Inmates can be creative when they want to escape

So here is a collection of creative handmade escape tools and weapons. That’s what inmates made on their free time to facilitate their escape.

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.



The classic
Makeshift rope in the classic style, made from bedsheets and dish towels; length: 16 meters. On May 2, 1998 two inmates used it in a failed attempt to escape from the 6th floor of ‘Santa Fu’ jail in Hamburg, Germany. One of the men fell, the other made it to the roof of the main gate where he was spotted by surveillance camera.



Immersion heater
Made from razor blades; found in a cell in ‘Santa Fu’ jail in Hamburg, Germany. Jailbirds use these tools to distil alcoholic beverages forbidden in prisons.
Your typical inmate’s moonshine still includes a plastic can containing fermented fruit mash or juice, an immersion coil of some sort, a rubber hose, and a plastic receptacle for the booze.



Narcotics cache
In a hollow space inside his artificial leg a prisoner in open detention frequently smuggled narcotics into ‘Santa Fu’ prison in Hamburg, Germany. Around 1984 his
behaviour finally got the attention of the jailers who gave the prosthesis a check



Ladder
Made of steel rails from bookshelves. On October 10, 1994, inmates Gerhard Polak and Raimund Albert used this ladder during their successful escape from ‘Santa Fu’ prison in Hamburg, Germany.



Grappling hook
With segmented extension rod (13 segments, overall length: 4.5 meters); rope made of leather and string. This cleverly conceived tool assisted two inmates in heir escape from Ludwigsburg prison, Germany, on August 19, 1987.
The attached rod enabled them to place and retrieve the hook and thus negotiate two prison walls in succession.



Knuckleduster
With padded handle, made from a rasp that was presumably stolen from a prison workshop.
The weapon was found in a cell in the prison of Wolfenbüttel, Germany, sometime around 1993.



Mace
This instrument was found in 1997 in the metal workshop of ‘Santa Fu’ prison in Hamburg, Germany, where an unknown inmate manufactured and hid it.
It is either a weapon, or, attached to a pole, might have been designed to push away barbed wire from the top of a wall during an escape.



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.



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.



Saw
An inmate of ‘Santa Fu’ prison in Hamburg, Germany, fitted a wooden handle to a piece of saw blade for better handling.
The tool was found in his cell and confiscated.



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.



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 dug their true purpose.



Double-barreled 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.



Dummy pistol
From blackened cardboard; found on June 23, 1988, in an inmate’s cell in Stammheim prison, Germany, after a fellow prisoner tipped off the jailers.
The dummy was hidden in an empty milk pack and was most probably intended to be used for taking hostages in an escape attempt.



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.



Hash pipe
Fashioned from an empty horseradish tube; confiscated in ‘Santa Fu’ prison in Hamburg, Germany. Bongs are the most common of all forbidden items in prisons. The range of materials they are made of mirrors the inmates’ great imagination. And their prior needs.



Saw
Made from a wooden coathanger and a jagsaw blade. The tool was confiscated in the therapeutical section of Hohenasperg prison, Germany



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.).



Whip
With razor blades. The grisly weapon was found around 1996 in ‘Santa Fu’ jail in Hamburg, Germany, in the cell of a drug addicted inmate after his failed attempt to extort a higher Methadone ration by threatening a female prison officer with a knife.



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.



Dumb-bell
Fashioned by an unknown inmate of Stammheim prison, Germany, in the prison’s metal workshop. In the late eighties, when this item was found hidden in a staircase, working out was still prohibited.



Grappling hook
Disguised as a wrought-iron candelabra, fashioned by an inmate around 1985 in a prison workshop in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, and confiscated in his cell. Before they were banned, candelabras like this one were quite popular among prisoners as they could also be used as grappling hooks in an escape attempt after bending open the legs and attaching a rope.



Rope ladder
with wooden rungs disguised as chess pieces; found and confiscated in an inmate’s cell in Wolfenbüttel prison, Germany, around 1993.



[via Marc Steinmetz Photography]

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