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| Federal prison’s SORT offers last-resort |
| By John D. Wright |
| Published: 04/16/2009 |
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TERRE HAUTE — Head first, or with feet dangling or planted, a group of uniformed men attached to ropes lurched down the side of a 40-foot building Wednesday on the north side of Terre Haute. The Special Operations Response Team of the federal Bureau of Prisons engaged in a spirited training session at Terre Haute’s Emergency Responder Training Academy. They rappelled at various speeds, often hovering near the windows of the east side of the tower north of Brown and Maple avenues. “We train to secure the windows,” said team leader Cliff Greene, appraising the practice from about 15 feet from the building. “If we can come down from the roof and tie off on the side of a window, then no one can shoot out of it.” The SORT team is made up of 22 employees of the Terre Haute Federal Correctional Complex who are on call 24/7 to respond to crises. “We are the last-resort entry for a hostage rescue. We are the lethal threat,” said Greene, leader for 21⁄2 years. “If negotiations fail, if they feel there is no other option and there is going to be loss of life to staff or inmates, they’ll send us in.” And “in” can be anywhere. The team works anywhere in the nation on orders of the U.S. attorney general. “We could get called right now and told to go pack our bags to go to Florida,” Greene said, as an example. Norm Loudermilk, Terre Haute Fire Department training officer, said Wednesday marked SORT’s training debut at the facility that opened a year ago. “The good thing about this facility is that it’s multifaceted and can be used by a variety of agencies, police or fire,” he said. The training facility has become a complex, with a tower/burn chamber, detached buildings for a classroom and children’s education and an elongated chamber for flashover training among its additions. Plans in the works include a rail car and an obstacle course. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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