Interested in hearing some of the different weapons used by inmates. Any prison gaurds got cool stories. In the self defence-strret fighting improvised weapons forum it was mentioned a rolled up newspaper/magazine can be as hard as a stick. I seem to recall hearing somewhere if done a certain way it can penetrate flesh

As sterile and benign an environment as a jail is supposed to be, there are always things that can be fashioned into rudimentary stabbing/ cutting instruments.

Weather stripping, sharpened pieces of lexan, pieces of machinery, etc. I don't want to turn this into a "how to" but suffice it to say, if it can be turned into a weapon, it has been turned into a weapon.

We uncover them everytime we do a contraband search/ bunk flip. They pose a significant threat to other inmates as well as officers.

Fletch,

Do you have a cell entry team with the anti-stab gear?

Man did I get sliced good on the forarm by an escapee. He had a piece of plastic wraped with electrical tape that was not picked up by the metal detector.

We never did figure out where he got the electrical tape.

Our agency has a CERT Team that has all the bells and whistles. They also seem to go to every CERT school offered within 500 miles.

But have you heard of a rolled up magazine being able to penatrate flesh, other than paper cuts?

Fletch, I took a gander at the web site and it looks good. The video was awesome! I liked the looks of the techniques. Very simple and direct, good stuff!

Thanks. I appreciate the comments. I will be adding some stuff soon as many of the pics are getting quite dated.

Salutations!

I'm sorry for catching this thread so late and for being off line for soooo long. I've been away training at Glynco, GA (FLETC).

As a veteran LEO and Corrections Officer (CO) I can tell you that inmates fashion weapons out of ANYTHING at hand. I now work for the feds, but I still see the same things I've seen at the state and county level. Shanks made out of anything from metal, wood and plastic. For example, inmates melt anything plastic like a plastic bag and roll it into something solid like a spike and presto! You got a shank! Tightly rolled up newspaper or cardboard then tape and you make your self a baton. Lets not forget the old lock-in-a-sock, very effective. I found when I worked corrections in Puerto Rico a machete fashioned out of a fan blade. It was used to cut another inmate's head off. It worked. Oh! The more technically advanced inmates have been known to even make firearms by someone smugling in a bullet and them constructing the firearm around it. They also make body armor by wrapping newspapers or magazines around them and taping them. Keep in mind that we as COs think about inmates for about 8hrs a day, inmates, on the other hand, have 24/7 to think how to do things.

That's some nasty/scary stuff, Carlos.

Remind me not to go to prison in Puerto Rico...or anywhere.
Welcome back.