The world has changed since 9/11 and four years later corrections and public safety officials are working hard to ensure their staff and facilities are prepared a potential terrorist threat.

Key to being prepared is prevention and planning. At last month's American Correctional Association conference in Baltimore, Steve Morrison, the Vice President of the West Virginia High Technology Consortium, which co-hosts the annual Mock Riot and Mock Disaster each year, gave attendees tips on how to prepare.

“First you need to acknowledge there is a capability of attack. Today you don't know where terrorists are being placed,” said Morrison.

Once leaders recognize this, then a prepared institution should be planning for a potential threat, including holding practice exercises for staff, having security plans and training employees in emergency response.

Training

Morrison said corrections institutions should host and require staff to practice such  exercises as evacuations and incident response, which enables staff to learn from their mistakes.

“You can't have five fire chiefs calling on a radio as Charlie One. Those are the things you learn,” he said.

He added that every employee should have training in emergency response and it should be updated at roll call and in-service sessions.

In addition, facilities should have separate physical security, bomb incident and biohazard threat plans. He said those plans should address whether specially trained or regular staff respond to specific types of attacks or incidents and whether they have the right tools.

When holding drills, agencies should invite mutual aid agencies, state and federal responders, make them announced and unannounced and consider holding table-top exercises.

Preparation and Prevention

Morrison said that facilities and agencies should utilize intelligence gathering and review offender files as a way to get the pulse on inmate activities, including those that may be terrorist related. Prison gangs should also be included in specific intelligence analysis, Morrison said.

“Anyway you look at it, they are terrorists,” he said.

Morrison said that the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center-Southeast has developed an inmate tracking system that monitors inmate assignments including cell placement, programs attended and disciplinary actions. In addition, the system, which is under development, can also track offenders by religious affiliation and other specific designations.

“They have to start monitoring those things. You have to really look at the volunteers [as well]. Do background checks. Are they on the federal watch list,” Morrison said.

The correspondence of offenders and mail addressed to staff should also be examined carefully. Hints for uncovering possible terrorist-related mail include addresses from foreign countries, envelopes or packages addressed to someone who is no longer at the facility, excessive postage, a postmark that doesn't match the return address, badly typed addresses, mail with a strange smell or a lumpy letter or package.

Suspicious envelopes or packages should not be shaken, bumped or dropped, Morrison said.

“The militia that doesn't like the government or Islamic terrorists that wants to disrupt the flow could do something like that. It could be Anthrax or a letter bomb. Something like that, corrections facilities aren't equipped for,” Morrison said.

In addition, institutions can help protect their facility's physical structure against attacks from the outside by tightening security around parking areas, creating barriers between parking and the main buildings and enhancing security for HVAC systems.

Morrison suggests that facilities check all identification for service contractors, have a system shut-off switch for these heating and cooling systems that could be utilized in the event of an attack and be in control of cleaning and chemicals in the facility.

“Bombs are built from this that can be found in prison,” Morrison said.

He said that terrorists have been trained to understand what our culture does and does not like.

For example, terrorists are trained, he said, to defecate upon themselves upon capture -- understanding that Americans may be apprehensive about searching such a person right away.

This is especially if they are holding some type of evidence. Corrections ought to watch for this. They are working on the American psyche they know we don't want to do that,” Morrison said.

While Morrison said that security threat group investigators and specialized officers are probably the most comfortable and accustomed to monitoring offenders, all staff should know and understand the risks their facility faces. Training through the National Incident Management System can help to prepare corrections staff for a terrorist attack, he added.

“All of staff should be trained to see these things and identify them,” he added.