has anyone ever been s_e_t_u_p????????????????????????????????
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Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2005
Location: brooklyn, new york
Posts: 1,639
has anyone ever been s_e_t_u_p????????????????????????????????
i've been subjected to about 77% of the fist in this article
and
my friends in AA say
"who's fault is that"
"you're complaining"
"do a 4th step"
"you need to speak"
and
when i speak about it
"you're..........."
STEPS TO A SET-UP
Observation
Victim Selection
Test Limits/Fish Testing
The Support System
Empathy/Sympathy
Plea for Help
We/They Syndrome
Offer of Protection
Allusion to Sex
The Touch
The Rumor Clinic
The Shopping List
The Lever
The Sting
STING!
By Sgt. James Topham
The confidence game in its many shades and hues is played the world over by con artists. It is played in prison too. Read how corrections employees can get into a compromising situation and not realize it until the trap has been sprung. This author spells out the warning signs in the 14 steps of a "set-up." Part one of four.
For the most part we have lived our lives --prior to entering this field-- in towns and cities surrounded by neighbors that we trusted and could rely on in our daily routine. We tended to give people the benefit of the doubt, and paid little attention to the idea that someone would deceive us. Becoming familiar with the saying "a man's word is his bond" we may have come to expect and accept that philosophy as binding. But when we became educated as correctional employees, all that changed.
There are inmates who know almost instinctively how to manipulate the will of another person because coercion has, in many cases, become a lifestyle. Over the years of committing crimes, being arrested and incarcerated, some of these inmates have honed their skills. They have developed intricate and sophisticated systems of deception, often times for no other reason than the pleasure it provides them.
The system of deception they have created is called "the set-up." It's a game. Webster's New World Dictionary defines a game as any form of play, amusement, or sport involving competition under rules. There is a winner and a loser. The winner, in the case of a successful set-up receives rewards and the loser pays the consequences. The inmate can receive illegal contraband, sex, status among peers, and the personal satisfaction of just being able to do it.
The loser's rewards are less glamorous. The loser gets terminated from employment, faces criminal charges and in some cases faces death.
In reviewing the steps of behavioral manipulation designed to show how inmates implement a set up, it should be understood that this process does not always develop in the same order, but all the elements will usually be utilized regardless of the procedure the inmate employees. The average set up takes approximately 19 months to be successful. It is a slow process because it is very subtle. It can go on in full view of employee's peers, supervisors and administrators without being recognized. However, depending on the victim's susceptibility level, set-ups can occur in just weeks. To understand the set-up one must realize how manipulation works.
Manipulation
Manipulation means to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means, especially to one's own advantage. To change by artful or unfair means so as to serve one's purpose. With that in mind, here is a review of manipulative tactics that can be used by inmates:
Flattery
Empathy
Sympathy
Helplessness
Sensitivity
Confidentiality
Isolation
Touching, Sexual References
Coercion and intimidation.
Part Two continued in the next Compass. Printed with permission of Corrections Technology and Management Magazine. Sgt. James Topham is a training coordinator for the New Hampshire Department of Corrections.
The confidence game in its many shades and hues is played the world over by con artists. It is played in prison too. Read how corrections employees may get into a compromising situation and not realize it until the trap has been sprung. This author spells out the warning signs in the 14 steps of a "set-up." Part two of four
To summarize part one: Manipulation means to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means, especially to one's own advantage. Here is a review of manipulative tactics that can be used by inmates:
Flattery: stroke the ego.
Empathy: identify without feeling sorry: "I can relate to that."
Sympathy: make you feel sorry for them.
Helplessness: beware the inmate asking for help.
Confidentiality: to share a "secret" or create a bond.
Isolation and protect: rumors, playing officer against officer.
Touching, Sexual References: always unacceptable.
Manipulation is accomplished on an individual victim basis. Victims are selected because of their personality traits. Inmates use traits of the potential victim that most would see as good. A corrections employee's education, years of experience, rank, sex, ethnicity and intellect are not protectors. Any trait possessed by the target officer that inmates can construe as a weakness can result in that individual being selected as a victim in a set-up.
Corrections employees, as well as inmates, place officers and staff in three basic categories: soft, medium and hard. (In most plans they use the word mellow. I find the word mellow is too close to soft and has a connotation about it, so for that reason I use the word medium).
Soft employees are usually very trusting, overly familiar, and naive. They may have a strong desire to help the inmate, be sympathetic and understanding. They have the inability to say "no" or take command.
Hard employees go strictly by the book. Everything is black and white and there is no in-between. They grant no leeway. This is often associated with what we call the "macho syndrome."
Medium employees know how to use the traits of both the soft and hard categories at the appropriate times in the right manner.
Inmates will concentrate on the soft and hard employees. Soft because of the inability or hesitancy to say no combined with their understanding and sympathetic traits. Hard because inmates may feel that the hardness and the "by the book, no exceptions attitude" disguises a weakness in that individual.
The medium employee who uses both traits at the appropriate times will usually be left alone. This is not because they cannot be manipulated, but because the process would take too much time. Their actions will discourage the manipulation process. For example: Soft=Gullible; Medium=Cautious; Hard=Suspicious.
The 14 Steps
There are three processes in the set-up: techniques, tools, and turnouts. The first two processes-techniques and tools-are considered the net spread to catch the victim. In the final process-the turnout-the inmate receives the payoff for his or her patience and ability to manipulate the victim. It is not until this late stage that the individual will realize he has fallen victim to a set-up.
The three processes are made up of fourteen steps. The first three steps explain the inmate's method of operation. This is the technique stage. The next eight steps contain tools they will use in the set up. Here an inmate's manipulation tactics and resources will be used to turn the employee. The final three steps culminate in the turnout. And these last steps are used to compromise the employee and advise them they are in real trouble.
Techniques
Step 1: Observation process
An inmate does not just pick a name out of a hat for selection of a victim. It is a precise, close, silent study by the inmate to determine the likelihood of a victim. The target's movement, words and actions in every aspect of the daily job supply a manipulator with information vital to the process.
The observer watches and listens to a potential victim. Actions and verbalizations help decide whether or not the person is a good candidate. The observer pays close attention to an employee who uses inmate jargon, ignores minor rules violations, plays favorites and is easily distracted. Responses to seemingly harmless questions will assist in the construction of this profile. This takes place over months. It is slow, subtle, and calculated.
Body language
The manner and method in which a person carries him or herself gives off messages. The observer watches body language in order to know if the individual has a lack of confidence or is unsure in certain situations. The observer wants to know if fear can be instilled, and if the corrections employee portrays a like or dislike for the job.
These are only a few of the observations that can be made on the basis of body language. The way the uniform is worn can transmit signals to the observer too. Inmates may assume an individual's unpressed clothing, unkempt personal hygiene and all-around sloppy look, indicate lack of self esteem and professionalism.
Listening observation
We all know but sometimes forget, that inmates listen to everything we say and how we say it. Much information about the employee is obtained just by listening. The inmate listens to see if the employee likes or dislikes certain inmates. He listens to how the correctional employee responds to supervisors and to peers. He listens for personal information, such as hobbies, home address; whether marital status; and other seemingly harmless details.
Once the inmate finds out the individual's likes and dislikes, he or she can adopt the same ones, even if it means studying up on certain subjects or finding another inmate with knowledge in that area of interest. When the employee next appears, the conversation will be based on the employee's likes or dislikes in an attempt to form a different relationship between the employee and inmate.
Up to a point, several inmates have assisted in the observation. Each of them gets specific information a bit at a time and then they compile all information gathered by the set-up team.
Verbal observation
Based on the employee profile a turner will be chosen from the inmates with the same likes, dislikes, and background as the employee. The turner, along with several other friendly inmates will confront the employee and thus the conversation will begin. Other inmates who accompany the turner are only there to see how the turner will be received by the employee.
Part Three
The confidence game in its many shades and hues is played the world over by con artists. It is played in prison too. Read how corrections employees can get into a compromising situation and not realize it until the trap has been sprung. This author spells out the warning signs in the 14 steps of a "set-up." Part three of four.
Tools
The tools of the set-up are found in the next steps. (These steps follow the typical sequence of their appearance in the set-up process. However they can proceed in any order, calculated to validate that individual.
Step 4: The Support System
This step is summed up as a development of togetherness and understanding. This begins subtly with both verbal and nonverbal support. Verbal support could be comments of support and understanding indirectly given to the intended victim through conversations with other inmates. This can be done in such a way so the victim will hear the comments of support. Later they will be given directly to the victim, i.e., "You're the best CO in the joint." The inmate will build the victim's ego.
Nonverbal support will be subtle too, and at first could consist of being on time for work every day, going the "extra mile" for the victim without being asked, being enthusiastic about work assignment, and always performing well with no common inmate complaints.
The inmate wants to make himself indispensable and if possible make the victim's job easier. Pledges of devotion and faith in the individual will help create a trusting friendship.
Step 5: Empathy/Sympathy
Empathy bases itself on a shared experience, attitude, thought, belief and experience. The more areas encompassed by empathy the greater the bond becomes between victim and inmate.
Step 6: Plea for Help
The inmate is trying to build a you/me situation. Following the empathy and sympathy stage you will be "you are the only one who can help me." The inmate will draw in the victim using the need for help with: "I have been a failure my entire life." "I am such a waste." "Please help!" Remember, the employee's job is to help the inmates within the prescribed manner. That is the key, "within the prescribed manner." That does not mean keeping things confidential between the employee and the inmate.
Inmates try to establish a strong you/me situation by using confidentiality. "I have to tell you something, but do not tell anyone." There is nothing confidential between an employee and an inmate.
Step.7: We/They Syndrome
This step demonstrates the most subtle of the setup steps and always pits one staff member against another. The inmates want to separate the victim from the rest of the staff so the victim will turn to them for ego support. Inmates will tell the victim that they overheard staff talking down about the victim and that they can "understand." The inmates may tell the victim, "They treat you like they treat us." They appeal to the victim's ego with statements such as, "They're wrong about you," and, "They don't know you like I do."
If this will not work with the victim, then inmates on the team might go to other staff members about the person they are trying to set up. This is an effort to divide and conquer. Dissension among ranks works. If the victim will not buy into the "team support system" then the inmates may go in the opposite direction and try to remove the victim from his support system.
If those two techniques do not work, there is another approach in the we/they syndrome. Dwell on a cause. Whatever position the victim takes about certain things, the inmates take the same views. Inmates support whatever position a susceptible employee takes, such as race, background, religion and prejudices.
Step 8: Offer Protection
Offers of protection can be minor or serious. A minor offer could be as simple as friendliness and trust to the inmate "taking the heat" for something he or she is requesting from the victim.
The more serious offer consists of the use of fear and staging of an event. The inmate offers information on dangers to the victim. The inmate reassures the victim that he would never let this happen to the victim.
If the victim does not appear to be concerned about danger, then the set-up team may stage an event to demonstrate to the victim that inmates will be there to "protect" him or her. This takes place when no other staff members are in the area to come to the aid of the victim. Inmates want the employee to feel that his or her peers are not able to assist in time of trouble.
The confidence game in its many shades and hues is played in prison too. Corrections employees may get into a compromising situation and not realize it until the trap has been sprung. This author spells out the warning signs in the 14 steps of a "set-up." Here are the final steps. This is the conclusion of a four-part series.
Step 9: Allusion to Sex
The inmate will approach when he or she feels that the cultivated friendship with an officer or employee will tolerate it.
Comments may be directed at the officer but away from the inmate, such as claiming another inmate made certain comments and that the manipulator is sticking up for the employee. For example: "Last night while the women were sitting around talking one of the girls said if it were not for being in prison she would have sex with you freely. I said you were not like that." The inmates wait for a response to determine the next step. Even having no response could lead the inmate to conclude that it is acceptable to have this type of conversation.
Step 10: The Touch System
The touch does not have to be sexual. For males it could be a handshake, pat on the back, or the placing of a hand on the shoulder. Touching of females may be less obvious such as the flicking of dirt from the uniform, straightening the collar, or even a pat on the back. Even the accidental touching of a breast has proven to increase the personal bond. The inmate will usually apologize profusely until the incident is forgotten.
But, touching will grow more frequent and prolonged as well as better timed to ensure that no other staff member is around. Also, the touching will become more serious.
Step 11: The Rumor
A well-placed rumor is devastating to anyone's reputation. It creates doubt in the minds of everyone, even in the people who state their disbelief. Disbelievers will still walk away with a gut feeling that there must be some truth to the rumor, or it would not have been generated.
Inmates will start the rumor in a way that will not bring attention to them; usually, in an area away from the victim's work. This lessens the chances of the rumor being associated to the inmates and allows the rumor to gain strength. The rumor will create a feeling of isolation in the subject of the rumor and create a strengthening of the bond between the inmate and the intended victim.
TURNOUT
Up to this point inmates have violated no laws and rule infractions have been minor. They have implemented the first 11 steps of the set-up process without being detected. This has been a period of many months. (The average is approximately 19 months).
Before taking the next steps inmates need to be sure the victim is being deceived and can also be controlled. They cannot proceed without breaking the law and committing serious rule violations. The final three steps are the point of no return for all involved.
Step 12: The Shopping List
Inmates now make demands and expose their true intentions. The shopping list is a list of contraband items. It not only includes goods, but also encompasses sexual favors. The list tells the victim that he or she has been compromised.
Step 13: The Lever
A lever will pry, or force an object to respond through the proper distribution of pressure. If the turners have done the job properly, they will get their demands met. If inmates have gotten this far, somewhere along the line there has been some type of indiscretion on the victim's behalf that the manipulator can threaten to expose. This is a very dangerous time for the victim. Fun and games are over, and if the victim does not submit to inmate demands, then he is at the inmate's mercy-and could pay with his or her life. Victims that submit are usually led to believe this is a one-time request. But it is rarely, if ever, a onetime request. The victim will feel release of pressure thinking that after demands are met, things will return to normal. This is not the case.
Step 14: The Sting
The victim has a choice to make: do as you are told or suffer the consequences. Some employees comply with demands, others will resign, and some will risk the possibility of being harmed and expose the situation. By this point it is a lose/lose situation for the victim.
Inmate set-ups go on right under our noses. They involve peers, supervisors, and even administrators. If you see someone headed down the path, stop them and report the inmate actions. Help each other to survive in this jungle we call our place of employment. Corrections professionals work in the inmate's living environment and we can never forget that. Take nothing for granted.
This has been an excerpt from a series by Sgt. Jim Topham, a training coordinator at Merrimac, New Hampshire, County Department of Corrections. He is a regular contributor to Corrections Technology and Management magazine. This excerpt was used with permission of the magazine.
Tips To Avoid A Set-Up:
Professionalism: respect your environment, never become unduly familiar with inmates
Recognition training: learn the techniques and methods used in the set-up
Communication monitoring: remember that what you say and how you say it is constantly being monitored by inmates
Information gathering: this works both ways. Know the inmates that work for you and learn their behavior
Procedural knowledge: know inmate rules and regulations as well as employee rules and regulations
Confident Command: be firm, fair, consistent and objective in your contact with inmates
Chain of Command: use your supervision of inmates as a source of information and keep your chain of command informed of situations, questions and problems
Documentation: this is your best form of protection. If it is not in writing, then it did not happen. File reports and interdepartmental memos on incidents. Keep your notebook complete with information regarding times, dates and names among other things.
Learn the effective and appropriate use of the word "no."
Crisis judgement: protect yourself; report it, respond appropriately, using the minimum force necessary, communicate it, and document, document, document.
and
my friends in AA say
"who's fault is that"
"you're complaining"
"do a 4th step"
"you need to speak"
and
when i speak about it
"you're..........."
STEPS TO A SET-UP
Observation
Victim Selection
Test Limits/Fish Testing
The Support System
Empathy/Sympathy
Plea for Help
We/They Syndrome
Offer of Protection
Allusion to Sex
The Touch
The Rumor Clinic
The Shopping List
The Lever
The Sting
STING!
By Sgt. James Topham
The confidence game in its many shades and hues is played the world over by con artists. It is played in prison too. Read how corrections employees can get into a compromising situation and not realize it until the trap has been sprung. This author spells out the warning signs in the 14 steps of a "set-up." Part one of four.
For the most part we have lived our lives --prior to entering this field-- in towns and cities surrounded by neighbors that we trusted and could rely on in our daily routine. We tended to give people the benefit of the doubt, and paid little attention to the idea that someone would deceive us. Becoming familiar with the saying "a man's word is his bond" we may have come to expect and accept that philosophy as binding. But when we became educated as correctional employees, all that changed.
There are inmates who know almost instinctively how to manipulate the will of another person because coercion has, in many cases, become a lifestyle. Over the years of committing crimes, being arrested and incarcerated, some of these inmates have honed their skills. They have developed intricate and sophisticated systems of deception, often times for no other reason than the pleasure it provides them.
The system of deception they have created is called "the set-up." It's a game. Webster's New World Dictionary defines a game as any form of play, amusement, or sport involving competition under rules. There is a winner and a loser. The winner, in the case of a successful set-up receives rewards and the loser pays the consequences. The inmate can receive illegal contraband, sex, status among peers, and the personal satisfaction of just being able to do it.
The loser's rewards are less glamorous. The loser gets terminated from employment, faces criminal charges and in some cases faces death.
In reviewing the steps of behavioral manipulation designed to show how inmates implement a set up, it should be understood that this process does not always develop in the same order, but all the elements will usually be utilized regardless of the procedure the inmate employees. The average set up takes approximately 19 months to be successful. It is a slow process because it is very subtle. It can go on in full view of employee's peers, supervisors and administrators without being recognized. However, depending on the victim's susceptibility level, set-ups can occur in just weeks. To understand the set-up one must realize how manipulation works.
Manipulation
Manipulation means to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means, especially to one's own advantage. To change by artful or unfair means so as to serve one's purpose. With that in mind, here is a review of manipulative tactics that can be used by inmates:
Flattery
Empathy
Sympathy
Helplessness
Sensitivity
Confidentiality
Isolation
Touching, Sexual References
Coercion and intimidation.
Part Two continued in the next Compass. Printed with permission of Corrections Technology and Management Magazine. Sgt. James Topham is a training coordinator for the New Hampshire Department of Corrections.
The confidence game in its many shades and hues is played the world over by con artists. It is played in prison too. Read how corrections employees may get into a compromising situation and not realize it until the trap has been sprung. This author spells out the warning signs in the 14 steps of a "set-up." Part two of four
To summarize part one: Manipulation means to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means, especially to one's own advantage. Here is a review of manipulative tactics that can be used by inmates:
Flattery: stroke the ego.
Empathy: identify without feeling sorry: "I can relate to that."
Sympathy: make you feel sorry for them.
Helplessness: beware the inmate asking for help.
Confidentiality: to share a "secret" or create a bond.
Isolation and protect: rumors, playing officer against officer.
Touching, Sexual References: always unacceptable.
Manipulation is accomplished on an individual victim basis. Victims are selected because of their personality traits. Inmates use traits of the potential victim that most would see as good. A corrections employee's education, years of experience, rank, sex, ethnicity and intellect are not protectors. Any trait possessed by the target officer that inmates can construe as a weakness can result in that individual being selected as a victim in a set-up.
Corrections employees, as well as inmates, place officers and staff in three basic categories: soft, medium and hard. (In most plans they use the word mellow. I find the word mellow is too close to soft and has a connotation about it, so for that reason I use the word medium).
Soft employees are usually very trusting, overly familiar, and naive. They may have a strong desire to help the inmate, be sympathetic and understanding. They have the inability to say "no" or take command.
Hard employees go strictly by the book. Everything is black and white and there is no in-between. They grant no leeway. This is often associated with what we call the "macho syndrome."
Medium employees know how to use the traits of both the soft and hard categories at the appropriate times in the right manner.
Inmates will concentrate on the soft and hard employees. Soft because of the inability or hesitancy to say no combined with their understanding and sympathetic traits. Hard because inmates may feel that the hardness and the "by the book, no exceptions attitude" disguises a weakness in that individual.
The medium employee who uses both traits at the appropriate times will usually be left alone. This is not because they cannot be manipulated, but because the process would take too much time. Their actions will discourage the manipulation process. For example: Soft=Gullible; Medium=Cautious; Hard=Suspicious.
The 14 Steps
There are three processes in the set-up: techniques, tools, and turnouts. The first two processes-techniques and tools-are considered the net spread to catch the victim. In the final process-the turnout-the inmate receives the payoff for his or her patience and ability to manipulate the victim. It is not until this late stage that the individual will realize he has fallen victim to a set-up.
The three processes are made up of fourteen steps. The first three steps explain the inmate's method of operation. This is the technique stage. The next eight steps contain tools they will use in the set up. Here an inmate's manipulation tactics and resources will be used to turn the employee. The final three steps culminate in the turnout. And these last steps are used to compromise the employee and advise them they are in real trouble.
Techniques
Step 1: Observation process
An inmate does not just pick a name out of a hat for selection of a victim. It is a precise, close, silent study by the inmate to determine the likelihood of a victim. The target's movement, words and actions in every aspect of the daily job supply a manipulator with information vital to the process.
The observer watches and listens to a potential victim. Actions and verbalizations help decide whether or not the person is a good candidate. The observer pays close attention to an employee who uses inmate jargon, ignores minor rules violations, plays favorites and is easily distracted. Responses to seemingly harmless questions will assist in the construction of this profile. This takes place over months. It is slow, subtle, and calculated.
Body language
The manner and method in which a person carries him or herself gives off messages. The observer watches body language in order to know if the individual has a lack of confidence or is unsure in certain situations. The observer wants to know if fear can be instilled, and if the corrections employee portrays a like or dislike for the job.
These are only a few of the observations that can be made on the basis of body language. The way the uniform is worn can transmit signals to the observer too. Inmates may assume an individual's unpressed clothing, unkempt personal hygiene and all-around sloppy look, indicate lack of self esteem and professionalism.
Listening observation
We all know but sometimes forget, that inmates listen to everything we say and how we say it. Much information about the employee is obtained just by listening. The inmate listens to see if the employee likes or dislikes certain inmates. He listens to how the correctional employee responds to supervisors and to peers. He listens for personal information, such as hobbies, home address; whether marital status; and other seemingly harmless details.
Once the inmate finds out the individual's likes and dislikes, he or she can adopt the same ones, even if it means studying up on certain subjects or finding another inmate with knowledge in that area of interest. When the employee next appears, the conversation will be based on the employee's likes or dislikes in an attempt to form a different relationship between the employee and inmate.
Up to a point, several inmates have assisted in the observation. Each of them gets specific information a bit at a time and then they compile all information gathered by the set-up team.
Verbal observation
Based on the employee profile a turner will be chosen from the inmates with the same likes, dislikes, and background as the employee. The turner, along with several other friendly inmates will confront the employee and thus the conversation will begin. Other inmates who accompany the turner are only there to see how the turner will be received by the employee.
Part Three
The confidence game in its many shades and hues is played the world over by con artists. It is played in prison too. Read how corrections employees can get into a compromising situation and not realize it until the trap has been sprung. This author spells out the warning signs in the 14 steps of a "set-up." Part three of four.
Tools
The tools of the set-up are found in the next steps. (These steps follow the typical sequence of their appearance in the set-up process. However they can proceed in any order, calculated to validate that individual.
Step 4: The Support System
This step is summed up as a development of togetherness and understanding. This begins subtly with both verbal and nonverbal support. Verbal support could be comments of support and understanding indirectly given to the intended victim through conversations with other inmates. This can be done in such a way so the victim will hear the comments of support. Later they will be given directly to the victim, i.e., "You're the best CO in the joint." The inmate will build the victim's ego.
Nonverbal support will be subtle too, and at first could consist of being on time for work every day, going the "extra mile" for the victim without being asked, being enthusiastic about work assignment, and always performing well with no common inmate complaints.
The inmate wants to make himself indispensable and if possible make the victim's job easier. Pledges of devotion and faith in the individual will help create a trusting friendship.
Step 5: Empathy/Sympathy
Empathy bases itself on a shared experience, attitude, thought, belief and experience. The more areas encompassed by empathy the greater the bond becomes between victim and inmate.
Step 6: Plea for Help
The inmate is trying to build a you/me situation. Following the empathy and sympathy stage you will be "you are the only one who can help me." The inmate will draw in the victim using the need for help with: "I have been a failure my entire life." "I am such a waste." "Please help!" Remember, the employee's job is to help the inmates within the prescribed manner. That is the key, "within the prescribed manner." That does not mean keeping things confidential between the employee and the inmate.
Inmates try to establish a strong you/me situation by using confidentiality. "I have to tell you something, but do not tell anyone." There is nothing confidential between an employee and an inmate.
Step.7: We/They Syndrome
This step demonstrates the most subtle of the setup steps and always pits one staff member against another. The inmates want to separate the victim from the rest of the staff so the victim will turn to them for ego support. Inmates will tell the victim that they overheard staff talking down about the victim and that they can "understand." The inmates may tell the victim, "They treat you like they treat us." They appeal to the victim's ego with statements such as, "They're wrong about you," and, "They don't know you like I do."
If this will not work with the victim, then inmates on the team might go to other staff members about the person they are trying to set up. This is an effort to divide and conquer. Dissension among ranks works. If the victim will not buy into the "team support system" then the inmates may go in the opposite direction and try to remove the victim from his support system.
If those two techniques do not work, there is another approach in the we/they syndrome. Dwell on a cause. Whatever position the victim takes about certain things, the inmates take the same views. Inmates support whatever position a susceptible employee takes, such as race, background, religion and prejudices.
Step 8: Offer Protection
Offers of protection can be minor or serious. A minor offer could be as simple as friendliness and trust to the inmate "taking the heat" for something he or she is requesting from the victim.
The more serious offer consists of the use of fear and staging of an event. The inmate offers information on dangers to the victim. The inmate reassures the victim that he would never let this happen to the victim.
If the victim does not appear to be concerned about danger, then the set-up team may stage an event to demonstrate to the victim that inmates will be there to "protect" him or her. This takes place when no other staff members are in the area to come to the aid of the victim. Inmates want the employee to feel that his or her peers are not able to assist in time of trouble.
The confidence game in its many shades and hues is played in prison too. Corrections employees may get into a compromising situation and not realize it until the trap has been sprung. This author spells out the warning signs in the 14 steps of a "set-up." Here are the final steps. This is the conclusion of a four-part series.
Step 9: Allusion to Sex
The inmate will approach when he or she feels that the cultivated friendship with an officer or employee will tolerate it.
Comments may be directed at the officer but away from the inmate, such as claiming another inmate made certain comments and that the manipulator is sticking up for the employee. For example: "Last night while the women were sitting around talking one of the girls said if it were not for being in prison she would have sex with you freely. I said you were not like that." The inmates wait for a response to determine the next step. Even having no response could lead the inmate to conclude that it is acceptable to have this type of conversation.
Step 10: The Touch System
The touch does not have to be sexual. For males it could be a handshake, pat on the back, or the placing of a hand on the shoulder. Touching of females may be less obvious such as the flicking of dirt from the uniform, straightening the collar, or even a pat on the back. Even the accidental touching of a breast has proven to increase the personal bond. The inmate will usually apologize profusely until the incident is forgotten.
But, touching will grow more frequent and prolonged as well as better timed to ensure that no other staff member is around. Also, the touching will become more serious.
Step 11: The Rumor
A well-placed rumor is devastating to anyone's reputation. It creates doubt in the minds of everyone, even in the people who state their disbelief. Disbelievers will still walk away with a gut feeling that there must be some truth to the rumor, or it would not have been generated.
Inmates will start the rumor in a way that will not bring attention to them; usually, in an area away from the victim's work. This lessens the chances of the rumor being associated to the inmates and allows the rumor to gain strength. The rumor will create a feeling of isolation in the subject of the rumor and create a strengthening of the bond between the inmate and the intended victim.
TURNOUT
Up to this point inmates have violated no laws and rule infractions have been minor. They have implemented the first 11 steps of the set-up process without being detected. This has been a period of many months. (The average is approximately 19 months).
Before taking the next steps inmates need to be sure the victim is being deceived and can also be controlled. They cannot proceed without breaking the law and committing serious rule violations. The final three steps are the point of no return for all involved.
Step 12: The Shopping List
Inmates now make demands and expose their true intentions. The shopping list is a list of contraband items. It not only includes goods, but also encompasses sexual favors. The list tells the victim that he or she has been compromised.
Step 13: The Lever
A lever will pry, or force an object to respond through the proper distribution of pressure. If the turners have done the job properly, they will get their demands met. If inmates have gotten this far, somewhere along the line there has been some type of indiscretion on the victim's behalf that the manipulator can threaten to expose. This is a very dangerous time for the victim. Fun and games are over, and if the victim does not submit to inmate demands, then he is at the inmate's mercy-and could pay with his or her life. Victims that submit are usually led to believe this is a one-time request. But it is rarely, if ever, a onetime request. The victim will feel release of pressure thinking that after demands are met, things will return to normal. This is not the case.
Step 14: The Sting
The victim has a choice to make: do as you are told or suffer the consequences. Some employees comply with demands, others will resign, and some will risk the possibility of being harmed and expose the situation. By this point it is a lose/lose situation for the victim.
Inmate set-ups go on right under our noses. They involve peers, supervisors, and even administrators. If you see someone headed down the path, stop them and report the inmate actions. Help each other to survive in this jungle we call our place of employment. Corrections professionals work in the inmate's living environment and we can never forget that. Take nothing for granted.
This has been an excerpt from a series by Sgt. Jim Topham, a training coordinator at Merrimac, New Hampshire, County Department of Corrections. He is a regular contributor to Corrections Technology and Management magazine. This excerpt was used with permission of the magazine.
Tips To Avoid A Set-Up:
Professionalism: respect your environment, never become unduly familiar with inmates
Recognition training: learn the techniques and methods used in the set-up
Communication monitoring: remember that what you say and how you say it is constantly being monitored by inmates
Information gathering: this works both ways. Know the inmates that work for you and learn their behavior
Procedural knowledge: know inmate rules and regulations as well as employee rules and regulations
Confident Command: be firm, fair, consistent and objective in your contact with inmates
Chain of Command: use your supervision of inmates as a source of information and keep your chain of command informed of situations, questions and problems
Documentation: this is your best form of protection. If it is not in writing, then it did not happen. File reports and interdepartmental memos on incidents. Keep your notebook complete with information regarding times, dates and names among other things.
Learn the effective and appropriate use of the word "no."
Crisis judgement: protect yourself; report it, respond appropriately, using the minimum force necessary, communicate it, and document, document, document.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Starting over all over again
Posts: 4,426
Hey there fraankie 
That's a great article. I see it's about corrections officer and jail inmates. I don't know the situation that _you_ are involved in, so I can't comment as to whether you had "a part" in it or not. Are you a corrections officer? If you are then you need to go talk to your supervisor.
Mike
Originally Posted by fraankie 
... i've been subjected to about 77% of the fist in this article and my friends in AA say...
Mike
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