What is the Mock Prison Riot?

What it’s all about?

The unthinkable ... preparing for it is what we do best. Most issues are successfully resolved with effective communication skills and patience. However, there are times when a more dynamic approach is required. Held every spring at the decommissioned West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville, WV, the Mock Prison Riot features hands-on training and technology exposure for corrections, law enforcement, military, and public safety practitioners from around the world. At the Mock Prison Riot, exhibitors and operators work together in a living, breathing environment, continually pushing the envelopes of tactics and technology to safely and effectively resolve matters.

The Mock Prison Riot is a program of the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (WVDCR) and the Worldwide Corrections Training Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

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Our Mission

The Mock Prison Riot facilitates tactical training and technology deployment and demonstrations, resulting in candid practitioner feedback that shapes the law enforcement and corrections industry on an international scale.

Our Vision

The Mock Prison Riot is a four-day, comprehensive law enforcement and corrections tactical and technology experience, including 40,000 square feet of exhibit space, training scenarios, technology demonstrations, certification workshops, a Skills Competition, and unlimited opportunities for feedback, networking, and camaraderie on an international scale.

How we accomplish our Mission and Vision

• Executing a first-class, world-renowned event like no other: The Mock Prison Riot is the only venue of its kind where law enforcement and corrections practitioners can touch, see, and actually deploy technologies from the showcase under real-world conditions, utilizing the grounds of the decommissioned West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville to maximum advantage. Every aspect of the Mock Prison Riot is researched and planned to the highest standard of excellence. Every spring, law enforcement and corrections practitioners and technology developers come from all over the world to train, compete, and experience the Mock Prison Riot.
• Facilitating the marriage of technologies and end users: Exhibitors interact with law enforcement and corrections practitioners on every level. Communication is guaranteed. Practitioner feedback is a cornerstone of the Mock Prison Riot. Exhibitors have unfettered access to the men and women who use their products and many products are actually deployed on site during training scenarios or demonstrations. We welcome mature technologies as well as those in development. Our unique and realistic venue provides the means for technology deployment, candid feedback, and suggestions for improvements and modifications that save time and money in the development process, provide guidance for crossover in disciplines, and shape the future of technologies and tactics in the law enforcement and corrections industry. For decades, our focus has been on less lethal technologies and tactics. 
• Recruiting the newest, most cutting edge law enforcement and corrections technologies for our showcase: Our staff carefully evaluates the appropriateness of law enforcement and corrections technologies for display and use at the Mock Prison Riot, ensuring that every inch of venue space is maximized. Our subject matter experts are current on tactics and trends, resulting in a variety of exhibits, from the most complex technology to basic operational necessities.
• Cultivating relationships: The Mock Prison Riot staff has spent decades building relationships with technologists and tactical teams from all over the world. Our high level of customer service and personal attention to detail ensure that the training and technology needs of all those who experience the Mock Prison Riot are met in a timely and efficient manner. Relationship building guarantees that the Mock Prison Riot offers the most appropriate technologies, the most current workshops, and the most realistic and ideal circumstances for training, technology deployment, and feedback. Our attendees come from all over the world and enjoy networking long after they leave our event. 
• Allocating time and space for dynamic and interactive technology demonstrations: Our flexible use of venue and time allow for exhibitors to demonstrate their technologies as much as they like under the most realistic conditions possible. The unique circumstances of our venue permit law enforcement and corrections practitioners to actively participate in technology demonstrations. Demonstrations are dynamic and interactive: on-the-spot feedback and question-and-answer sessions are welcomed and encouraged.
• Designing a dynamic and challenging curriculum of workshops: The Mock Prison Riot staff leverages considerable experience and expertise when it comes to designing the workshop component. Our venue offers classrooms and equipment as well as the means for actual hands-on learning throughout the prison compound and grounds. Instructors and technologists work together, often offering free certifications on widely deployed products and technologies, saving law enforcement and corrections agencies time and thousands of training dollars.