Inmates Resisting Authority Leads To Activation Of Response Team
Posted
Amanda Bridgman-abridgman@timesuniononline.com
An incident involving inmates in the Kosciusko County Jail in mid-July resulted in officers firing rubber bullets into the cell block to get the situation under control.
According to Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Sgt. Chris Francis, at around 10:30 p.m. July 18, a confinement officer observed an active violation of KCJ policy while patrolling a men’s cell block.
As officers were preparing to remove the suspect inmate from the cell block, multiple inmates surrounded the suspect, preventing officers from safe access to the suspect inmate.
Francis said that the inmates surrounding the suspect reportedly told officers that the suspect “would not be leaving the cell block.”
At that point, the determination was made to activate the Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team (SERT) for the safe removal of the suspect inmate, according to Francis. While awaiting the arrival of SERT officers, inmates damaged three water sprinkler heads, which caused water to pour into the cell block and activation of the fire alarm.
Because of the active resistance of the inmates, rubber ball rounds were fired into the cell block common area, using what is referred to as the skip fire technique, Francis said. The situation was quickly resolved and the suspect inmates received medical evaluation, with no hospitalizations required.
The incident remains under investigation for the potential of additional criminal charges, Francis said.
