By Anabelle Garay, The Associated Press
BUCKEYE, Ariz. (AP) -- The length of the negotiations in a prison hostage crisis that is now in its second week could be an indicator of an eventual calm resolution, experts say.
Negotiators haven’t stopped talking to two inmates who have been holding a female correctional officer in a prison guard tower since Jan. 18. Another hostage was released Saturday.
“Traditionally, the longer the situation lasts, the more likely the situation is to have peaceful resolution,” said Max Howard, a retired FBI negotiator and special agent.
As time goes by, hostage-takers can become tired and maybe even disappointed. When emotions decline, the captors’ rational thinking increases, said Howard, who is not involved in managing the standoff at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis.
“Over a period of time, it’s hard to keep ourselves animated about a cause when we realize the situation won’t be successful,” he said.
For negotiators, patience is essential to resolving a standoff and avoiding violence, experts say. In such situations, law enforcement officials try to avoid becoming the first to become aggressive.
“There’s nowhere this thing goes once you get to the tower. It’s only a matter of waiting,” said Paul Sutton, a criminal justice professor at San Diego State University.
So far, negotiations have led to a male officer’s release.
While officials are worried about the female guard that remains in the tower, it’s not uncommon for negotiators to prioritize hostages, Howard said. Typically, negotiators first seek the release of those who are sick, injured or pregnant, he said.
Officials said early on that the male officer was injured.
“We take anyone they could get,” said Howard, who provides hostage negotiation training to law enforcement through Arlington, Texas-based Crisis Management Training. “We’re not going to turn one down.”
Tony Oldham, a retired FBI special agent and negotiator, said the release of the one hostage, continued talks and opportunities for officials to see or speak with the remaining guard are positive signs.
“I appears to me the way it’s moving, it’s very successful,” said Oldham, who is not involved in managing the standoff. “Let’s be patient and it will work itself out.”
Unlike a hostage crisis on the street, the standoff at the Buckeye prison poses additional challenges.
The inmates and their hostage remain in a tower believed to be stocked with weapons.
Also, the prison and reinforced tower are built to both keep people in and others out, Howard said.
“They build them so well that law enforcement can’t do anything about it,” he said. “Tactical teams can’t go in, not that they would necessarily want to use force.”
The degree of danger hostages face can be influenced by the interaction they had with the inmates before the standoff and the relationship that forms while captive, Howard said.
The Stockholm syndrome, in which captives bond with their captors, can protect hostages. But that bond is less likely to develop among prisoners and their guards, he said.
“Law enforcement officers make some of the world’s worst hostages. They’re opposing their enemy and vice versa,” Howard said. “You have cats and dogs thrown together.”
The prison setting also complicates bargaining for negotiators because what officials can offer the inmates is limited, said Oldham.
“You never say ‘no,”’ he said. “But you’ve got to be truthful. There are some things you just can’t give.”
Officials must also keep from giving the inmates concessions that might be seen by other inmates as an incentive to take hostages, Sutton said.
While the Buckeye inmates’ demands haven’t been made public, there are a variety of requests they might be making. In past standoffs, inmates have asked for everything from better pay to more visitation opportunities to their release, Sutton said.
“That’s the ultimate goal for any inmate ... freedom. It was probably made clear early on that wasn’t going to happen,” said Sutton, who worked with the Attica Commission after a deadly hostage situation and siege at the New York prison in 1973.
The inmates goals might now focus on avoiding additional criminal charges or gaining improvements for their stay in prison, experts say.
“The inmates have to be looking for avenues to protect themselves for what they’ve already done,” Sutton said.