Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections

The ODRC, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections is the renowned agency in Ohio that is accountable for housing adults convicted of felony for minimum 6 months. For performing its mission, Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections maintains almost 33 institutions imprisoning almost 44,000 prisoners. Several of these prisoners are serving sentences to commit many brutal crimes.

The ODRC has established several skilled and specialized strategic teams as a part of its reply to several brutal incidents within the institutions, particularly the 1993 riot in SOCF, Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. According to the material that is published by the DRC the SOCF disturbance taught ODRC officials that the department must standardize its equipment as well as training program and strengthen the standards for members for completing the challenges created by prison disturbances. Currently these teams include the institutional Special Response Teams that reinstated previous Regional Special tactics and Response teams and prison disturbance control and tactical response teams. Such influential teams are appointed to work for 24 hours a day and 7 days a week for responding to prison disturbances. They are capable to arrive anywhere in the state within only some hours.

A special Response team has been appointed by every correctional institution. By making use of specialized techniques and weapons, SRT is ready for responding to prison disturbances and addressing the serious incidents according to the ODRC. SRT personnel has been given the training for restraining troublesome prisoners, providing special security teams, conducting searches, performing security-oriented tasks and giving assistance during training. Two lieutenants have been chosen to serve as team leaders for teams that are led by commanders.

Regional STAR, Special Tactics and Response Teams have also been formed by the department for offering a secondary response to critical incidents. The 27 members have been included in every STAR team with 1 or 2 members being drawn from every institution within four correctional regions of the state. The main missions of the STAR team are to give support for SRT, provide sniper coverage, help in security training and staff high risk transports. At least 8 hours of training the state requires a month, STAR team personnel train minimum for sixteen hours. Furthermore, they even conducted training with a few other agencies like Gahanna and Columbus Police Department SWAT teams, Ohio State Highway Patrol SRT and Sheriff's Departments and military tactical unit like US Navy SEALs. Furthermore to their usual training schedule, the teams also contend in the annual Mock Prison Riot on regular basis that is held in Moundsville, West Virginia. It has been ensured by the department that it's Hostage Negotiators train with both SRT as well as STAR on regular basis. All of the SRT members and STAR members should meet rigid fitness requirements. SRT as well as STAR teams since their inception have performed many high-risk operations. First and full scale deployment of the STAR teams occurred in the year 1994 in the month of May. The STAR team was assembled to the Southeastern Correctional Institution. A shakedown of the institution has been conducted by a team coiffure the prison for a few security threats.

Lieutenant Moroney designed the best tactical plan for regaining control of DR-4 that was approved by Warden Ralph Coyle, the incident commander. It has been decided by Moroney to make use of chemical agents to suppress the disturbance and to make sure the security of the staff and inmates since the inmates were accompanied out of the unit. Two teams have been assigned for breaking windows and deploying chemical agents. A sledgehammer is used the person from every team for breaking the cell windows across the perimeter of the unit and while the person from another team separated the chemical agents.

Another operation in which both of the teams SRT and STAR have been involved took place on 9th July 1997 when prisoners at the Orient Correctional Institution set a sequence of fires in the institution as a reply for planning a new limited housing limit. Both the teams SRT and STAR responded and by late afternoon, both the teams dressed in riot gear and arrived on the scene. Both teams organized very fast and within a few hours they got back control of the compound.