no matter how may officers are present. Both officers must remain alert and perform their functions.
Some prisoner escorts/transportations involving high profile, high risk prisoners require even more officers. Therefore, the threat has to dictate the number of officers needed for the specific prisoner escort/transportation. On these high risk transportation requiring more than two officers, the contact officer(s) may be unarmed to prevent weapon disarming situations – especially if the prisoner has to be taken out of full restraints at a hospital or in a courtroom situation.
The number of officers needed and the type of restraints required needs to be dictated by threat assessment, policy, and training.