Paying off the transport van with a little help from our customers

Last year a transport deputy was on his way back to the jail with a transport van full of inmates, when one of the inmates opened the door to the van and attempted to jump out at a stoplight. The inmate was suspected of using a paper clip to slowly manipulate the interior lock of the door. His plan of getting the door to un-lock and open while the van was stopped at a stoplight worked out for him, but his planning did not cover the chains that were on his feet, and when he jumped form the van, the chain stopped his foot in midair before it could reach the ground.

As a result, the inmate took a face dive into the pavement beside the van and in just a few seconds was subdued by the transportation deputy who had also called for backup. Within minutes there were multiple law enforcement officers on scene surrounding the transport van, making sure everyone got back on board without any problems. The van being used was a regular cargo van with the addition of a caged barrier between the front seats and the back seats, where the inmates are placed. Although the escape attempt did not work out for the inmate, we knew something needed to be done before something worse happened in the future.

Although there is less attention given to jail staff and transport staff than other areas of law enforcement, transporting inmates can be extremely dangerous. Just a few months ago two Georgia Corrections Officers were shot and killed while transporting inmates on a bus. During the transport, two inmates were able to get through a partitioned area of the bus and attacked one of the corrections officers. After fighting with one of the corrections officers, they obtained his firearm and shot and killed him and another corrections officer. Before being captured by two citizens in Tennessee, the two inmates robed multiple people and held a couple hostage in their home for several hours.

There are countless stories of inmates attempting to escape, or successfully escaping, and many times assaulting or killing others as a result of their escape. We had looked at prisoner insert cages for vans before, but the price for a van, and a professional transport cage to go with it was more than we could spend at the time. Ultimately, we decided to focus on the sales of commissary items in our jail to see if we could raise enough money to help purchase a safer transport vehicle.

Commissary sales include items like ramen noodles, peanut butter and crackers, phone cards, and other non-essential items that can be sold to inmates who have money on their books. We were soon able to raise enough money to purchase a transport van with a prisoner cage insert on a lease plan from Ford that would allow us to pay for the van in a few installments.

This month, we were able to make the final payment on the prisoner transport van, and the entire amount was paid for out of the inmate security fund. We now have our customers from the jail to thank for this vehicle since there were not any taxpayer funds used to purchase it. Our goal is to make sure we take every step possible to provide for the safety and security needed to keep the community safe while transporting inmates to court, county jail, and prisons.