After long trips home from the Office of Law Enforcement Technology's Mock Prison Riot at the West Virginia Penitentiary last week, officials are still running on adrenaline from the four-day experience.

Thirty teams of officers and officials ran through mock riot and hostage situations using the newest technology and training corrections has to offer. Corrections.com caught up with two attendees to get their thoughts on the technology and scenarios.

Corrections.com (CC): How was your experience at the Mock Riot?

Second Lieutenant Tony Shobe
Commander of Emergency Response Team, Fairfax County, VA Sheriff's Office

Shobe: This is the third or fourth time we've attended it, but we've never participated before. In the past, we just went as observers to find new ideas and tactics, but this is the first time our emergency response team went as a group. We participated in two hostage and rescue scenarios.

Danny Kirkland, Training Specialist
Orangeburg Department of Public Safety, Orangeburg, South Carolina

Kirkland: We participated with our entire SRT team. We went for the scenarios and the training. All of our officers enjoyed the classes offered and we participated in two scenarios, one being in the basement in total and complete darkness. We also had a scenario on the third floor of the infirmary. If you think of the darkest place you've ever been and then quadruple it, that's where we were.

In our basement scenario, we had three suspects that had escaped from their cell, one of them was armed with a knife and our thirteen man team had to basically search the basement and gather these people up safely without hurting us or hurting them. We were afforded the opportunity to use some ITT night vision which was with one of the vendors there. Our entire team did not have the night vision – we only had about seven pairs. It was unbelievable. Some of the team had to work in pretty adverse conditions not being able to see.

As all things go, what we had rehearsed isn't what happened. The floor plan had changed a little bit which flustered us initially, but we got ourselves together and we were able to accomplish the mission and retrieve the armed suspect, which was the priority.

We were also using a thermal imaging unit which we had seen before because my department is public safety which also deals with firefighting as well as police. We had used some of that technology in locating fires and we were able to spot the armed suspect using thermal imaging on the other side of the wall. We saw him before he saw us.

CC: What technology looked the most useful to you?

Shobe: We just purchased a few FN Herstal 303 Less Lethal Launchers. They are basically rifles that fire less lethal rounds. You can use them inside of a jail, or to quell civil disturbances and civil disobedience situations. It's a great tool if you don't want to use lethal force, but pepper balls aren't doing the trick.

This rifle has an effective range of up to 50 feet. Pepper balls are only effective 20 to 30 feet. Most of the weapons we had before only went 10 to 20 feet. We purchased a few of these rifles before the riot and attended training sessions. All 10 of our operators are now certified to use this rifle.

The 303 looks like a rifle to anyone else, but it doesn't use bullets. It uses compressed air to fire a pellet. The pellet will discourage people from acting in the manner they are acting. It comes with an OC spray pellet you can use as well.

Kirkland: That would have to be the thermal imaging unit. Being in total darkness, we were able to go into a room using absolutely no light, and detect a suspect. We knew exactly where he was, what position he was in – we went straight to him and used the element of surprise to our advantage. We apprehended him during that scenario.

CC: What was the coolest thing you saw?

Shobe: There was a rifle that shoots around corners. I think it's called a corner gun. You can actually use it to shoot around a corner without exposing yourself to any threat. If you were responding to a hostage situation, you could put the gun up to the corner. The barrel is basically perpendicular to the stock of the weapon. I thought that was awesome.

Historically, corrections has always used what they call hats and bats. If you have a disturbance, everyone gets hats and batons. You just wait and deal with it. When you deal with someone in that manner, with a stick, you have to get pretty close to them. That puts you at risk and your team members at risk. With these technologies, you can handle these things from up to 50 feet away. That greatly reduces risk for yourself and anyone on your team.

Kirkland: The West Virginia Penitentiary itself. That is an intimidating structure. It's just ominous and awesome. You walk inside and you can only imagine what life is like inside those walls. Of course, we were given the opportunity to see the electric chair and the museum. In fact, they told us that the basement where we did our scenario is one of the most haunted places on the East Coast. The people posing as suspects said they hoped we found them quickly, because it was so frightening in the basement of the facility.

CC: Would you recommend the event to other COs?

Shobe: For anyone that's in any sort of corrections environment across the country, the Mock Riot is extremely useful. To basically learn more, and observe or just attend classes and seminars, you can either participate in these scenarios or just watch. How do you deal with a hostage situation? It gives you new ideas.

CC: What else did you like?

Kirkland: The staff at the Mock Riot will do anything they have to do to get your department to go there. We were one of the smaller departments that had trouble securing a place to stay. The staff worked hard to secure a high school gymnasium for teams to stay free of charge.

We were able to secure a place at the last minute, but we appreciated their efforts. They found us a place on the side of a mountain with deer running through the yard all day long. It was beautiful. But the staff is top notch. Whatever they need to do to get you to West Virginia, they will do.