Okay Joey the Nose is a fictitious character. In prison you cant take a trip to the local Wal-Mart whenever you need something, and even if you could, some things just aren’t allowed or available. That is where the ingenuity and inventiveness of inmates comes in. Everything from boiling water to introducing contraband falls under this category. Whether it be a jail or a prison, people will find a way to get what they want or come up with a close substitute.
The Stinger.
While instant coffee is readily available in many institutions there is no way to heat the water. This was the case in a federal holding facility I was in, so we used a Stinger. A Stinger is 2 razor blades secured with dental floss to a 1 inch long piece of toothbrush handle, an electrical cord from a broken radio is attached to the blades. You drop the device into the water careful to not touch the cup during the process. You plug the stinger in and Voila the water will boil in under a minute. In a classic example of ass backwards thinking, razor blades and electrical cords were readily available but a hot pot was a security risk, go figure.
Drugs and other contraband are brought in by visitors, inmates and staff. The most common way is through the visiting room. Contact visits where the family sits at a table was the way most smugglers got the stuff in. Weed , heroin, cocaine, etc is usually packaged in balloons and swallowed by the inmate. Immediately after the visit the guy returns and throws up into a sink or trash can recovering his product. Should he fail to get them up by regurgitation he would wait until nature takes its course and catch them on the other side. Weed that passed through someone’s digestive system was known as Dookie weed. No matter how well sealed, the shit ended up smelling like, shit. Always seemed like a good way to catch something to me so I refrained from partaking of herb from that type of pipeline. Some guys will forgo all the swallowing and vomiting process. They use a bullet. A bullet is when the contraband is sealed in plastic and shoved up the rectum. This is also known as keeping it in the safe. Again not a very sanitary method, and as much as I’ve been known to enjoy a little herb as a way to fight off glaucoma and hair loss, I passed on the dookie weed. Employees also were a major pipeline for drugs in prison, rarely is it a correctional officer. Usually the employee is a regular worker, kitchen staff or maintenance. There are a lot of guys locked up with a lot of money on the outside. the square people working in prisons don’t make so much that some of them cant be bribed.
Tattooing in prison is another cottage industry. There are some really talented artists in the joint. But with so many blood born diseases available today, its not a good idea. The tatt gun itself is usually made up of an electric motor from a walkman, a mechanical pencil and a piece of a G string from a guitar. Ink is anything from ashes of burnt plastic to paint pigment from the paint shop. I’ve seen some really good tattoo work done in prison but its just not a good idea considering you don’t know where the needle has been.
Hooch, home made booze, is usually a witches brew of sugar, yeast, tomato sauce or some kind of fruit. Its put in a trash bag, hidden away, usually in food service or one of the industry shops and allowed to ferment . When ready it is strained through a T shirt and served chilled. It smells like vomit and rubbing alcohol. Again not something I would choose to ingest and would advise against.
Weapons. The shank also called a shiv or bone crusher is probably the most recognizable type of contraband . Everyone in the free world has heard the term shank. They are as simple as a razor blade for slashing, a pencil, a bed spring, a can lid, toothbrush handle, you name it and someone will figure out a way to stab you with it. Plastic was the preferred material because it was not detected by metal detectors. A couple of bars of soap in a sock or towel ,often used to beat the bee Jesus out of someone, was another popular choice for those so inclined.
I’ve already touched on the gay guys in prison. Wait a minute that didn’t come out right. The prison concubine better known as a Punk is another master/mistress of ingenuity. They would pluck their eyebrows and pencil in new ones with shoe polish. Red Kool-Aid was used as rouge and lip color. They seemed to favor tight clothes and they grew their nails long. Regardless of what enhancements they used, they just looked like a man with shoe polish eyebrows and really big hands. The slogan "Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline" does not apply in this instance.
I’ve just skimmed the surface of contraband and the ingenuity of the average convict. Suffice to say that prisons thrive on their own black markets, not unlike some impoverished countries. If people want something bad enough, they will find some way to get it or a close facsimile.
I used the Stinger,under a different name and we used matches to keep razor blades separate. I bet most people haven't even seen the old style razor blade you are talking about. When you plugged it in lights would dim and scary humming noise could be heard.Also tattooing was big when I was in the army. Except there were no artists. Many people left with some ugly-ass tattoos. For the motor they used electric razor and a string just like you said. Technology is not contained withing artificial borders.
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