Prison is a scary place. And if you land yourself in the slammer, you might be in need of some serious prison weapons. In this list of true prison stories, you'll learn how DIY weapon creativity is off the charts when you're behind bars. Inmates make everything from flamethrowers to bombs to fully-functioning crossbows. Plus, there's the usual array of shivs, shanks, knives, and blades - all made out of ordinary items you can buy in the commissary or get smuggled in for you.
Here are 17 of the most creative and brutal weapons that have ever been made by prison inmates. Some facilitated escapes, others never got a chance to whack anyone in the face before they were sniffed out. But, they're all examples of how having a lot of time on your hands and a lot of enemies can lead to some disturbingly innovative means of protection.
Everyday Objects That Were Turned Into Prison Weapons,
Cardboard Pistol
Making fake guns in prison is a tradition as old as John Dillinger’s wooden pistol. But unlike when Dillinger made his crude toy, modern prisoners have access to modern woodworking equipment and tools.
And so we have realistic looking fakes like this intricately carved “pistol” made of blackened, glued cardboard. It was never used, but if it had been, it almost certainly would have worked.
Plastic Fork Eye Gouger
Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York has a museum devoted to the history of the nearly 200 year old correction facility. Among the exhibits are numerous homemade prison weapons, the most notable of which might be an eye-gouger made of two plastic forks fastened together, with the middle tines taken out.
Whether or not this particular weapon actually did gouge any eyes is lost to history.
Toothbrush Crossbow
A Canadian prisoner in solitary used his time to make one of the most creative and complicated prison weapons in history. He built a full-fledged crossbow, using “10 toothbrushes, a cigarette lighter, a section of ballpoint pen casing, a piece of wire coat hanger, a section of a pair of aluminum cafeteria tongs, assorted electrical components, pieces of yellow rubber gloves, some Kleenex, a piece of string, and a few screws.”
The bolts were made of tightly packed toilet paper and aluminum foil – and they could be fired as far as 40 feet. The weapon doesn’t appear to have ever been used, and was confiscated and put on display. Because it’s pretty awesome.
Homemade Bomb
If you’re feeling really ambitious when expanding your prison arsenal, you can use everyday objects to make a crude bomb, then mail it to the judge who put you in the slammer.
That’s what convicted murderer Peter Saunders did, while an inmate at maximum-security Stateville Correctional Center. Saunders built a fire bomb out of a battery, electrical wires and ground up match heads in a Magic Marker, then sent it in a hollowed-out book to Federal judge Blanche Manning. The bomb was discovered and disarmed long before it got to Judge Manning, but it’s the thought that counts
Fake Machine Gun
Looking like a dead ringer for a British Sten gun, this mock machine gun was made from a prison workshop grease injector, some wood bits, a rubber sleeve, and lots of black tape. It was found in a German prison in 1994 after guards received a tip that an escape attempt was imminent.
Toilet Paper Shiv
It took an Ohio inmate just a few hours to make this brutal looking shiv out of toilet paper that’s been soaked and pressed together. He never got a chance to use it, but if he had, he easily could have killed someone – then flushed the evidence just as easily.
Rasp Knuckleduster
Found in a German prison cell in 1993, this is a punching assistant made from a rasp that was probably stolen from the prison machine shop. The padding on the handle was likely torn out of a bed.
Chairleg Nunchucks
St. Louis Workhouse inmate Lorenzo Pollard fought off a dozen armed guards and facilitated his escape using nunchucks he made out of two chair legs and a bedsheet. He broke through a window, squeezed through a homemade escape hatch and scaled two razor-wire walls, all while swinging his custom weapon around.
That he was recaptured quickly after his escape makes his feat no less impressive
Bedpost Shotgun
One of a number of homemade weapons retrieved from German prisons, this ad-hoc shotgun was made from iron bedposts, used gunpowder made of lead from curtain tape and match-heads, and was fired by AA batteries and a broken light bulb. On May 21, 1984, two inmates used it to take a guard hostage, shoot through a bullet-proof glass, bust out of jail and steal a car.
Wooden Post Razor Whip
Made of a simple wooden post, a shoelace and smuggled razor blades, this horrifying homemade weapon was seized from a prisoner in Hamburg in the 90’s. It was never used, and that’s a really good thing, given how dangerous it is.