Investing in controlling mechanisms like weapons, guards, and other means of surveillance and control, while suppressing the violent tendencies of most inmates do little to help remove the causes of aggression. A more comprehensive approach is required that takes a study of the whole gamut of psychological emotional, physical needs and suffering into one group and then provide better training to the personnel in handling these emotions and the prisoners. They must be adepts in identifying the threat potential is necessary. (Carter; Glaser, 1977) Another important fact that was clearly visible in the negotiation process and the later handling of the issue was the tardy help received from the outside, or the reluctance to get outside help. The negotiators must have gone in to get help from experts from other prisons, or departments who have handled these situations. Consulting experts is a matter of discretion and if exercised cautiously will be beneficial. In some cases it would have been the most appropriate thing to do. The importance of the situation and the ethical considerations that relate to the danger to human lives will necessitate the request of help of outsiders and specialists. The important consideration in assessing the potential violence is to plan to prevent the occurring of the crisis by identifying the potential flaws. The through prepared ness at all times with a violence prevention program and design mitigates the longer and arduous methods of responding to something that could occur. Preparation therefore is the most important part of preventing violence and the training and being prepared effectively brings about an automatic reaction to the event at the desired time. (Corcoran; Cawood, 2003)

The crisis plan

The most important thing that any business or institution must have is a crisis plan and emergency action methods planned before hand. This is advised for business and all institutions and must be considered for security dependent institutions like the prison more. These plans that can be brought into play the moment a crisis occurs help get direction and mitigate the response time and loss. The crisis plan is not only important for corporate but also for the institutions. However even in the case of corporate...

There must be a comprehensive crisis plan worked out and the managers ought to test and control the plan and modify it after frequent dry run trials. In other words like the fire drill the crisis plan too has to be tested thoroughly and regularly. Contingency planning is based on the pre-crisis situation and the phase is a structure for crisis management. The crisis event then has its own demands and the plan ought to cover this and the post crisis operations as well. (Lerbinger, 1997)
Conclusion

Keeping the prison incident as a target, we may conclude that to avoid any crisis in institutions, there must be adequate physical and human safeguards and routines that help check on failures and potential threats. Further a crisis planning and management scheme must always be in place and frequently restructured and practiced. Similarly the training of the personnel and calling for help when required or consulting experts and routine checking and enhancing awareness can avoid hostage situations and also bring them to a speedy close should one arise.

References

Carter, Robert Melvin; Glaser, Daniel. (1977) "Correctional Institutions" Lippincott.

Philadelphia, PA.

Corcoran, Michael H; Cawood, James S. (2003) "Violence Assessment and Intervention: The Practitioner's Handbook" CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL.

Garrett, Michael. (2004, Jun) "In Need of Correction: Arizona's prison system is overloaded and its staff is overwhelmed" Retrieved 4 April, 2008 at http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid%3A57551

Lerbinger, Otto. (1997) "The Crisis Manager: Facing Risk and Responsibility" Lawrence

Erlbaum Associates. Mahwah, NJ.

N.A. (n. d.) "From Her Desk" Retrieved 4 April, 2008 at http://www.azcorrections.gov/News/2005/lewispost.pdf

N.A. (n. d.) "The Morey Unit Hostage Incident" Retrieved 4 April, 2008 at http://community.nicic.org/files/folders/2522/download.aspx

N.A. (2004) "The Morey Unit Hostage Incident" Retrieved 4 April, 2008 at http://web.archive.org/web/20040725030710/http://www.governor.state.az.us/press/0403/finalreport.pdf