The issue isn’t if it is right or wrong. The issue is the kind of force and how it is used. Sadly age and relative strength are factors. Also appearances play a role. Whether you agree with it or not are you willing to stand up in front of 12 people or 1-3 judges and fight for your convictions with your livelihood on the line and possible jail time. That’s the reality. When that poor little punk that stabbed you is sitting across the aisle from you playing victim and you are a big scary prison guard who is getting portrayed by every single mistake you have made your entire life. The fact of what is right or wrong won’t matter it becomes who is the better story teller. This is why they don’t want anything that can be portrayed as a weapon. Sadly until people get away from the “It’s not their fault they are from a broken home and society failed them” mentality this will be a reality. Try this. Pick a stranger up off the street and see if you can convince them you should have OC as a juvi guard and explain the pros and cons then ask them how they would vote as a juror when you use it. Then once you get 12 post the results and how it went. Also you cannot ask anyone this in a law enforcement field because at trial they would be thrown out of selection because possible bias.

If I punch you in the face or stab you with a pen will it matter if I am over or under 18? No it will hurt either way so why not allow everyone who is trained and wears a badge on the inside to protect themselves? Simple non leathal tools to help restrain the person or OC spray and Tazer options to stop assaultive behavior. Would a police officer on the outside be denied the right to use their tools in order to protect or subdue the person based on age?

Something like “oh wait I can’t Taze you even though you are going to attack me because of your age”….. yeah right see how that plays out in real life. How many correctional officers have to die before the country as a whole realizes we are fooling ourselves about juvenile offenders and the dangers they bring to a lock up?
As always be safe and watch your back.

We are with you on this subject. As an oc instructor for the past 20 yrs or so I have experienced the OC power of gravity. (frankly I think it is fun to be sprayedto recert). There is a new form of OCdelivery system that is a vapor. It works fantactic as a cell agent as you cannot see it,just feel it and breath it. It isn’t a fog but rwal fine. Once injected through any opening ( a little bitty tube) and just wait. ZIt really reduces the subjects ability to resist. Just remember it doesn’t always disable them. Some can still fight through it.

In our facility we are allowd to utilize mechanical restraint (Hand cuffs and leg irons) but only so after we have utilized and exhausted all other methods that are listed in our policy and procedure manual with regards to a acting out or assaultive and or self abusive juvenile resident, as they are called in our facility. Crisis intervention techniques, verbal de-escalation, then video camera monitoring of their behavior, if all of these fail then we are authorized to enter a cell and physically engage the juvenile offender and secure them in mechanical restraints until they can contract/agree to have the ability to maintain a level of self control. Soft helmets are utilized as well for those that insist on slamming their heads against cell beds, walls and doors/windows ect. A large percentage of our juvenile correctional staff have been injured during these types of protracted restraint procedures. Having access to and authorization to use a chemical restraint (OC-or Pepper) delivered via a Mark 8 through the cell door would greatly reduce the injury rate to both the juvenile and the responding staff. But like most of you that have posted here. Our administration only see’s the possible misuse senario, not the increased value with regards to safety. The ultimate irony to our situation is that our juveniles are transported to and from our facility via our State Sherriff Department. When juveniles actout or fight in the transport vans or the holding cells located in the County Court Houses. The Sherriffs are authorized to spray them with OC to quickly quell the situation all the way up to our facilities main perimeter security gate and into the sally port. But once inside the mantrap doors and custody is pased back off to our staff. It’s a NO GAS – NO GO.. We beg to ask the question, what changed when they stepped thru the facilties doors??? We are currently in talks with admin via our union about this exact question at the present time. But this has been a back and forth discussion for the past three years. So only time will tell. It is sad to say that within the world of Juvenile corrections it takes a horrific act of violence to happen to a staff member for admin to stand up and take notice of just how dangerouse todays offenders really are and what the impulsive mind of these juveniles can perpertrate. Sorry for the long winded responce, but this is also a cathartic way for me to vent some of the many fustration faced by all of us who have chosen this profession.

Well I know the Power of OC (Pepper Spray) this stuff is act right in a can and will do less damage to the inmate and staff then any physical use of force. If this young woman had it at her disposal and was proficient in it she could have saved her life. I wished admins would learn that if staff misuses the tool they are responsible. To deny the use of a very powerful and safe tool because they don’t want to spend the money on it or are afraid of staff misusing it can open themselves to just as large of a lawsuit from the family of a dead officer.
I hope that some good will come out of this loss but I have yet to see it. Never should a officer have to die before changes happen.

All officers should carry every defensive tool available to them. No questions should even matter about the age of the inmate population.

I pray that the family of this young lady may one day find peace, but the truth is that may never happen. Now ask yourself if that was your friend, co-worker, sister, girlfriend, wife or daughter would you want her to have those defensive tools available?

A 24yr old female Corrections Officer was laid to rest today in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Amanda Baker was allegedly killed by 2 juveniles in a Scottsbluff detention center last Friday during an escape attempt. We here at Douglas County pray for the family of Amanda Baker to find peace. Many representatives form local and out of state departments attended the funeral. We are so sorry for losing an officer so young. She was pronounced brain dead after the attack and murder, but the organs were donated to hopefully provide life for others. All our love and prayers. Squeeze Handcuffs,OC,Taser, Defensive tactics? These aren’t just kids anymore. Guess what my answer is!

Should juvenile correction officers carry handcuffs, and oc while on duty ? In some states correction officers have no defense other than officer presence in some cases it is not many officers.