Before you start writing any angry emails, please note the date of publication - April 1. We hope you enjoyed all of our April Fool’s coverage.
OKLAHOMA CITY – With the public still mystified about what it is that correctional staff actually do, one program is hoping to change the outlook with a first person experience.
The ‘Walk a Mile’ program, created by the Radical Innovations for Officer Training (RIOT), places civilians with no correctional training right in the middle of an ongoing prison riot.
“We were tired of seeing Facebook posts calling us babysitters or worse,” said Tim Wood, vice president of RIOT. “So we decided to do something about it. And nothing teaches people better than experience.”
The riot is staffed by actual inmates and held at several facilities throughout the state, who have volunteered for the privilege of hosting.
“It’s a good way to work out a little stress,” said Taylor Hirsch, an inmate at the River County Jail in What, Okla. “If it helps people understand what it is officers do every day behind the wall, I figure, what’s the hurt?”
Inmates who are selected to participate can also earn good time credits toward reducing their sentences, or credits toward commissary items.
Participants go into the fray – usually a cafeteria or gym setting – with items that only a correctional officer would be armed with: a baton, a radio, and a set of keys. Typically there are at least 50 to 100 inmates per participant, to give them as real of an experience as possible.
“When you see them go in there and they’re shaking like a leaf, you know you’ve done your job right,” Wood said.
Interactions, which involve inmates yelling and screaming, items being thrown, and general mania, last between thirty minutes to an hour, depending on how long participants can last.
“I wish we could have them in there for a couple of hours, but we do want to drive home that we try to bring these kind of events under control as quickly as possible,” Wood said, also emphasizing that so far, none of the participants have been injured.
“Which they should be thankful about, I think. Nothing like a broken eye socket or a shank in your back to cap off a real prison experience.”
So far, 36 people have opted to try out the ‘Walk a Mile’ program.
“I had no idea it was that insane,” said Mike Everyman, who participated in the event at the River County Jail. “I mean, you think that once the bad guy is in jail, that’s where it ends, right? I was so wrong.”