I saw the sign on the back of the van and I understood that I was to “Stay Back.” I just didn’t understand why. Not that I was tempted to disobey.
I wondered, “Did they forget to lock the back door? Will a prisoner throw the door open and scratch my car’s bumper?”
I suppose the sign means that drivers should give the sheriff lots of room to get the prisoners in and out of the van. Perhaps the warning could be better phrased, though.
Actually, the thought process behind this: Any successful escape attempt is going to be facilitated by an accomplice, who will be following the transport closely, and likely engineering an accident or other reason to stop the transport and force the guards to engage in activities other than guarding the prisoners. Placing a large 'STAY BACK' reduces the number of cars which will require a guard's attention to be divided. In short, it's a 'this behavior is suspicious, please don't do it' thing.
Relative of a friend works in corrcections, and has worked prisoner transport; he's the one who clued me in to the number of potential threats a prisoner transport guard has to pay attention to, and why they take minor steps like this one to reduce the 'false positive' threat indicators.
Kenny: Thank you. That makes perfect sense. I should have tried harder to assume the mindset of a prisoner who was REALLY trying to escape.