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The Prison Officer Podcast
The Prison Officer Podcast is a place where prison officers and correctional staff share their experiences, discuss leadership, cope with stress, and learn survival strategies for one of the toughest careers out there. Hosted by Michael Cantrell, this podcast delves into the lives, dreams, and challenges faced by those who work inside the walls of our nation’s prisons. It features interviews, insights, and discussions related to the unique and demanding world of corrections. Whether it’s overcoming difficult leaders, understanding rehabilitation, or addressing misconceptions about incarcerated populations, the Prison Officer Podcast provides valuable perspectives from professionals in the field.
The Prison Officer Podcast
114: 2025 MCA/MPPOA Fall Conference in Branson, MO
I saw a man once walk out of the Missouri State Penitentiary after three decades with a few dollars and no plan. I remember that moment—and this is why I am glad Missouri has set out to build something better. Come behind the scenes with us at the MCA/MPPOA fall conference for a candid tour of what’s actually working: “soft handoffs” between institutions and field teams, mental health continuity that doesn’t collapse on day one, and an immersive training academy built inside a retrofitted prison that turns rookies into capable, confident officers.
We sit down with probation and parole pros and they show how ORAS‑driven case plans tackle real barriers—transportation, IDs, phones, and family support—before release. Their ICTS success stories are honest and hard‑earned: late‑night ER advocacy, field pickups when groups are missed, and quiet graduations that mean someone’s eight months sober and off supervision for good.
Then we head to Cameron, where the Academy for Excellence in Corrections blends daily defensive tactics, cohort rotations, and hands‑on modules in a dedicated training unit filled with authentic property and safe contraband. It’s a modern cadence that builds muscle memory, policy fluency, and the kind of calm that keeps staff safer—and staying longer.
We also open the notebook on today’s threat landscape. A gang SME explains why hybrid gangs and flexible alliances now drive Missouri’s dynamics, why word choice can keep a conversation alive, and how intel shared through the Midwest Gang Investigators Association makes patrol, probation, and custody safer. From motorcycle club rivalries to cross‑agency networking, the theme is collaboration—because corrections holds long‑term insights that street partners need, and training only sticks when it’s tethered to the worksite.
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Take care of each other and Be Safe behind those walls and fences!
Hey guys, welcome back to the Prison Officer Podcast. This is Mike Cantrell, and as always, I want to stop for a minute and I want to thank Pepperball. You know, if it wasn't for them, this podcast wouldn't be possible. This podcast has been listened to in over 141 countries. I've had over 200,000 downloads. There's I think 113 episodes up right now. So, you know, all that information, all the people we got to talk to, the great leaders, the great trainers, uh, you know, the people who've made their mark in corrections, that wouldn't be possible without Pepperball. So if you get the chance, go to www.pepperball.com and just tell them hi, tell them thank you, you know, that you appreciate the fact that they sponsor the prison officer podcast. Now, here's what I want to talk to you about this week. If you didn't get the chance to go to the Missouri Correctional Association slash Missouri Probation Parole Officers Association fall conference, uh, we had it down at Chateau in the Lake, uh Chateau at the Lake. It's not Chateau in the Lake, it's Chateau at the Lake in Branson, Missouri. And uh it was a great venue, had a great time down there. I got to teach a couple of classes and so really enjoyed that. But the other thing I got to do while I was there was sit down and talk to some amazing people. And so I've got these videos loaded up. They're gonna come along here. We're gonna talk about gangs, we're gonna talk about training new staff, we're gonna talk about probation and parole and and how that works with uh keeping our inmates and offenders out of our prisons and out of our jails. So stand by. Hope you enjoy. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Prison Officer Podcast. This is Mike Cantrell. I'm coming to you from the Missouri Correctional Association, where I'm uh Missouri Correctional Association and the MPPOA. They've come together, which is the Missouri Probation and Parole Officers Association. They come together and have a fall conference uh together each year. And uh so I wanted to make sure that we got some probation and parole officers in here. So we're gonna talk to them now. Uh Tiffany Deal. Yes, correct. And Christy Lockwood. Christy Lockwood. I don't know why I was getting ready to say Sandra, but Christy Lockwood. Uh Christy's retired, and Tiffany still works actively. Yes, I work actively at District 27 at Jefferson City as a unit supervisor. So let me start with you. How did you get into corrections or probation of parole? Did you go straight into PP?
SPEAKER_07:No, actually, I changed my career for 17 years on an ambulance and decided to go to college and change my career. And my instructor took me to District 26, Fulton, right, and uh introduced me to Dave Meenan, who was a unit supervisor and a trainer. And I did an internship for six months there, and here I am today.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. Helping people, helping people, is that the draw?
SPEAKER_07:That is the draw for me. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you got to uh uh an ambulance uh you know that's such important work, also. But uh so what did you think when you first came into this? I mean, that's they're this a little bit the same, but they're totally apart.
SPEAKER_07:Well, instead of it being like an emergency, like you go in and you help when you're on an ambulance, right? Right, it's somebody's emergency. That's what you're doing.
SPEAKER_05:Okay.
SPEAKER_07:Instead of it being an emergency and never seeing the follow-through or the end result, um, I'm going in where they're either coming out of prison or they're coming on to supervision. So it's kind of their emergency, right? Because it's changing and it's it's made an impact on their life. And so we get to impact and hopefully see that huge change through the time that they're with us to be successful community.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I remember one thing that stuck with me. I started at Missouri State Bend in 1992, and I don't know, six months, a year in, I helped the sergeant escort a guy who was getting out. And we walked into the front door and we handed him three three dollars and fifty-four cents, something like that. And the guy had been down for like 30 plus years and handed him that and said, See you later, out the front door of Missouri State Man. And my brain was just like, What what do you expect out of this? You know, and I never could wrap my head around that. But we do that much better now, huh?
SPEAKER_07:We do that much better now, yes. They come in and we help them work with uh what we call the Oraz and the case plans. So we're working with things that they're um barriers they're having in life after being locked up for 30 years, you know. Now we need to help re-acclimate them. And some people have never had a cell phone, right? They've maybe dealt with an iPad in prison, but it's a little bit different because it the cell phone has opened huge doors for them, and they're like, Well, what do I do? And my some of my family's gone, and where do I have you know support? So that's that's a main draw for us.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, even 10 years with technology right now is huge.
SPEAKER_07:It is huge.
SPEAKER_01:Christy Lockwood, yes, uh retired probation and parole. Tell me about how you came into that uh position, that career. Was it a career for you?
SPEAKER_02:It was a career. I did 20 almost 27 years.
SPEAKER_01:Oh wow.
SPEAKER_02:Um I went to college uh to be a teacher and decided I didn't like the teaching aspect of the education part of it. So um went into criminal justice and then did an internship with the juvenile office and didn't want to be that person that took kids away from their parents. Yeah, even though it may have been warranted, I didn't want to get shot at.
SPEAKER_01:Sure.
SPEAKER_02:Or, you know, I would not be happy if someone tried to take my kids.
SPEAKER_01:No, they'd get shot at, wouldn't they?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. I mean, yeah. So I thought, okay, adult probation. So that's I didn't do any kind of internships or I had no idea what I was doing when I first started. I had I didn't even know really what it was. Right. Things were just different.
SPEAKER_01:I didn't even I could tell you throughout my career. It wasn't until later in my career that I even understood much about probation and parole. Right. You know, corrections and PP are so intertwined and so connected, but I don't feel like we connect the way we should. I like seeing this in Missouri. You don't see this everywhere. Yeah. Where you have corrections and probation and parole at a conference together, learning the same things, networking. So yeah, I think this is great. Did you guys have an understanding of what went on on the other side in corrections? Because I didn't from my side.
SPEAKER_02:I didn't. When I first started, I had no idea. All I knew was I did not want to be an institutional officer. I wanted to be in the community.
SPEAKER_05:Right.
SPEAKER_02:Um, but no, I didn't have any idea. I think they've done a better job over the years in teaching and educating like field staff.
SPEAKER_01:Is institutional officer a new thing?
SPEAKER_02:An IPO. IPO, institutional parole officer? No, they've been around.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think we had those back then. Really?
SPEAKER_02:Uh-huh. Yeah, they've been around my whole career. They were around. Um institutional parole officers. Um is there? They do, I mean, they just have a different function.
SPEAKER_01:They're getting them ready.
SPEAKER_02:Getting them ready, writing reports for the board, doing I think it's more report writing and we're doing ORASs now.
SPEAKER_07:And so yeah, the prison assessments or forum.
SPEAKER_01:So are you an IPO?
SPEAKER_07:No, but I have been um we have JCCC and Algoa in my district. Right. So luckily I've had an opportunity in the last four months to go over to JCCC and Algoa and kind of do some assessments for them and help them start the case plan um and get get rolling on how to tell us what you identified while they were there, things that they were working on. We've also started communicating a little bit. We're calling it like a handoff, a soft handoff. So they're trying to call us before they come to us and let us know, hey, we've recognized there's no transportation because there's no driver's license. We've recognized there's even though they're coming there, they need to change their person, places, and things. So there's no real family support. You know, these are some identified options that are coming out.
SPEAKER_01:One of the things I saw in the feds a lot, because I worked at Federal Medical Center at Springfield a lot of mental health, was there was guys who were going to the street, but if they had mental health problems, that's a special challenge for you guys, isn't it?
SPEAKER_07:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Trying to find a place to put them to find someplace that wants them.
SPEAKER_07:But if they're coming out and they're on medications, like that's that soft handoff.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And we know they're telling us um they're they're enrolled in mat services. Um, can we get them hooked up with another, you know, partner who has mat services? So we're kind of getting that going, that ball right before they ever come out, which is nice because again, it's a hand up for us and a hand up for them.
SPEAKER_02:And that's such a change. That's such a change from when I first started. There was no communication between the field and the institution. So that's a positive thing that's happened over the last 25, 20 years, probably. More so even in the last 10 years, really. It's that's been a huge, huge change. Mr.
SPEAKER_07:Mosley's really pushing that lately for us to make sure that you're doing okay, soft handoffs that you're having that communication because it it's the success of our clients.
SPEAKER_01:Most mental health, and I dealt with a lot of you know, people with severe mental health problems, but the minute they got out of prison, well, I've been telling them for years I'm fine, I don't need this. So if you don't have somebody watching them, you know, I I was sitting one night and uh Lieutenant and I were working, we got a call from order. It was like, uh, best we could tell this guy was last with you, and you can hear him in the background. I can hear the if eight in the background, who's been released like six months ago, and he's just losing it. They're like, what did you give him when he was in? You know, they were just at their wit's end. So you see uh the way we drop the ball on that sometimes. So that's good to hear. That's good to hear we're doing a better job. What's one of your biggest successes? What do you remember?
SPEAKER_07:Um of my biggest successes was about April this year. Uh prior to being the US supervisor, I was an officer in District 6. Christy was my supervisor. Um, and I had a client in the Improving Community Treatment Success Program, which is the ICTS. And I was at Golden Corral, and there was about four of my previous clients there. And my husband and I were eating, and so one is like, and I'm like, because I don't I try not to I let them lead that, right? And so here she comes and she's talking to me and stuff, and then um the others come by, and then the male client, um, we worked so hard. My partner and I, we would leave and we they'd say, Hey, we can't find you, he's not in groups, whatever, and we would go and we would find him, and we're like, come on, you know, and um he said, I just want you to I've been eight months clean, I graduated out of supervision in January, and I owe everything to you and Becky, and I just so much appreciate it. And he gave me a big old hug, and that I carry that with me because that is one success story that you don't always have. Absolutely, so yeah, he was awesome.
SPEAKER_01:How about you? Long career, you surely have a success story to do that.
SPEAKER_02:It's the same program.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, is this the same thing?
SPEAKER_02:And it's not really a specific person.
SPEAKER_01:Hey guys, we're recording here, I'll cut that part out. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:Um, it's the same program, it's the same program, ICTS. I was a supervisor over that program, and it wasn't so much a specific incident, but it was just generalized seeing people successful. Yeah, because you don't always get that thanks or that we had like a graduation or a ceremony when people would, you know, complete their programming. And they weren't secured or they weren't successful, you know, graduated per se, but they completed a program and they were very proud of it. And those were some of my best moments were just watching, and I I didn't talk a lot at them or really do as much as Tiffany and Becky did as officers, but just watching their interactions with them, I knew they had worked so hard to get them to that point. And and the client worked really hard to get to that point. So they they we had mental health, yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Oh and we Becky and I, we one time sat in a hospital until 9 30 in the evening and emergent waiting with the client until the staff decided that yes, she needed a a further evaluation. We were her advocate, yeah, and we were her successful need for that advocation.
SPEAKER_01:That's interesting. Uh uh, you know, in corrections, you don't often get any of that. You don't get to see the end result. You know, my end result is when I drive out of the institution and I look around and there's not crime being committed in the street.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_01:You know, that that's what we get. So it's it it must be uh uh it must feel good.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So let's see some of those end results and stuff.
SPEAKER_07:This program um definitely changed my life. I came into P in 2020, right at like the COVID area.
SPEAKER_05:Right.
SPEAKER_07:And Christy approached me and she's like, Hey, we heard you would be really good for this. And um would you and I was like, I have a social work degree, sure, why not? Um and now I'm a unit supervisor that takes care of the one in Cole County. Yeah, um, so I definitely believe in that program.
SPEAKER_01:So what have you seen here at the MCI and PPOA conference?
SPEAKER_07:Um, I'm gonna be honest, I'm on the board of MPPOA, so I have been really busy with that kind of stuff. Put on the conference, put on a conference, yeah. Yeah, and answering my because I I am kind of in my office full many things for some of my staff, so I've had to answer for you.
SPEAKER_01:All right, I'll be back. Well, thank you so much for stopping by and talking to us. Absolutely fascinating stories.
unknown:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Great meeting you guys.
SPEAKER_07:Good to meet you.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks, everybody. Oh, nice meeting you.
SPEAKER_07:Nice to meet you.
SPEAKER_01:Excellent. Well, welcome back to the Prison Officer Podcast. This is Mike Cantrell again. I'm sitting here with uh Chelsea Spackler. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_05:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Uh from the Missouri Department of Corrections. I want to talk to her because they're doing some really interesting stuff with training and the way they're training the new recruits. And uh so welcome to the Prison Officer Podcast, Chelsea.
SPEAKER_06:Thank you. I'm happy to be here.
SPEAKER_01:When when did you get into corrections? Tell me about that.
SPEAKER_06:Well, um, 1997, I started out at the Farmington Correctional Center. Um, not in a traditional role as an officer. I started as a substance abuse counselor. Okay. Um, and I worked out there for a couple of years, and then Northeast Correctional Center opened up and I went out there and and I became what old heads would know is classified with the Missouri correction system. Um and I just kind of worked wherever they'd give me more money at that point.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Farmington was a fun place to start at 97. They were they still doing all the uh shock stuff down there?
SPEAKER_06:Yes, they yeah, they had shock treatment. They also had the regimented discipline program. Right. And we had saturation housing from all of the offenders that had been returned from Texas from our cell lease program because we didn't have enough prison beds to house all of the offenders that we um had sentenced for a period of incarceration.
SPEAKER_01:I was on that initial trip when I was on Sea Stark. Yeah, we went to Crystal City, Texas, and 24 hours straight back, and yeah, that was a whole mess back then.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I think their first stop might have been Farmington Correctional Center. I know that we had several hundred of them there. Wow, you know, they came back not so happy. So yeah, my first year and a half was not really, I guess, in a self-sillance abuse counselor role because I I counted, I inspected, I escorted, I, you know, did all those things just without the uniform. Sure, sure. Yeah, it was nuts.
SPEAKER_01:So you did that, uh, and then how did you get into training?
SPEAKER_06:Oh gosh, let's see. Um 2007. So we're talking 10 years later, I just decided I had a bigger impact. I could reach more people uh through the training department. Um you know, I worked my way up to functional unit manager and I felt like I was making a difference in the housing unit with the people in the housing unit and the staff in the housing unit, but I found my true calling when I was being an adjunct trainer from Missouri Department of Corrections, and I just got a lot of reward from feeling like I was making a difference with more people.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, and that's uh you know, I teach uh new staff, and one of the things I taught to them about whatever it is, you've got to find your passion. Yes, you can't do this job forever without a passion. Yeah. And training was what became my passion. Yeah. I didn't like my first few years as a correctional officer. Oh, yeah. I didn't. I didn't feel like I was accomplishing anything, you know. And uh then when I got into uh staff training and seeing the results of how I could impact people.
SPEAKER_06:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:So that's kind of the same thing. Yes, yes, definitely.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, you just get more reward for your effort, I think, when you when you see people succeed or you see people promote, or you have someone just randomly come up to you one day and say, Hey, you know, I know I gave you a hard time in class that day because I hate being in class, but let me tell you what happened and how that class saved me or how that class helped me. Funny story. Sure. So I go to church in a neighborhood that's kind of rough in in St. Joseph, Missouri, and I was walking to my car through this neighborhood after service, and I see a taxi whiz by me, stop, hit reverse, and I'm like, uh oh, what's coming? And this lady in the backseat rolls down her window and she starts screaming. She's like, Hey, hey you! And I'm like getting nervous. I'm like, oh no. And she says, You spoke at my graduation. I remember you, I loved your speech, it made a difference. So she was a new hire that just saw me walking down the street and had to let me know I made a difference for her.
SPEAKER_01:You're you're getting ready to retire. And you mentioned that uh one of the things that surprised me in retirement is how many phone calls I've gotten after retirement when people just won't go, hey, I got this promotion, hey, I appreciate your investing in me and that type of stuff. So I hope that happens for you too.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, I hope so too. Yeah. You know, deciding to retire is probably the hardest decision to make. I know everyone works for it going the day I'm eligible, I'm out, but the day that comes, you're going, yeah, I'm eligible, but what's next? You know, so yeah, it was a really hard decision because I love what I do and I love the people that I work with. Um but I've checked off all the check marks on my list. And so, you know, it's time to let someone else take the hell in and see what they can do with it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Who knows? I tell people I failed retirement. I'm still, I mean, I go out all the time and I'm teaching correctional law through law enforcement, and I'm working as hard now, probably, as I was then. Yeah. Podcast. I love it. I love it. Yeah. So tell me about uh where are you at now?
SPEAKER_06:I'm at the Academy for Excellence in Corrections located in Cameron, Missouri.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. And I'm that used to be Crossroads.
SPEAKER_06:It used to be Western Missouri Corrector.
SPEAKER_01:Western Missouri Correctional Center. Okay.
SPEAKER_06:Crossroads is still there. We share perimeter road.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_06:Um, yeah, and so we've retrofitted a prison into a training academy.
SPEAKER_03:Sorry.
SPEAKER_06:That is uh let me tell you what, it I've never seen anything like it. I've never heard of anything like it. Our leadership here with the Missouri Department of Corrections is just so innovative in their approach on how to help staff be the best they can. And you know, our mission and vision statement, the the vision part of that statement is providing excellence in corrections for a safer Missouri. And so this Academy for Excellence and Corrections helps everyone in the state that hires in in a custody role learn our standard of what we expect excellence to be. Right. And so we're truly investing in the future of the Missouri Department of Corrections by having this opportunity. I mean, how many places get an opportunity to close a prison? It's still viable enough to turn into a training center and then retrofit it with all of this modern equipment. Um, and I know people are like, Oh, I'm gonna have to live in a cell, but let me tell you what, they're unrecognizable.
SPEAKER_05:Right.
SPEAKER_06:They are uh nicer than hotel rooms, I would say. And the people that stay there are like, yeah, this is really nice. And they're almost equivalent to like a college-style dorm room now.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Well, you called it immersive training.
SPEAKER_06:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:So tell me what you're you're you've hired on of the Missouri Department of Corrections. Tell me what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_06:Well, a whole lot's gonna happen. That's true. Uh we have it's a seven-week process from start to finish. So it's not really different than what it was before. It's just now instead of doing a chunk of it here and then doing the other chunk here, it's every other week they're doing something. So they'll do a week at their work site of orientation, important paperwork, um, some e-learning modules online to prepare them for when they come to academy. And then every new hire, regardless of job titles, is gonna do a region week of training. And so each of the three regional training centers in the state give every single new employee the same program regardless of where they're gonna go work.
SPEAKER_05:Okay.
SPEAKER_06:Then they do a work site week again, regardless of where they're gonna go work, and then our corrections, our custody officers, they all come to the officer academy at the Academy for Excellence and Corrections. And when they get there, the first thing they get is the best part of training, the most entertaining, funnest part of it all. They get all the rules. Yeah, and then they get a tour of the facility because you know that the facility, we're not using the entirety of it for the academy. It's a huge facility. And so we've marked off a quarter of it, a quadrant of the facility is what we use for the academy. The administration building, full use, everything training related. And then most of our central services, down to like the warehouse, is all training related. Um, so they get to see the training unit, which is the old administrative segregation unit that has been cleaned out, gutted, but then all offender bunks put back in. Every single DAI facility in the state has donated uh offender property, contraband, some dangerous contraband, which we trap very closely. Um, but we'll set it out. We've made it safe. So if there's like a knife, we've dolled the edges or taped it over with real thick tape. So as an officer's learning search, they don't actually cut themselves with real dangerous contraband, you know. But yeah, everything in the training unit is authentic offender property. And so they learn to count in there, they learn to search in there, they learn to pack offender property in there, they learn um all the basic, really important skills of a corrections officer. And it's right next door to where they get to stay, too.
SPEAKER_01:That is a far cry from 1992.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it sure is.
SPEAKER_01:We were I went to work at Jefferson City and there was a hotel up there. Don't remember the name of it, but we were in the basement of that hotel. Uh-huh. Uh they came in, gave us a a red folder, this pair of uh binder. Uh-huh. And other than defensive tactics, we didn't leave for I mean, that's what we talked about for two weeks.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And then that was it.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And then you just got and we got thrown in.
SPEAKER_06:You just get sent to go, okay, that's where you're gonna be today.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. And you know, I think the department learned that the more we invest in someone at the very start, the more likely they are to return that investment. And you know, in the world of business, ROI is like that's everything, the return on investment. And so our hope is that we get a return on our investment by having a well-trained quadratic staff that are interested in staying and helping get the Missouri Department of Corrections to be the forefront of corrections.
SPEAKER_01:One thing I've learned since retiring and going out and training and and talking to sheriffs and wardens across the nation, um we we talk about having this problem with retention, but it's not the retention. Everybody keeps throwing money at it, and everybody keeps throwing this type of stuff at it. The thing I see the most is whether or not the staff feel safe when they walk in. If they walk in and they feel like they've got the skills to deal with whatever comes at them, and I remember that. I mean, I didn't we just got thrown in. We didn't have skills to the street.
SPEAKER_06:I was mortified the first time I did a pet search because I had I was in a dining room, you know, and I had a hundred offenders watching me do it completely wrong on another offender.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:You know, and so that's embarrassing.
SPEAKER_03:Sure.
SPEAKER_06:You know, and that doesn't happen. It should not be happening now if the program is being followed. Yeah. Because after the first week with us, then they go to their work site and the um on the job component it follows. So they have an they have an OJT checklist, is what we call it.
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_06:And we go over all these critical skills in the three and a half days of a week that they're with us, and then they go to their work site, and now they do that checklist with the skills that we have given them time to practice without the audience. Oh, yeah. You know, practice to get hands-on, and then they get to perform those with their field training officers at their work site. And so it's like in the world of education, we're scaffolding this knowledge now to build it one plank against another plank or another plank. And it just, I mean, I know it's a catchphrase that we started several years ago, but just seeing the confidence for the right reasons in these new officers is confidence and skill, knowledge of policy.
SPEAKER_01:Those are people that they're gonna stick around.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, that's the hope.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I mean so much is scary about prison when you first walk in.
SPEAKER_06:Sure.
SPEAKER_01:You know, and I've seen so many people over the years. I've seen I've seen staff with the first day of training when we show a couple of films, they're gonna go. They just walk out, yeah. Yeah, I wasn't ready for this.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, that's not what I thought it was. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So they come in, they live there for the week.
SPEAKER_06:Uh huh.
SPEAKER_01:Uh I mean they've got mattresses and stuff. Oh, real beds. It's good to go. So, what's a day look like?
SPEAKER_06:Oh, typical day at the academy. Um, we open up the dining room around 6 30. We got free coffee in there. And we don't have hot meals for breakfast, but we provide oatmeal packets, cereal packets, fresh fruit, stuff like that. And then they report to their first class at 8 a.m. And every morning in Officer Academy is a two-hour block of classroom in the cell house. Not all of them.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_06:So the first two hours of every day is doing defensive tactics. And we used to do all of it all at once. So it was a full day, full day, full day of nothing but you know, learning how to take down and control if necessary. You know. Um, but now it's two hours at a time.
SPEAKER_05:Okay.
SPEAKER_06:And that gives them an opportunity to build upon it every day, and and they're actually doing really well retaining it through the full uh three-week portion of the officer training academy with the work site weeks in between. And and they're doing really well with the testing process and the but so every morning they start with footwork and then a different skill, and and then they get a little bit of a longer break after that first two-hour block of instruction, and then they go to their next block of instruction. Now, our classes, since we're training statewide, they've gotten really big. And so the training team has had to really evaluate how do we do this effectively for everybody to be able to learn. And so it's kind of a messy process for someone that doesn't understand the cycle. Um, but we break the groups into cohorts and we usually assign it by color. So we may have an orange cohort, a yellow cohort, and a green cohort. And it's about 50 cadets per trainer.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_06:And then so though they will rotate through those modules of instruction throughout the day so that we don't have all 200 cadets in one spot at the same time. So, like we could have from 10 to noon, we could have 50 cadets out in the parking lot learning how to do uh perimeter checks, fence checks, all of that stuff, while another 50 are in the training unit learning how to count, while another 50 are in food service learning how to search and and just monitor uh an eating a dining room, or sure uh or maybe they're in a visiting area learning how to handle the different things that can happen in a visiting room. So they and they rotate through that, but they all get the same modules within the same day. They just rotate every two hours from one section to another, to another.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, makes sense. Yeah. So my first interview, and I've talked about this in my book. Uh my first interview, HR asked me, you know, have you ever had a felony? Do you do drugs? And there was this old crusty captain sitting over there. And she said, Do you have anything for him? And he goes, You ever been in a fight? And I didn't know how to answer it. You know, I was like, uh baby. He's like, You ever win any? A couple. That was it. That was the only question the custody asked me. And I was hired.
SPEAKER_06:They put you on the front man of a five-man team. They did immediately. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah, the world's changed. I'm glad to see that. That uh uh, you know, I can't say enough about making our staff feel safe inside. That's such a huge thing. And that sounds like what you guys are uh aiming towards and giving them the knowledge and the abilities.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Uh I will tell you that the Missouri Department of Corrections gave me better defensive tactics than I had at any other place back then.
SPEAKER_06:Really that I carry.
SPEAKER_01:through my entire career.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. We hear that from a lot of individuals who've come to us from military or other corrections departments in other states.
SPEAKER_01:So they're very grateful for the training that we're stopping by and talking to me.
SPEAKER_06:And I really think we're doing big stuff. You know, and it's it it was a hard decision to walk away from it. But you know it's um gosh, it took so long to get there. And I I had a vision of what it needed to be to get there and and we got there. And so now it's someone else's turn to kind of you know tweak it and get it to where it's sustainable for a long time. And I really think it is. And it's amazing what I mean the program how it how it all came together is just absolutely amazing.
SPEAKER_01:Credit to the vision visionary who thought of this it's just but you're you're gonna see the results of that work for forever.
SPEAKER_06:Hopefully yeah I'm just grateful to have been a part of it.
SPEAKER_01:I'd like to go see it sometime.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah we'll ask we'll I'm sure we could get you in there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well I hope you have a great day. Thank you you too thank you we'll see you soon hello everybody and welcome back to the prison officer podcast. My name's Mike Cantrell and I'm here at the uh Missouri Correctional Association Fall Conference in Branson, Missouri at the beautiful Chateau on the lake. Um this is a new venue and uh it's uh it's a really nice place. We're having a lot of fun a lot of classes going on and I'm grabbing some of these uh people and um talking to them finding out what's going on with the Missouri Correctional Association. So I've got with me today Mr. Farrell Rooks and he is a subject matter expert on games uh for the training academy so um welcome to the prison officer podcast thank you I appreciate it yeah so how did you get into corrections? I always like to start there because everybody found a different path coming to work at corrections. How did it work for you?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah mine was a little bit different. So uh I'm originally from the south side of St. Louis okay uh uh went to college didn't finish it uh I got into uh retail work in the day and then I was got in security so I was a bouncer uh some clubs and smaller bars things like that I had a little bit of background in boxing and wrestling and things like that so that was kind of my niche and then I had a uh basically a sit-down with my older sisters I got two older sisters were 16 to 17 years apart and that was just kind of not saying that the job that I was doing was an important job but they sat me down it was like little brother's time to get a big boy job. Sure and you probably need to look at um a state or a federal job and I thought about police becoming a police officer uh and my sister who's she's retired military she did 20 years in the Navy uh she said if you want to go into that have you looked at corrections first that they'll teach you how to talk to somebody whether than what you're doing now is basically using your hands to make them do what you want them to do. Good analogy yeah uh so uh at that time I I put my application in and um I got uh hired on at Pacific which is right outside of St. Louis um and then I actually had too many family members that were there as uh offenders.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:So I couldn't work there uh and then Boom Vote Correctional Center called me uh a couple of days later and that's where I started my career with the department. Excellent excellent um correctional officer is that how you came in yeah but I came in as a CL1 um and once I came in I kind of I really enjoyed just being a CL1 I I started uh I became a member of the Cert team our correction mercy response team um and that really drew me in and made me stick around a lot uh and I actually did not want to promote I just I wanted to be a CO1 I was in segregation which I liked loved working yeah um I like dealing with difficult offenders that's what I like doing um but then the opportunity came about and the segregation sergeant position came up and it was day shift with weekends off had never had a weekend day off um so I got lucky and I interviewed and I got on my first try uh and I also got into training which is what I'm doing now but I started off with defensive tactics got into firearms PR-24 uh our movement teams rise disturbances uh violence is what I like we call it hard skills right uh those are the things I like I didn't know the Missouri Department of Correction still had the PR 24 we do yeah we do it's it's it's so ancient I love it uh but I love that side handle uh it gives us so much control uh but I'll think I love I'm actually a senior instructor through uh Safari Land on that so I I trained the trainers on PR 24.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah no I missed mine when I went from the state of Missouri to the feds uh we didn't have those and I missed it because that was something you could it was always there for you if you were working uh do you have it at all institutions or certain positions now every everybody that every person that's a member of CERT has to be certified at a okay cool yeah so you're a gang specialist yes how'd you get into that um coming growing up where I came up there were gangs everywhere okay uh all through St.
SPEAKER_00:Louis um I have some families I'm part of uh gangs and I was just kind of uh working in SEG and my stars at the time uh Sergeant uh Morris was the one of the at that time gang task force officers and I just happened to walk back to he's looking at a picture of this guy online he's throwing up a hand signal I said oh well he's a part of this and he like turned around and said how do you know that I was like uh I don't know like I I just do yeah uh and then that's kind of how I got my foot into the door and uh once he retired uh we switched from considering that as a game task force as a security threat group right because that's when we consider them they're a threat to our security inside of our facility and then I became the security threat group officer at Bloomville and then did that for a year or two and then I became a co-coordinator with our investigator. Yeah and I did that until I came down to the training center.
SPEAKER_01:So just from my own curiosity you know I I I started Missouri Stick Penn in 92 and basically there was the Aryan Brotherhood and there was the Muslims but they they controlled every other gang. But you went to those two people um and then when I went feds the feds were tracking like I don't know the feds they're tracking like 50 gangs when I went to the federal system so it was a huge shock for me to have to learn all that so what's going on or you know you don't have to get real specific but what gangs are are current I guess in the Missouri Department of Corrections? What are you dealing with the most?
SPEAKER_00:So one of our most uh difficult gangs that we deal with is a security therapy called Family Values. Yeah um it started off as kind of a white separatist group uh but now they evolve and they keep on evolving um those are the ones we probably had the most difficulty with very well versed in manipulating staff very good at that we also have a large population of gangster disciples uh inside of Missouri Part of Corrections Chicago based mainly Chicago based St. Hills makes the sense makes the sense they're coming that direction so we so we have a large group of that but we're also dealing with these hybrid gangs okay which are a combination between streak and prison gangs that's really coming up and I think they're gonna be the next big thing. It's not like the we was back in the 60s 70s and 80s were just floods and cryps and that was it.
SPEAKER_05:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Because a lot of these organizations like the gang socials the cribs they started back in the 60s now the real gang culture has evolved now now we're dealing with those individuals great great grandkids and there's so and there's so many of them that uh they may be having an issue with another screen threat group but then they have a cousin that's a a a rival of that so are you really going to kill your blood family over it no so then they will they will start up a hybrid gang for it. So it's kind of interesting I actually had a conversation at the Ms Midwest gang investigate association with an officer where he's it's not unknown in saying let's pull over a vehicle and you have a trip or blood on the same vehicle because they're all related and they're hanging out together and back in because when I grew up in the 80s and early 90s that was unheard of right yeah now I saw gang over my career that would work together for money for drugs and for sex.
SPEAKER_01:They could be polar opposites but if they could help each other get that then they would work together.
SPEAKER_00:That's interesting that you've got these they're working together now because they got family members they got people they know and yeah and they're all related and and we still have those groups that um maybe in the past uh that were let's say a black supremacist or white supremacist group that really didn't mess with the other race but now if you can make me some money then we can at least talk. Yeah right we can at least have a conversation um it's it I I think Missouri is highly different especially talking with people from other states in the sense that we aren't so segregated as most states. So you go down to Oklahoma, Texas, those places they self-segregate themselves. But in Missouri we're kind of the the melting pot so it's not difficult for out of the norm to walk out of city you'll see white guys hang out with black guys black guys hang out with Hispanic guys. It's just Missouri's a little bit different and they their focus mainly is on money.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah that's interesting I came from a very small town and and knew nothing about gangs when I walked into Missouri State Pen and I mean so you just get hit in the face with it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Midwest Gang Investigators Association so you're a part of that yeah so so I've been a member for about three three four years um and that's basically everybody in the Midwest uh and is in involved with law enforcement but we have uh PMP state and federal PMP you have deputies high patrol we had a uh Border Patrol agent just uh this past couple weeks ago come in and talk at our conference uh we had a conservation agent that was involved in the shooting dealing with sovereign citizens oh wow a few years ago at the conference also uh and we go to conference and it's really about networking getting to know people spreading information and talking uh because I think just law enforcement period gatekeep some information from each other the bad guys aren't right they're talking to each other so that's kind of like our our president uh Cynthia Lowe's uh she pushes that at our conferences of making us sit down talk to each other no nobody's gonna be some cool guy sitting in the back trying to be incognito you need to get up and talk to people network so we can somehow uh do as much as we can to defeat the gang violence that's going on.
SPEAKER_01:Do you think general law enforcement understands how much Intel travels through corrections?
SPEAKER_00:I think they're starting to realize I think they're starting they're starting to realize it uh because the outside law enforcement our patrol officers they have a very very dangerous job um they have a mortality rate way higher than corrections uh but they only deal with those offenders for a short period of time and then they come to us and they're with us the majority of their incarceration um we know more about them than their mothers do sometimes way more way more um I have offenders that will be stuck in my mind forever that I could be they could be walking in front of me at Walmart I can tell you exactly who they are uh what their mentality is when they're upset about something uh when they're angry about something uh when they haven't eaten when they're on dope when they're off of dope uh and and and I think that information getting it to outside of law enforcement is gonna help them become safer when they're dealing with these guys when they're out on the street. Absolutely uh especially our even our own PP staff that are out uh out on the street and what they're gonna do when they're gonna do a home vis and then walk into their homework they don't know what's gonna happen when the door opens up but if they had some information prior to them getting there maybe I need to know how to sit down and talk with these individuals uh some of the class that I taught when they bring up the most like a gangs by informing them that if you sit and you talk to one of those guys and you call them a gang yeah you shut down the conversation they're not a gang they're a club right in their world in their world yeah right so just knowing little piece of information like that when you become um involved with the screen threat groups helps you be helps you be safe and dealing with those guys. Is Missouri still pretty uh um I know motorcycle clubs have been a a problem in Missouri for a long time they still are oh absolutely okay um we had a big shootout in Casablanca uh a couple of years ago down on the strip at the uh at the lake that was between the Gallop and goose and the Mongols and uh we've known forever Gallop and goose pretty much runs Missouri that's gets in charge and they've they've been hit with a Rico case last year. Oh uh their current president is now in custody of our of Department of Missouri Department of Correction Okay um so they are still very much active in Missouri yeah interesting people they hear that name and they think you don't know yeah but uh for those of us that don't know right so we've been dealing with them for years. Um one more thing uh Missouri uh correctional association board member yes yeah how'd that come about it's uh oh the the we have a retired the old president her name is uh Becky Ahlers uh she was when I first started with the pardon she was the deputy warden at Duvall Correctional Center okay then she became the warden um and she retired um and then she stepped out and been a president of MCA I really didn't have that much knowledge of it and she called me uh one day and was like I think this is a great opportunity for you I think this is something that the association needs you're young yeah but you've got you've got some time in you've got a lot of experience with dealing with um serious situations you also have a lot of experience with just talking to people talking to staff bringing staff together um I think you'd be a good asset to the association and honestly at the time I said no Becky I'm I'm busy like I got a lot of stuff going on yeah uh and then she called me again and was like listen you've had some time to think but I think this was a good opportunity for you and at that time I just started at the training academy and I said I'm still real busy and uh two three days later she's gonna come in for her and I got an email saying welcome to the Missouri Department the Missouri Craig Association and I called her and pretty much and I uh I went to the spring or the fall symposium or the spring uh symposium and it was about security threat groups oh and so I went through that and then afterwards had the meeting and realized yeah this is what I need to be doing. This is something I can add to my plate to help out with corrections not only just in Missouri but nationwide because we can we can network each other talk to each other uh to do the best we can to make it safer for our not only our staff and corrections but we're the last line for the public also us being safe means our public safe too yeah wow fascinating conversation though thank you very much yeah I appreciate you coming on here and uh hope to maybe we'll get you on for a whole episode sometime.
SPEAKER_01:Hey I'm I'm fully okay with that I'd love to talk to you some more yep I appreciate it have a great day thank you too thank you guys hey before we go I'd like to take a minute to thank one of our sponsors Omni Real Time Locating System is a company I've been working closely with for years. I'm proud to be a part of this innovative team that's developed the best real-time locating system on the market today for your jail or prison. Omni's PRIA compliant real-time monitoring technology is the very best way to track and record your inmates' locations, their movements their interactions throughout every square inch of your correctional facility imagine getting an alarm the second an escape happens or an alert that lets you know when an inmate's heart rate drops below a set level to learn more about omni go to wwwn irtls.com that's omni rtls dot com. Or you can click on today's show notes to get in the information guide. Omni real-time locating system is a powerful tool specifically designed for the modern correctional professional if you haven't done so please take a moment to like my podcast or better yet hit the subscribe button so that you'll be notified when the next episode comes out thanks for listening and let's be safe out there. Hey before we go I'd like to take a minute to thank one of our sponsors Omni Real Time Locating System is a company I've been working closely with for years. I'm proud to be a part of this innovative team that's developed the best real-time locating system on the market today for your jail or prison. Omni's pre-compliant real-time monitoring technology is the very best way to track and record your inmates' locations, their movements their interactions throughout every square inch of your correctional facility. Imagine getting an alarm the second an escape happens or an alert that lets you know when an inmate's heart rate drops below a set level. To learn more about omni go to wwwn irtls.com that's omniartls com. Or you can click on today's show notes to get in the information guide. Omni real time locating system is a powerful tool specifically designed for the modern correctional professional. If you haven't done so please take a moment to like my podcast or better yet, hit the subscribe button so that you'll be notified when the next episode comes out. Thanks for listening and let's be safe out there.
