NEW JERSEY COPS ■ FEBRUARY 2014
CORRECTIONS REPORT
23
Tales of contraband
Any good correctional
officer knows that controlling contraband within a jail or prison is key in
maintaining an effective
and safe correctional
institution, which makes
Henry J. shakedowns and searches fundamental funcRuiz
tions in our profession.
What is contraband?
Contraband is commonly defined as
"any article or thing which a person confined in a detention facility is prohibited
from obtaining or possessing by statute,
rule, regulation or order.” Contraband
can range from drugs to weapons to the
bizarre.
I asked corrections officers from
across the country to tells us what has
been the "weirdest" item of contraband
they have found within their correctional facility. Some items were so disturbing
that I could not include them on the list.
Below are a few of the “tamer”
responses with some CO reactions in
quotes:
Weapons:
•
•
•
•
Three-and-a-half-foot glass sword
Shank made from Metamucil
Shank made out of bread
A garrote (handheld ligature of
chain, rope, scarf or wire used to
strangle a person)
• Twenty four-inch machete
• .22 pistol that an inmate had hidden
in his body cavity
Jail House Pets:
• Pet mouse with no front legs
• Snapping turtle
• One inmate had several pets including spiders, crickets, lizards and
roaches… all on "leashes"
• Black Widow Spider was a Wiccan
inmate's pet
• Tarantulas. “We get many of those.”
• Four-foot bull snake
Inventions:
• A toaster made from a book
• Perfect chess pieces made out of toilet tissue with crack hidden inside of
them
• Inmate growing pot in his locker
• A power strip made out of Styrofoam, the wires off a power cord,
cardboard and tape, capable of
plugging in six different electronics
• Homemade tattoo gun… “Found it
hanging from my finger where the
needle was stuck.”
• A chin up bar glued to the ceiling
of a cell with Elmer’s glue and
toothpaste. “You could swing on it
and it wouldn't break! We had to
chisel it off with a hammer and
screwdriver.”
• A bed made into a grill
Bizarre Hoarding:
• Bag of pubic hair
• Two envelopes full of an inmate's
toenail clipping collection
• Cups full of urine and bodily fluids
• Dreadlocks under a mattress, being
used for bracelets and necklaces.
• An inmate was bartering