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Thinking with a twisted mind - a contraband knowledge quiz

Here’s a series of questions designed to help open the mind to new inmate contraband schemes

Do you know someone who thinks with a twisted mind?

I do not mean someone with a convoluted sense of morality. Nor, do I refer to a perversion of any sort or an unorthodox sense of humor. Instead, in this case, I am referring to the Contraband Hound - someone with the capacity to think outside of the box and use their “twisted mind” as a tool to catch crafty inmates.

Contraband hounds are important in corrections and in criminal justice because they can see beyond the normal uses of items and apply other practical uses. They sniff out illicit schemes. Like the television series MacGyver, contraband hounds can build a working battery pack out of tape, radio wire, and toilet paper tube. Contraband hounds are present in all classifications in our profession.

I’ve composed the following test to help participants start thinking with a twisted mind. It’s a good way to jump start a module on security awareness and for use as a reference. I hope you find it useful at your facility. All questions are true and false:

Thinking with a twisted mind - Contraband Knowledge Test
Please read and answer each question as True or False.

1. Some common plants on many prison yards can produce a sense of euphoria if ingested.

2. Sugar substitutes can burn.

3. Diapers are a way that some have moved narcotics into visiting rooms.

4. Hollowed candy bars can serve as a vessel for contraband.

5. “What color is your car?” also means “what color of book will you put the contraband in?”

6. The hollowed book is not just a Hollywood cliché. It is a living demonstration of a ‘classic’ means of moving bootleg.

7. Mucus, semen and saliva (disgusting as it seems) can be used as adhesives. Utilizing any of those glues, one can hide a thin item between book pages and escape detection.

8. Soap also serves as an adhesive. So, a good-smelling book may mean there is contraband inside.

9. Heat and salt packets applied to some metals do not act as a hardening agent, contrary to the claims of metallurgists.

10. Spud juice or institutional alcohol can be made from many more things than potato peelings.

11. Tic tac toe grids and dots serve as a basis for many coded languages.

12. Coded language is important in sustaining contraband empires.

13. There have been actual cases where snakes have been captured by inmates to intimidate their neighbors. This living contraband is seen by many as a formidable weapon.

14. Magician’s tricks such as the false back of a table have been used in escapes.

15. Aluminum light fixtures are too rigid to be used to fashion prison made knives.

16. An empty eye dropper is dangerous and can actually spread infectious diseases.

17. Some prisoners will make loud diversions so quiet trades can be made away from the attention.

18. It is simple to conceal small amounts of drugs near the adhesive part of any envelope.

19. When prison made weapons are in motion, they look bigger and more dangerous than when they are stationary.

20. Black markers and white out can reassign property, alter documents and even assist in escapes.

21. Forming moistened newspaper with the hands, and time are ingredients in making an effective club.

22. By photocopying a gun and applying the photocopy to a piece of carved soap, a prisoner may take a hostage.

23. Soap sculptures made by inmates may not be just aesthetically pleasing. They can serve as a safe place for prisoners to hide valuables.

24. Sleight of hand is not only the mark of a good magician, it also aids contrabandists.

25. Insufficient postage and the return address of another prisoner is a way that some contrabandists fool staff into inadvertently moving bootleg.

Answers and notes:
This is a very easy test to grade. All of the above are “true” except for number ‘9’ and ‘15’. This may become evident to the test takers as they proceed. But the point is not to make a college level test.

The goal is to get staff to think about ways some prisoners use every day items to violate rules and ultimately breach security.

In fact, the instructor and students may know of many of these methods. This can be demonstrated as the facilitator reads each of the 25 statements and ask participants if they have ever seen these contraband tricks. That is not just a way to loosen up the students.

The discussion also is a way to share information between areas that may not normally converse.

Joe Bouchard worked in a maximum correctional facility for 25 years and is now retired. He continues to write and present on many corrections topics. He is the former editor of The Correctional Trainer. Bouchard has been an instructor of corrections and criminal justice since 1999. He currently teaches at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College. Bouchard also has online writing clips at www.corrections.com/joe_bouchard. He is also the author of three corrections books for LRP publications and 10 books for IACTP’s series of training exercises books. Order now.

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