Criminal justice question

[Tacit Blue]

Hello,


I'm currently taking a Criminal Justice class right now. Were on the topic of Reasonable/Deadly force and which situations officers may apply it. I came across the case of Tennessee v. Garner ; which the Supreme Court ruled that " the use of deadly force to prevent the escape of all felony suspects, whatever the circumstances, is constitutionally unreasonable" .

My question is their a exemptions for prisons? They have guard towers with officers armed with assault rifles in order to prevent escape of fleeing suspects.Can they legally shoot a fleeing prisoner? or would it somehow have to pertain to deadly force regulations such as " posing a immediate danger to the public or officers" in order to be justified? I know this law originated from common law, and apparently doesn't apply anymore.

Would Graham v. Connor apply to this?

[kantstudien]

They are in prison, thus they are no longer "suspects," but rather convicted felons.

[Tacit Blue]

Looks like I forgot conviction vs " suspects".

[RedMongooSe]

that armed guard would have to justify the immediate threat to the citizens and community members of that fleeing felon. Is the BG in prison for murder or not paying taxes? How much of an immediate threat is the guy to the community. If the guard did take the shot, depending on where the correctional facility was in the country, he would have lots of explaining to do to someone.

[QQQ]

that armed guard would have to justify the immediate threat to the citizens and community members of that fleeing felon. Is the BG in prison for murder or not paying taxes? How much of an immediate threat is the guy to the community. If the guard did take the shot, depending on where the correctional facility was in the country, he would have lots of explaining to do to someone.

You can't expect a guard to be able to identify every prisoner (and recall what he/she is in there for) while the prisoner has his back to the prison and is running away!

[5shot]

The guard towers are primarily to watch the prisoners inside the fence/s. Lethal force is usually used when fights break out in the yard that involve weapons or another type of life threatening assault.
Prisoners usually don't escape thru the fence/s. Most prisons have a interior fence and then a open area between that and the exterior fence. The guard towers are in this open area between fences. Escaping prisoners would have to get thru or over both fences unnoticed. That's just about impossible. Too much open area to cover in full view of the towers.

[tyrist]

My understanding is the use of deadly force in prison currently is very strict. The policy used to be very liberal and several CDC Officers told me shooting prisoners was fairly common.

[SedaDog1]

Without giving away too much information. In California the policy states that you may use deadly force to stop an escape attempt. It doesnt matter what an inmate is in for. At my institution there is roughly 6000 convicted felons. Do you think I have any clue of what their particular crime was? Any escaping inmate is a threat to society! Most institutions have an interior and exterior fence. Some have an electrified lethal fence in between the two. If an inmate is past the interior fence and in the process of scaling the exterior fence or over it you may use deadly force. Unless of course you do not have a clear shot or if you might hit a bystander. However you have less lethal options such as 40mm sponge rounds or a warning shot. Also most institutions have outside patrol officers. One could place a call to them and usually they would be able to stop the escape peacefully.

[Samuelx]

Without having more justification, if push came to shove, I wouldn't bet on the system backing you for shooting any/every escaping prisoner...

[SedaDog1]

Without having more justification, if push came to shove, I wouldn't bet on the system backing you for shooting any/every escaping prisoner...

I wouldn't either.