SEC400 Emergency Management Plan

Emergency Management

SEC400 Emergency Management Plan

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Emergency Management Plan

The San Quentin State Prison is the oldest prison in the California opening in 1852 and currently houses over five thousand prisoners. The prison is located on the North side of the San Francisco Bay and is bordered by water on both the east and west sides. The prison has the states only death row for men that is carried out through lethal injection and consists of both minimum and maximum security levels. The prison has a reception center which is designed to house the inmates until they can be processed into the prison, classified, and evaluated for risk. The prison consists of one of the largest populations in the United States and houses some of the most dangerous criminal offenders.

The San Quentin State prison has many strengths but it also has its weaknesses. Strengths of the prison include it design which has isolated the prison from other parts of the city which lowers the risk to citizens in the surrounding areas. While the prison most often operates quietly in the county's backyard, its business sometimes intrudes on life outside its walls but these incidents are rare (Johnson, 2011). The prisons Reception Center allows the prison to process the newly arriving inmates and keep them separate from the prison population until they can be properly classified and placed in the appropriate area of the prison. The prison houses non violent offenders to extremely violent offenders so it is essential the inmate is placed in the appropriate level of the prison. Offenders are placed in a specific level in the prison based on their current crime, past criminal history, and risk classification.

The weaknesses of the prison include first extreme overcrowding which can create a serious security risk to prison staff and the prison population. The prison is designed to house 3,082 inmates but in fact current houses well over 5,000 inmates. When a prison is extremely overcrowded security measures are less effective and the risk for assault is heightened. In order to increase the safety of the inmates and prison staff the number of inmates will need to be reduced and the number of prison correctional officers will need to be increased. Currently the prison has 1700 correctional officer making the prison population three times the size of the prison staff.

Another potential weakness of the San Quentin State Prison is the high cost to operate the prison. Due to the large prison population the prison consumes over 200 million dollars of the state’s budget each year. The overcrowded prison in fact requires a larger portion of the budget but with budget cuts due to the recession the prison will only face more difficulties in determining where they will put the additional prison population. Unless each inmate is properly secured and monitored, in the prison environment, it only increases the risk to other inmates and especially the prison staff.

Key personnel in the prison that will be responsible for incident response and recovery will be members of the emergency response plan. These members include the director of the prison who is responsible for declaring the emergency and will lead the response to the critical incident. The director will assess the situation and make a determination of the level of risk as well as personnel required in the response (ODRC, 2011). The director will alert key personnel and debrief them on the situation. The director will also be responsible for alerting the jail administrator who will be responsible for establishing written policies and procedures associated with the different function of the plan and the roles played by key personnel.

The next member of the personnel is the field operations director which is responsible for establishing a command center and alerting the appropriate staff members and agencies. They will ensure adequate support staff is present at the command post and coordinate the effort to ensure that each member of the team is aware of the goals of the plan and understand their responsibility. The field operation director will also be responsible for alerting assisting agencies, such as police and fire.

Next a critical response team is essential to the response to an emergency at the San Quentin State Prison. The critical response team will be made up of police leaders and correctional staff members. The critical response team is responsible for immediately responding to the critical incident. They will use their skills and knowledge to penetrate the prison and immediately quell and dangerous situations. In the event of a hostage situation the hostage negotiation team will respond to the incident in order to attempt to mediate the situation without any harm coming to prison staff or other prison inmates.

Fire personal will be responsible for responding to any emergencies involving fires within the prison and will responsible for alerting emergency plan designed to safely evacuate inmates without harm coming to prison staff. The local sheriff’s department will respond to escapes and provide assistance in the event the situation affects the local community. The local sheriff’s department will be responsible for securing the community and conducting searches in order to locate escaped offenders as well as provide support to prison staff.

Correctional officers will be responsible for assisting the responding personnel in securing the perimeter around the incident and provide emergency assistance in the event of a dangerous or volatile situation. They will be responsible for removing inmates from danger and locking down the prison until the emergency situation can be gotten under control. The correctional staff will support the sheriff in their efforts to search for escaped inmates and take control of prisoners once the emergency situation is resolved.

References

Johnson, N. (2011). San Quentin, Marin's oldest institution, boasts a colorful history. Retrieved

October 14, 2012 from http://www.marinij.com/150/ci_17665862

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (ODRC). (2011). Ohio Emergency Operation

Plan. Retrieved October 14, 2012 from

http://ema.ohio.gov/Documents/Ohio_EOP/esf_13_tab_b.pdf