Everyday Objects Turned Into Prison Weapons

This homemade weapon is one of many retrieved from German prisons.It is a shotgun.The shotgun used iron bedposts. Gunpowder came from lead in curtain tape and match-heads. AA batteries and a broken light bulb fired it.

On May 21, 1984, two inmates used this shotgun to take a guard hostage. They shot through bullet-proof glass, escaped jail, and stole a car.

A Canadian prisoner in solitary used his time to make one of the most creative and complex prison weapons in history.This weapon is in history.He built afull-fledged crossbow.He used “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.” for this.

The bolts used tightly packed toilet paper and aluminum foil. They could fire up to 40 feet. Nobody appears to have used this weapon; it was seized and displayed.

Convicted murderer Peter Saunders was held at Stateville Correctional Center, a maximum-security facility.Saunders built a fire bomb.He made a fire bomb from a battery, electrical wires, and ground-up match heads in a Magic Marker. He sent it in a hollowed-out book to Federal judge Blanche Manning. Authorities found the bomb and disarmed it before it arrived.

This horrifying homemade weapon is made of a simple wooden post, a shoelace, and razor blades.This homemade weapon.A prisoner in Hamburg seized this weapon in the '90s.

Making fake guns in prison is a tradition stretching back to John Dillinger’s time.This is a wooden pistol.Modern prisoners have access to modern woodworking equipment and tools, unlike when Dillinger made his crude toy.

We have realistic-looking fakes like this, intricately carved “This is a pistol, listed in 'Everyday Objects Turned Into Prison Weapons'.” made of blackened, glued cardboard. This item was never used.

St. Louis Workhouse inmate Lorenzo Pollard fought off a dozen armed guards and escaped usingnunchucks.He made the nunchucks from two chair legs and a bedsheet. He broke a window, squeezed through a homemade escape hatch, and scaled two razor-wire walls while swinging his custom weapon.

Guards recaptured him quickly after his escape.

Found in a German prison cell in 1993, this is a Rasp Knuckleduster.punching assistant.This assistant was made from a rasp, likely stolen from the prison machine shop. The handle padding probably came from a bed.

This looks like a British Sten gun. It is a mock machine gun.This mock machine gun.It was made from a prison workshop grease injector, wood bits, a rubber sleeve, and black tape. Guards received a tip about an escape attempt, and they found it in a German prison in 1994.

Sing Sing.Prison in Ossining.New York has a museum showing the history of the nearly 200-year-old correction facility. Exhibits include many homemade prison weapons; one notable item might be aneye-gouger.This eye-gouger uses two plastic forks fastened together, with the middle tines removed.

An Ohio inmate made this brutal-looking shiv in just a few hours. He never used it, but he could have killed someone. Then, he flushed the evidence easily.

Cut a slit down the middle of a plastic comb's tines. Insert a few razor blades. Hold the whole thing together with copper wire. This creates a weapon that causes serious damage.This is the Razor Blade Comb in the list 'Everyday Objects Turned Into Prison Weapons'.Prison authorities seized this weapon from a New Jersey prison.

Animal fat in common powdered coffee creamer ignites. Funneling it through a tube makes a crude but very effective flamethrower.The Coffee Creamer Flamethrower is in the list 'Everyday Objects Turned Into Prison Weapons'.Prison commissaries stopped inmates from carrying this because many inmates were burning their enemies.

Inmates once made large wooden crucifixes in prison woodshops. This terrifying weapon ended that practice.This homemade shiv was found in a German prison cell in 1994.This homemade shiv was discovered in a German prison cell in 1994.

This looks like a regular gardening glove. It is actually two gloves sewn together. Sharp upholstery tacks fasten the layers between them. A slap or punch pierces the outer layer, causing major damage.

Officials at one jail made this horrible prison weapon themselves. They used 25 pages of magazine.National Geographic features the Paper Shiv.Officials wetted 25 pages of National Geographic magazine. They rolled them tightly and dried them with salt. The result: a knife made of paper.