Celebrating 30 Years of Service

The inmates were restless Saturday at Webster Correctional Institution, and the big guns -- the Corrections Emergency Response Team -- were dispatched to restore the peace in the recreation yard.

They marched in with dogs and batons, filled the air with smoke bombs and got the inmates on the ground one by one and led them away.

Luckily for all involved, the "inmates" were also CERT members, and the exercise was for the benefit of the dozens of people who came out to the institution Saturday for the CERT 30 Year Muster.

It was in 1982 that CERT was formed as a specially trained team that deals with major disruptions in the corrections system. 

"The team was created to ensure that the agency/facility was able to quickly manage and handle incidents in a professional and timely manner," according to the booklet handed out to visitors Saturday. 

The CERT team is broken down into two division -- the North Team and the South Team. Members go through 80 hours of basic training, 40 hours of firearm training that must be repeated every six months; 40 hours of chemical and impact weapon training that also repeats yearly, and 24 hours of less lethal shotgun training that they must be recertified in annually.

Over the years the team has responded to riots in the Enfield and Bridgeport prison facilities. It also responds to community emergencies, including a fire at the Hartford Civic Center in 1997 and to the two natural disasters that hit the state last year.

Nineteen CERT members make up Command and Control, which handles logistics for CERT training and operations. The K9 unit was incorporated in 1985 at the state prison in Somers as problems with inmates increased there. The unit was soon expanded statewide and has 23 members.

The team also has a Situational Control Hostage Negotiation Team, or SITCON, made up of 20 members and has worked along side the FBI.

The SOG units is trained in hostage rescue and has pre-authorization to use deadly force in the most serious of situations. Unit members often are responsible for the most dangerous inmates in the prison system, including those on death row.