Inmate-made weapons in prison facilities

[LaEscopeta]

I stumbled across this while looking for something else:

Inmate-made weapons in prison facilities: assessing the injury risk.

Lincoln JM, Chen LH, Mair JS, Biermann PJ, Baker SP.

Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.

More than 2400 correctional workers in the United States required medical attention in 1999 following assaults by inmates, often with unconventional "homemade" weapons. Little information is available about these weapons. The authors surveyed 101 state prisons for a 12 month period within 2002-03, and 70 responded. A total of 1326 weapons were either confiscated (1086) or used to injure inmates (203) or staff (37). Staff were most often attacked with clubs. The prison store was the most common source of materials used to make confiscated weapons. Issued items were the most common source of materials used to make weapons to injure staff. The injury rate for staff was 1.0/1000 workers per year. The annual cost of injuries for time lost and medical care for staff was estimated at $1,125,000 in these 70 prisons. Results identify materials that should be redesigned to prevent modifications to make weapons. Prison stores and issued items deserve special attention.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...tool=iconabstr&query_hl=2&itool=pubmed_docsum

I don’t know what you have to do to register to see the entire article, but I seem to remember some High Roaders work as corrections officers, and from the summary above I thought they might be interested in this.

 

[Preacherman]

Oh, yeah . . .

I've worked both part-time and full-time in State and Federal facilities at medium- and high-security level for several years. In the high-security prisons in particular, home-made weapons are a fact of life. Inmates will do almost anything conceivable to make a weapon - sharpened toothbrush handles, plastic AC vents removed and the plastic vent edges broken off and sharpened, making a shank out of a piece of wire . . . you name it, they've done it. We used to reckon it a slow week if we confiscated less than 10 weapons!

 

[El Tejon]

Most unusual DOC murder weapon that I have seen was a melted and twisted shampoo bottle that was used to kill an alleged snitch at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.

 

[Roadwild17]

Mythbusters a .32 ACP mag fed, semi-auto made from pluming parts, with a flash suppressor.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

I saw that Mythbusters episode. I think they also made a crossbow out of newspaper.
They showed a museum-like display of weapons confiscated from inmates at the beginning of the show. Some were very creative. I guess when you have a lot of time to kill... (pun intended )

 

[HankB]

I remember reading several decades ago that prison inmates in some sort of vo-tech machinist's program made a functioning SMG in the prison workshop.

(I want to say it was in Arizona, but it's been too many years . . . )

 

[Roadwild17]

Now, I can kind of understand the making a gun thing, making a gun with a automatic action is a stretch of the imagination, but where do they get ammo from?

 

[Dionysusigma]

You know how small a .32 ACP cartridge is, right?

You know how large some suppository medications can get?

 

[gripper]

Back in the day...before they took away tobacco and the like;matcheads (Kentucky blue tip,strike anywhere) were used to make crude pipe bombs....not too hard to rig a tube into a "one shot " directional;broken glass,nails,whatever for shrapnel/projectile load.

 

[pete f]

I have a inside the belt knife made by a relative who was incarcerated for a good long time. It is the steel spring of a washer bucket wrapped with the inner half of a dress belt and sharpened on block or concrete.

 

[Boom-stick]

I saw that Mythbusters episode. I think they also made a crossbow out of newspaper.

I saw that too, surpising what you can do with a plastic standard issue prison food tray, underware elastic, newspaper and homemade glue

On the test they fired it through a prison door inspection port and got the target 'guard' through the throat with enough penetration to be lethal?

 

[Punkermonkey]

I have seen inmate weapons made from paper. They soak the paper in water and pound and mash it together in to a blade. Then the allow it to dry and another layer until it is just about as strong as steel. Oh, and then the stick it up their butt. Really. They hide everything in their butt.


But I would still rather be stabbed than gassed.

 

[U.S.SFC_RET]

Shanks made out of plexiglass to aviod metal detection.

 

[hirundo82]

I don’t know what you have to do to register to see the entire article, but I seem to remember some High Roaders work as corrections officers, and from the summary above I thought they might be interested in this.

I have access through school:

Results:
The injury rate for correctional staff was 1.0/1000 workers (table 1 ). Prisons having both maximum and medium security levels ("mixed security") had the highest injury rates for both staff and inmates. Four of the 10 participating states said they had no staff injuries, but were included in the denominators for rates.
A total of 1326 weapons were either confiscated (1086) or used to injure inmates (203) or staff (37) (table 2 ). The weapons most commonly confiscated were shanks (homemade knives), daggers, and razors. The weapons most commonly used to injure inmates were shanks, clubs, and saps (for example, padlocks in socks). The weapons most commonly used to injure staff were clubs, daggers, and razors. "Clubs" included unmodified objects such as pitchers, hot pots, and broom handles.
Weapons that were confiscated or used to injure inmates were most commonly made from miscellaneous metal, razors, and padlocks (table 3 ). Weapons made from brooms, dustpans, and razors were used to inflict the most injuries on staff.
The most common source of materials for weapons that were confiscated or used to injure inmates was the prison store (table 4 ). Staff supplies as well as items issued by the prison, such as toothbrushes, were the most common source of weapons that injured staff.
During the 12 month survey period, an estimated 2531 workdays were lost at these facilities due to staff injuries. The estimated cost of lost wages was $403,900. A conservative estimate of associated medical costs for staff injuries is $721,400. Lost wages and medical costs of staff injuries from weapons used by inmates in these 70 prisons amounted to $1,125,300.

Nothing that is particularly surprising to our members who are corrections officers, but it is interesting to see some statistics.

Interestingly, there is also an article in the same issue on rates of firearm ownership and suicide rates. Shockingly you are more likely to use a gun to commit suicide if you own a gun (I know, try not to pass out from the shock of such a revelation). They say in their conclusions:

These findings suggest that reducing availability to firearms in the home may save lives, especially among youth.

I'm guessing they don't mean properly storing firearms when there are childern around. Of course, what would you expect from a study conducted by a Massachusetts academician and published in a British medical journal.