I was a member of the Illinois Department of Corrections statewide SORT unit.

Within our umbrella, there was a smaller but more elite group within this called the Tactical Response Team (TRT.)

All SORT were capable of acting either within their own institutions or anywhere an IDOC inmate was present (they've done high risk medical furloughs to outside hospitals before.) We trained in cell extractions, crowd control, hostage response, high risk shakedowns and gang roundups, escapee recovery, and the likes.

TRT on the other hand was composed of FBI swat-school graduates and are highly trained and equipped and somewhat scary to be around.

As general tactical team members, we were allowed to activate into pretty much anything but in situations such as hostage rescues TRT would absolutely take over the second their boots hit institution grounds. The rest of us would then fall back into support or contingency roles such as perimeter and Command Post security.

In the 1970's there was a violent riot at Pontiac Correctional Center in Pontiac, IL that left several staff members killed or injured. In response, the department vowed to provide their own in-house response to any dangerous situation.