Hostage Negotiation at a Maximum-Security Facility- Dealing with Delusional Demands

Hostage Negotiation at a Maximum-Security Facility- Dealing with Delusional Demands

The case study provided explains a hostage scenario where an inmate at an incarceration center is delusional and believes their cell is invaded by aliens who want to murder them. The inmate, Alfredo Albondigas, has also held hostage several people at the prison facility. Mr. Albondigas says that he will kill the correctional officer he has held hostage if aliens do not leave his prison cell and return to their perceived planet. Mr. Albondigas is deemed dangerous, as he has a handmade knife and has wrapped his head using aluminum foil. As such, the correctional facility has asked me and my partner to lead negotiations to ensure Mr. Albondigas does not harm any hostages. I plan to involve various people to create a comprehensive plan that will ensure the negotiation approach I take to calm Mr. Albondigas is successful. In the end, I hope that Mr. Albondigas will be reasonable in releasing the hostages and accept treatment for his severe mental disability state.

Mental State of the Offender

Mr. Albondigas has clinical symptoms of severe mental disorders that have caused his present condition. Currently, Mr. Albondigas says he hears alien voices and sees them plotting to murder him. Mr. Albondigas also appears to have the perception that aliens can only return to their planet through a flying saucer, which he has mandated that the correctional facility provide. Overall, Mr. Albondigas is delusional and hallucinating, as aliens are non-existent, fictional characters.

Possible Mental Disorders Plaguing the Offender

Two medical conditions that Mr. Albondigas could be suffering from are psychosis and schizophrenia.

Mental Illness/Disorder # 1

If a patient has schizophrenia, they are deemed to have impaired neurotransmission functions. As such, Mr. Albondigas levels of dopamine, serotonin, and glutamate levels are beyond normal, making him hear voices and see aliens that other people cannot see. When a patient is schizophrenic, they may see, smell, taste, or touch, or touch invisible objects they perceive as real (Patel et al., 2014). The schizophrenic patient also develops passive delusions, which tell them that people are conspiring against them. Additionally, the mentioned patient perceives non-threatening situations as needing emergency actions to de-escalate imaginary threats. Further, the schizophrenic patient tends to believe that outside forces are sent to harm them, and they need urgent protection from the same. Overall, the patient has a thought disorder and cannot hold a logical conversation.

Mental Illness/Disorder # 2

A second mental illness Mr. Albondigas could be having is psychosis. The mental condition manifests similarly to schizophrenia, making the patient delusional and hallucinating.  The psychotic patient tends to be aggressive, socially withdrawn and has speech paucity (Gaebel & Zielasek, 2015). Moreover, if a patient has psychosis, they may experience severe self-neglect and be emotionally withdrawn. In the above case study, Mr. Albondigas has all the clinical symptoms of psychosis and schizophrenia.

Scene Personnel (Medical)

I could invite a psychiatrist to help me with diagnosing Mr. Albondigas to escalate the rescue of hostages. The psychiatrist is a professional trained to handle patients who have symptoms, such as those of Mr. Albondigas. The psychiatrist will use their medical knowledge to identify the exact reasons for Mr. Albondigas’ behavior and then recommend the best way forward to ensure that hostages are unharmed (Stępnicki et al., 2018). I would also like to have a paramedic team at the scene because if Mr. Albondigas refuses to release the hostages despite negotiation attempts, the incarceration center could use aggressive techniques to reach him. The patient could be harmed in the process, and the paramedic team will attend to him immediately to ensure they do not die. Finally, I would like to have a psychologist at the scene to give mental healthcare support to hostages who may be traumatized by the situation. Therefore, I will need a psychiatrist, a paramedic team, and a psychologist at the scene for the mentioned reasons.

Threat Assessment

Currently, Mr. Albondigas is convinced that there are aliens in his cell conspiring to murder him. The delusional patient has given the ultimatum that if the prison facility does not provide a flying saucer for the aliens to use as a means of transportation back home, he will murder one of the hostages instead. If the two hours lapse, the outcomes could be bloody and messy. Firstly, Mr. Albondigas has a knife whose function he is aware of. Therefore, if the two hours elapsed and the patient did not access medical aid, they could execute their threat (Lauvik, 2014). Mr. Albondigas is highly likely to stab the correctional officer multiple times in protest or to coerce the prison facility to provide a flying saucer as he mandated before. Alternatively, if the patient starts exhibiting violent signs intended to harm the hostages because their ultimatum was not met, the prison facility’s Correctional Emergency Response Team (CERT) will shoot him dead. Therefore, in the end, the hostages could die or Mr. Albondigas could be murdered by the prison facility’s CERT.

Negotiation Tactics, Approach, and Interview Strategy

As the situation is currently, Mr. Albondigas is delusional and hallucinating. Therefore, the best approach to use to negotiate the release of hostages with him should be from the psychiatrist. After assessment, the psychiatrist could recommend techniques that will calm Mr. Albondigas and ensure he releases the hostages. The psychiatrist could recommend that, firstly, Mr. Albondigas be requested to describe the aliens, how they plan to assassinate him, and the words they use to threaten him. While talking to Mr. Albondigas, the negotiation team should be empathetic, kind, respectful, warm, and encouraging to build a therapeutic relationship with the patient (Thompson & McGowan, 2014). During negotiation, the team should use tactful language that Mr. Albondigas understands easily and that reflects their way of perceiving information.

Further, the negotiating team should exude humanness while talking to Mr. Albondigas to help him calm down quickly and release the hostages. Additionally, the team should ensure it desists from escalating the suspicion and hostility that Mr. Albondigas exhibits to de-escalate the patient’s current condition (Chaplin et al., 2018). The negotiating team should also be willing to tolerate disagreement from Mr. Albondigas so that they strike a bargain. Lastly, the team should give Mr. Albondigas ample time to process and respond to interview questions. The interviews would be conducted by the psychiatrist, as they are highly skilled at handling patients with psychiatric conditions.

Conclusion

The case study provided explains a hostage crisis where a prison inmate who is psychotic believes they are being threatened by aliens. The patient, Mr. Albondigas, has demanded that the prison facility provide a flying saucer to transfer the aliens from their cell. As such, the correctional facility has contacted me and my partner to negotiate the release of the hostages. I will require a psychiatrist, medical paramedic team, and psychologist to assist with the release of the hostages. I intend to use the interview techniques recommended by the psychiatrist to help Mr. Albondigas and the hostages.

References

Chaplin, R., Lelliott, P., Quirk, A., & Seale, C. (2018). Negotiating styles adopted by consultant psychiatrists when prescribing antipsychotics. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 13(1), 43-50. https://doi.org/10.1192/apt.bp.106.002709

Gaebel, W., & Zielasek, J. (2015). Focus on psychosis. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 17(1), 9-18. https://doi.org/10.31887/dcns.2015.17.1/wgaebel

Lauvik, K. E. (2014). Hostage Incident Management: Preparedness and Response of International Non-Governmental Organizations [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/145050065.pdf

Patel, K. R., Cherian, J., Gohil, K., & Atkinson, D. (2014). Schizophrenia: Overview and Treatment Options. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 39(9), 638–645. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4159061/

Stępnicki, P., Kondej, M., & Kaczor, A. A. (2018). Current concepts and treatments of schizophrenia. Molecules, 23(8), 2087. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules23082087

Thompson, J., & McGowan, H. (2014, August 18). “Talk to me”: What it takes to be an NYPD hostage negotiator. Mediate.com. https://www.mediate.com/articles/

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Assignment Details
Scenario: You are the senior member of a two-man hostage negotiation team for a maximum-security facility in the Northeast. You and your partner are called to a cellblock where an inmate, identified as Alfredo Albondigas, has taken two facility maintenance personnel and a fellow corrections officer hostage. He is claiming that there are aliens from another planet living in his cellblock and demanding that they leave immediately. He has given an ultimatum that if he does not see the flying saucer leaving the exercise yard area in 2 hours, he will kill the maintenance personnel that he has taken hostage because he knows that they are giving signals to the aliens about him and the other inmates.

Hostage Negotiation at a Maximum-Security Facility- Dealing with Delusional Demands

Mr. Albondigas is armed with a handmade knife and has his head wrapped in aluminum foil. The Correctional Emergency Response Team (CERT) working with you has a green light to kill Mr. Albondigas, but there are no current opportunities presenting themselves. You have managed to get a phone thrown into Mr. Albondigas, and you have direct phone communication with him. Also, because of the phone’s design, when he hangs up, you can still hear what is going on in the room. He has not hurt the maintenance personnel so far, but he is using the corrections officer as a translator to speak to the maintenance personnel as if the maintenance personnel was not speaking English but some alien tongue.
This scenario may seem humorous because it is fictional, but if it were real, it would be very serious for both the hostages and Mr. Albondigas. You are tasked by the warden and incident commander to make an operations plan centered on dealing with this mentally ill offender.
Address the following questions in a 3–5-page position paper. Present this paper as if it were an operations plan to negotiate with Mr. Albondigas and end the hostage standoff. You do not need to plan the tactical response if the negotiations fail. The paper should confine itself to gathering the information that the negotiator needs and the approach to take when negotiating with Mr. Albondigas to end the standoff. Include the following:
• Explain the mental state of the offender and the 2 most likely mental illnesses that are affecting him.
• Explain what type of medical personnel you would like to have at the scene and why.
• Relate why you think, if the deadline is reached without a solution, Mr. Albondigas will or will not hurt the maintenance personnel. Explain your answer.
• Articulate the persons whom you would like to have brought to the scene for interviews to help with information that you can use to talk to Mr. Albondigas.
• Explain your approach as the negotiator when speaking with Mr. Albondigas and why you would take that approach.