Dedicated to the ingenuity of inmates

[Soup]

SHOTGUN

made from iron bedposts; charge

made of pieces of lead from

curtain tape and match-heads,

to be ignited by AA batteries and

a broken light bulb.

On May 21, 1984 two inmates of

a prison in Celle, Germany, took

a jailer as a hostage, showed off

their fire power by letting go at

a pane of bullet-proof glass, and

escaped by car.

 

 

THE CLASSIC

Makeshift rope in the classic

style, made from bedsheets and

dish towels; length: 16 meters.

On May 2, 1998 two inmates

used it in a failed attempt to

escape from the 6th floor of

‘Santa Fu’ jail in Hamburg,

Germany.

One of the men fell, the other

made it to the roof of the main

gate where he was spotted by a

surveillance camera.

 

 

 

IMMERSION HEATER

made from razor blades; found

in a cell in ‘Santa Fu’ jail in

Hamburg, Germany. Jailbirds

use these tools to distil alcoholic

beverages forbidden in prisons.

Your typical inmate’s moonshine

still includes a plastic can

containing fermented fruit mash

or juice, an immersion coil of

some sort, a rubber hose, and a

plastic receptacle for the booze.

 

 

 

NARCOTICS CACHE

In a hollow space inside his

artificial leg a prisoner in

open detention frequently

smuggled narcotics into

‘Santa Fu’ prison in Hamburg,

Germany. Around 1984 his

behaviour finally got the

attention of the jailers who

gave the prosthesis a check.

 

 

LADDER

made of steel rails from

bookshelves.

On October 10, 1994, inmates

Gerhard Polak and Raimund

Albert used this ladder during

their successful escape from

‘Santa Fu’ prison in Hamburg,

Germany.

 

 

GRAPPLING HOOK

with segmented extension rod

(13 segments, overall length:

4.5 meters); rope made of

leather and string.

This cleverly conceived tool

assisted two inmates in their

escape from Ludwigsburg prison,

Germany, on August 19, 1987.

The attached rod enabled them

to place and retrieve the hook

and thus negotiate two prison

walls in succession.

 

 

 

KNUCKLEDUSTER

with padded handle,

made from a rasp that

was presumably stolen

from a prison workshop.

The weapon was found in

a cell in the prison of

Wolfenbüttel, Germany,

sometime around 1993.

 

 

 

MACE

This instrument was found in

1997 in the metal workshop of

‘Santa Fu’ prison in Hamburg,

Germany, where an unknown

inmate manufactured and hid it.

It is either a weapon, or,

attached to a pole, might have

been designed to push away

barbed wire from the top of a

wall during an escape.

 

 

RADIO TRANSMITTER / BUG

made of radio recorder parts by

an inmate of Wolfenbüttel prison,

Germany (battery is missing).

Prisoners occasionally manage

to install gizmos like this one in

guard-rooms to be prepared for

upcoming cell searches.

Also suitable as a means of cell-

to-cell communication among

inmates. A standard radio serves

as a receiver.

 

 

RADIO RECEIVER

Sometime in the seventies an

inmate of Ludwigsburg prison,

Germany, built this radio on

the sly and hid it inside an

encyclopedia. It was probably

commissioned by another

inmate who had no electronic

expertise himself.

 

 

 

SAW

An inmate of ‘Santa Fu’ prison

in Hamburg, Germany, fitted a

wooden handle to a piece of

saw blade for better handling.

The tool was found in his cell

and confiscated.

 

 

STOVE / GRILL / TOASTER

An inmate of Ludwigsburg prison,

Germany, botched together this

multi-purpose tool from wire,

a broken heating rod and some

tin foil. It was found in his cell

and confiscated sometime in the

mid-eighties.

 

 

SHIV

disguised as a wooden crucifix;

found in an inmate’s cell in

Wolfenbüttel prison, Germany,

sometime around 1994;

intended for use in an escape

or as a general weapon. At that

time a lot of crucifixes were

fashioned in prison woodshops

until jailers finally figured out

their true purpose.

 

 

DOUBLE-BARRELED PISTOL

This gun was found along with

other homemade firearms in the

cell of two Celle prison inmates

on November 15, 1984.

The weapons had been made in

the prison’s metal workshop.

They were loaded with pieces of

steel and match-heads.

 

 

DUMMY PISTOL

from blackened cardboard;

found on June 23, 1988, in an

inmate’s cell in Stammheim

prison, Germany, after a fellow

prisoner tipped off the jailers.

The dummy was hidden in

an empty milk pack and was

most probably intended to be

used for taking hostages in an

escape attempt.

 

 

CATAPULT

fashioned by an inmate in the

metal workshop of Wolfenbüttel

prison, Germany, presumably

as a means for smuggling secret

messages, drugs, or gun parts.

Although the prisoner claimed

it to be a piece of abstract art

entitled ‘Dackel’ (= dachshund),

it was confiscated in 1991.

 

 

HASH PIPE

fashioned from an empty

horseradish tube; confiscated

in ‘Santa Fu’ prison in Hamburg,

Germany. Smoking implements

are the most common illicit

items in prisons. The range

of materials they are made of

mirrors the inmates’ great

imagination.

 

 

SAW

made from a wooden coathanger

and a jagsaw blade.

The tool was confiscated in the

therapeutical section of

Hohenasperg prison, Germany.

 

 

 

TATTOOING NEEDLE

made from a toothbrush handle,

a ball pen and an electric motor;

confiscated in ‘Santa Fu’ prison

in Hamburg, Germany.

Tattooing instruments are a

popular and common source of

income among inmates but

are banned as ‘illegal objects’

due to the danger of infection

(Aids, Hepatitis, etc.).

 

 

WHIP

with razor blades. The grisly

weapon was found around 1996

in ‘Santa Fu’ jail in Hamburg,

Germany, in the cell of a drug

addicted inmate after his failed

attempt to extort a higher

Methadone ration by threatening

a female prison officer with a

knife.

 

[Soup]

DUMMY SUBMACHINE GUN

made from a grease injector,

wood, a rubber sleeve, and tape.

The mock weapon was found in

1994 in a prison workshop in

Wolfenbüttel prison, Germany,

after jailers were tipped off

that an escape attempt was

being planned.

 

 

DUMB-BELL

fashioned by an unknown inmate

of Stammheim prison, Germany,

in the prison’s metal workshop.

In the late eighties, when this

item was found hidden in a

staircase, working out was still

prohibited.

 

 

GRAPPLING HOOK

disguised as a wrought-iron

candelabra, fashioned by an

inmate around 1985 in a prison

workshop in Wolfenbüttel,

Germany, and confiscated in his

cell. Before they were banned,

candelabras like this one were

quite popular among prisoners

as they could also be used as

grappling hooks in an escape

attempt after bending open the

legs and attaching a rope.

 

 

ROPE LADDER

with wooden rungs disguised

as chess pieces; found and

confiscated in an inmate’s

cell in Wolfenbüttel prison,

Germany, around 1993.

 

[Smacky636]

awesome post!

[john_gacy]

Dope thread, would like to see this blow up. U.S. prisons do a lot fo the same shit, like the immersion heater, dummy guns, etc. An inmate (forget where) recently made a dummy pipe bomb he used to take a jailer hostage and created a stand-off. There's always the cassette player tattoo gun, the baby powder and/or toilet paper roll speakers, etc., etc..

[armand hammer]

haha this is awesome great thread props.

[*Sprat*]

great post. i feel like making some of these weapons just to past time.

[KM4RT]

Desperation breeds creativity.

[Pfffffffffft]

[Demolishun]

Fleshlights?

[FruityLexia.]

Crafty german bastards

[LexDiamonds]

YO this is the dopest thread I seen in a while.

Props./

[MAR]

This made me lol.

[Bojangles]

Whip with razorblades FTW.

[YouMad.GIF]

That whip is what's up

[twinky the kid]

this thread fucking delivered so good.

[autoteller]

shit, people should post up some current non-metalshop jailhouse techniques. it's always good to know how to light a cig while in a holding cell. all you need is a paperclip and a fist to smash out a socket.

[Kevin Harris]

That crucifix is fucking gnar.. Props

[suca]

santa fu security kinda sucks... apperently.

[ohnoone]

^ yea really.

[belmonts]

[belmonts]

[belmonts]

Inmates used ingenuity to take guns, pot from cops

by Holbrook Mohr

 

JACKSON, Miss. — Stealing 90 pounds of pot and 16 guns from a Mississippi police department took ingenuity and several prison inmates — and the police chief says he's relieved that guilty pleas in the case have lifted a cloud of suspicion from his agency.

 

"I'm just glad this has lifted a black eye from the police department," Greenwood Police Chief Henry Purnell said. "At one time, people thought police officers took the guns."

 

The last of eight suspects indicted on federal charges in the case — including several inmates, a janitor and a county road employee — pleaded guilty Monday.

 

Authorities say prisoners stole the marijuana from an evidence vault and later took 11 pistols and five machine guns from a locked closet. Authorities say most of the guns, if not all, ended up in Chicago. Nine of the weapons were recovered there. The marijuana was never recovered.

 

Purnell, who had refused to discuss the case in detail while charges were pending, described the brazen plan this week during a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

 

Several inmates who were serving time at the Leflore County Community Work Center had job assignments at city buildings. They'd been working there so long "they knew the ins and outs of the police department," Purnell said.

 

Between August and September of 2005, inmates Cedrick Lowery and Freddie "Fox" McGee figured out they could shut down electricity to the evidence vault and bypass a magnetic lock, Purnell said. Then they removed a vent on the roof, used a broom stick to trigger a latch inside the room and made off with the marijuana.

 

In September 2005, Lowery and McGee, a 42-year-old inmate serving six years on a cocaine charge, figured out a way to get into a locked closet by removing a ceiling tile in an adjacent room, according to a 16-page federal indictment.

Related Content:

Inmate wants to block calls in missing-guns caseRelated to:

prisoners marijuanaprisoners drugsCedrick LoweryFreddie Fox McGeeAndre RedmondDerek Dee SalleyUncle BloodJohn Camp Smith

The 30-year-old Lowery, who was serving a 10-year sentence for car theft and receiving stolen property, climbed into the closet and handed McGee 11 Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistols, the indictment said. They hid the guns in trash bags at City Hall then smuggled them out with help from another inmate, Andre Redmond, a 35-year-old prisoner serving five years for accessory to auto theft.

 

County road department employee Derek "Dee" Salley, who supervised Redmond, allegedly drove the inmate to pick up the guns, which Redmond hoped to sell to someone he called "Uncle Blood" in Chicago, prosecutors said.

 

Redmond and Salley delivered the guns to Redmond's girlfriend, who in turn delivered them to a relative of Redmond's in Lexington, according to court records. Around the same time, Lowery and another inmate, John Camp Smith, allegedly stole five Colt M-16 machine guns from the closet.

 

Lowery, McGee, Redmond and the other suspects have pleaded guilty to a range of felonies and await sentencing. A sentencing date has not been set.

 

Eight of the pistols and one of the machine guns were found in Chicago, mainly during traffic stops, Purnell said. He said more arrests could be made in the Chicago area.

 

Officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. attorneys office that prosecuted the case declined comment, saying a news release would be issued later Thursday.

 

Purnell said he has improved security at the police department by beefing up the vaults and adding surveillance cameras. And now he won't allow inmates to work there so long, so they won't become too familiar with police procedure or department employees. The only department employee caught up in the scheme was a janitor, Purnell said.

 

______

 

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[Guest JohnLester#31]

[swordfish meatloaf]

im liking this

[Guest JohnLester#31]

 

"We have 24 hours to stay ahead of you, and you only come here for 8 hours, so you gotta step up your game to keep up with us."

[NeRVe54]

I was considering writing a book about something very similar. The only thing that stopped me from pursuing that was that it's pretty much dry snitching.

 

Of course most of those items were made back in the day, but a few are still around, the stinger for example, which isn't used for distilling, but cooking.

 

The shotgun however was pretty impressive.

[MedicineCabinet]

Desperation breeds creativity.

^

this

 

in middleschool, they took us to a museum at a maximum security prison (where paul bernardo is being held). of course we were nowhere near the actual prisoners, but all the weapons/model cross-sections explaining escape attempts/torture weapons built by the prisoners were more than impressive

 

being locked up like an animal in a building full of dangerous/talented criminals - not exactly working /nocrossfire

 

ya forgot the classic razorblade melted onto the head of a toothbrush!

 

awesome thread

[yinz n'at]

those are awesome

[defer]

 

BLAAAOW!

[absolute.despair]

Materials:

"Unbreakable" plastic comb; three single-edge razor blades inserted into teeth; wrapped with copper wire and shoelace.

 

Backstory:

During the 1980s, a modest stipend of $1.10 per day was deposited into each working prisoner's personal account. The comb and shoelace used here were available from the prison commissary at that time. By completing an order form, prisoners could make purchases and tailor a shiv to their own design specifications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Materials:

Gardening glove with smaller glove inside; four steel upholstery tacks, each with three sharp points exposed, sewn between gloves.

 

Backstory:

A pair of gardening gloves were issued to an inmate assigned to outdoor landscape detail. The sharp metal points beneath the cloth are actually the bottom sides of four inverted upholstery tacks, lifted from the furniture shop and stitched into the knuckles of the glove: the idea here is that the points become more pronounced when the user makes a fist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Materials:

Wood strip; five large razor blades glued into one side; six small razor blades glued into other and wrapped with boxing tape, rubylith and clear tape; handle wrapped with boxing tape.

 

Backstory:

Lifted from the facility's metal sign shop, this shiv is wrapped in "rubylith" — a red, masking tape classically used in signmaking (and, before the digital revolution, commonly employed by graphic designers in the production of "mechanicals"). Eleven disposable razor blades, available for purchase from Rahway's commissary back in the 1980s, are carefully inserted down the sides.