Foundations

Idioms provide wonderful expressions that explain common human behaviors. For example, “Can’t see the forest for the trees” means someone who does not always see the larger perspective because they are focused on the minutiae. I believe that any one of us at one time or another in our career can’t see the forest for the trees.

Still, detail-oriented staff help keep our facilities safe.  They pinpoint problems in operation through intense scrutiny.  They find little anomalies that are really the tip of the iceberg of larger perils.  Without meticulous colleagues, many dangers can be overlooked. 

Sometimes, though, certain details are not the crucial points.  In other words, too much focus can be poured into the wrong vessel.  Read more…

joebouchard Contraband Control

We hear a lot of stories from the Cold War era.  Did you hear the one about the guy who walked past a check point each day with a wheelbarrow full of dirt?  Every day, rain or shine, like clockwork at 0600, he would approach the check point. 

Assuming the position, he would watch passively as the officer at the entry station shoveled through the dirt.  Though he looked every day, the officer never found contraband. Each day at 1730 (again, like clockwork) the worker would return through the gates with nothing in hand.  A search of his person by the same officer revealed nothing.  Read more…

joebouchard Contraband Control

It seems that we ascend an endless set of steps in the pursuit of safety.  Contraband is a common menace in prisons.  It will exist as long as there is incarceration.  It is a never-ending proposition.

But an established contraband lord is not free of pressures to maintain an empire of illicit trade.  There are three threats to contraband empires, they are competing prisoners, corrupt staff, and professional staff. Understanding the structure and motives of these three groups will help foster safety for all in correctional facilities.

 Which would you choose as the lesser of two evils? Would you select the
 persistent and efficient criminal whose methods you know? Read more…

joebouchard Contraband Control

Recently, I was invited to speak in Virginia on the topic of contraband control.  It was a fantastic experiene. I met fascinating jail professionals and enjoyed a location that was new to me.  And while I cannot fully share the actual tourist attractions or cuisine with you through the written word, I can offer you a part of the conference. 

At the conclusion of “Wake up and Smell the Contraband”, there were many who volunteered to offer answers for a survey.  Their answers follow: Read more…

joebouchard Contraband Control

Q. What has three legs but usually uses just two of them?

A. Most contraband control systems.

Consider the steady flow of contraband. It is seemingly as unstoppable as a widespread infestation. As corrections professionals, we can readily recognize that the dangers of the unofficial economy are very real.  Each of us, as an agent of stability, battle to level this playing field through the elimination of contraband.  By doing so, we work towards the ideal of achieving greater security for staff, offenders, and the public. Read more…

joebouchard Contraband Control

Any seasoned corrections professional knows that contraband equals power.  Even if it is not overtly or obviously a weapon, any item still can be traded.  Trading dynamic may be the catalyst of violence between competing individuals or groups. In short, the barter of forbidden items and services is the foundation of chaos. 

Judging a book by its cover, the title of this essay would seem to be a review of works about contraband.  But, as in corrections, the true nature of things may not be apparent at first glance.  The following is about the nuts and bolts of items found in book, or if you wish, literature. It is a fact that contraband can be hidden almost anywhere.  However, the library is a prime location to conceal and move bootleg. Read more…

joebouchard Contraband Control

The fight against contraband is perpetual.  Slowing the inevitable tide is like sweeping the ocean back with a push broom.  Your forward momentum in attacking the pervasive problem is tediously slow.  You feel like you are trying to navigate a tricycle through a sand dune.

Like any facility through history, the one at which you work is full of contraband.  Inmate ingenuity seems to strip the potency of staff experience and diligence.  You recognize the potential peril in every bootleg transaction. 

Do you declare contraband control futile? Read more…

joebouchard Contraband Control, Security

The stage was set.  The class was divided into two competitive teams.  Each team was provided with a sock and a small metal container filled with mints [i]

In a purposely vague manner, I told them that the sock and the tin of mints were all that they could use to construct a weapon (or weapons).  They had fifteen minutes to complete their task. 

The only other rule was that they had to conceal their work whenever I was within arm’s length of their work area.  As I “made rounds”, the students were very creative in camouflaging, making distractions, and keeping me oblivious of their craftsmanship.

While making a round to the team that dubbed themselves “The Average Joes”, I was knocked off my square (albeit briefly) by what I saw.  Read more…

joebouchard Contraband Control, Training, What the...?!?

When a major contraband item is found, there is one less bargaining tool or weapon taken out of the loop.  But, that is just one benefit of the process.   There is a conceptual dimension. We don’t usually look at the other gains that effective control of illicit barter produces. 

They are not as obvious as removing a dangerous item from the playing field.  They can be grouped into five categories.  They are benefits to security, staff unity, prisoner rehabilitation, services, and to the taxpayer.  Read more…

joebouchard Contraband Control

What my colleague found  was like a concoction of an amoral, drug-dealing candy maker.  It was truly ingenious in  a simple sort of way.  At first, I could not believe it. Yet, my friend, who works as a property officer in another facility, assurred me that there were heroin candies made to look exactly like a major brand of goodies.  My sardonic thought was , “Plain” peanut, or narcotic?”

I am fortunate in that there is never a shortage of contraband stories.  Just when you think you have heard them all, another comes down the pike and smacks you in the brain.  There is nothing like a shattering of one’s security to heighten one’s alertness. Read more…

joebouchard Contraband Control