German photographer Marc Steinmetz has captured some of the more clever designs of select German prisoners from the last 100 years, which reflect technologies of the times as well as jail rules from generation to generation.
From weapons to tools of escape, prisoners have a long tradition of turning ordinary objects into creative constructions.
The next time you start a do-it-yourself project and think you need more tools – think twice.Source Via Dornob
Tattooing Needle
Made from a toothbrush handle, a ball pen and an electric motor; confiscated in ‘Santa Fu’ prison in Hamburg, Germany.
Tattooing instruments are a popular and common source of income among inmates but are banned as ‘illegal objects’due to the danger of infection (Aids, Hepatitis, etc.).
Stove / Grill / Toaster
An inmate of Ludwigsburg prison, Germany, botched together this multi-purpose tool from wire, a broken heating rod and some tin foil. It was found in his cell and confiscated sometime in the mid-eighties.
Double-Barrrlrd Pistol
This gun was found along with other homemade firearms in the cell of two Celle prison inmates on November 15, 1984. The weapons had been made in the prison’s metal workshop. They were loaded with pieces of steel and match-heads.
Radio Receiver
Sometime in the seventies an inmate of Ludwigsburg prison, Germany, built this radio on the sly and hid it inside an encyclopedia. It was probably commissioned by another inmate who had no electronic expertise himself.
Shotgun
Made from iron bedposts; charge made of pieces of lead from curtain tape and match-heads, to be ignited by AA batteries and a broken light bulb.
On May 21, 1984 two inmates of a prison in Celle, Germany, took a jailer as a hostage, showed off their fire power by letting go at a pane of bullet-proof glass, and escaped by car.
Shiv
Disguised as a wooden crucifix; found in an inmate’s cell in Wolfenbüttel prison, Germany, sometime around 1994; intended for use in an escape or as a general weapon. At that time a lot of crucifixes were fashioned in prison woodshops until jailers finally figured out their true purpose.
Radio Transmitter / Bug
Made of radio recorder parts by an inmate of Wolfenbüttel prison, Germany (battery is missing).
Prisoners occasionally manage to install gizmos like this one in guard-rooms to be prepared for upcoming cell searches.
Also suitable as a means of cell- to-cell communication among inmates. A standard radio serves as a receiver.
Dummy Submachine Gun
made from a grease injector, wood, a rubber sleeve, and tape. The mock weapon was found in 1994 in a prison workshop in Wolfenbüttel prison, Germany, after jailers were tipped off that an escape attempt was being planned.
Catapult
Fashioned by an inmate in the metal workshop of Wolfenbüttel prison, Germany, presumably as a means for smuggling secret messages, drugs, or gun parts. Although the prisoner claimed it to be a piece of abstract art entitled ‘Dackel’ (= dachshund), it was confiscated in 1991.
 |