Crime Sift

The inspiration for this post came from a conversation I had with a sheriff who was telling me about a chat he had with a prisoner. The prisoner was telling the sheriff about how the inmates overcome some of their day to day challenges. For example, at the penitentiary the inmates are not allowed to smoke so in addition to not being allowed cigarettes, they are not allowed to have matches. Obviously, those smokes that they smuggle in have to be lit. According to the inmate they accomplish this by unscrewing a light bulb, sticking a pencil in the socket which creates a spark and from this they light the smoke. I have not and do not plan to test this system nor do I recommend that anyone else give it a try.

It seems that prisoners have also started making shivs out of plastic by sharping the edges of food trays with tooth floss. Stories of prisoner ingenuity got me searching the net and I came across some interesting material. From the Corrections Canada website and the historical archives:

ZIP GUN: A 4-barrel zip gun found on the shelves of the Kingston Penitentiary library on October 1945. The trigger, now missing, was a clasp from an overshoe.

GUN: (c.1970s) A contraband fake gun carved out of a piece of wood and painted.

SHIV: (c.1968) An elaborate shiv found in the Blacksmith shop at William Head Institution.

TATTOO GUN: (c.1970s-1980s) A tattoo-gun found in a Kingston area institution.

A book called Prisoners’ Inventions published by the University of Chicago describes the ways in which prisoners in the United States attempt to cope with prison. It was written and illustrated by a prisoner in 2001 when he was asked to share the ways in which inmates adapt to their confinement.

This drawing of a battery powered cigarette lighter is a typical illustration from Prisoners’ Inventions.

Here a couple of videos of how to build some of the items included in the book.

The Immersion Heater

Battery Cigarette Lighter


Paper Mache Dice

Candle Making