Cell/House searches

[shakedownshorti]

Originally Posted by Bobshouse

Careful when your dealing with those books. Had an inmate walking into a unit one day carrying items, the officer pulled him aside to search. When he got to the book the inmate was carrying, he took a dive, the officer opened the book and it exploded.

Luckily for the officer and others walking in the corridor around him, the cap had blown off the pipe bomb which was conceiled in the book. Had the pipe fragmented, there would have been some serious injuries and possible death involved.

The inmate was in route to set the book on someones bunk, hoping he would open it when he returned to his cell, ending his problems with this certain inmate for good.

The staff member was out of work for a couple of weeks, he had eye, ear and sinus problems for years after the explosion.

Did that happen years ago either at Lompoc or San DIego????

[Bobshouse]

Happened at Lompoc, dont remember the year. Seems that inmates can use anything against staff. The bomb was made of pipe from the plumbing shop and match heads. He had designed and used a device to ignite the match heads when the book was opened.

Another incident involved an inmate we received from the state, this incident happened at San Quentin if I remember correctly, still put us on our toes when we were around this idiot. He had taken newspaper and wet it down, soaking it through with water.

In Seg to encourage cleanliness, we issued a small paper container of cleansing powder to each cell to allow the cleaning of sinks and toilets....does your institution? The one he was at obviously did.

He took the cleansing powder and sprinkled it on the newspaper, rubbing it in. Then he rolled the wet newspaper with the cleanser up verty tightly and let it dry.

Several days later an officer was walking by his cell when he was suddenly struck with a spear thrown from a cell. I heard the officer had died, pierced through the heart. Seems the newspaper combined with the cleanser turns it rock hard. Another great homemade weapon.

[Karnaj]

I've heard of inmates doing it with news paper but rolling it real tight, and then just getting it wet when it dries it becomes hard and is used as shanks and armor.

Karnaj

[Karnaj]

This morning about 5 am our kitchen officer caught one of the inmates working in the kitchen smoking, of course my Captain (gotta love him) was like I need you to go Shakedown his cell, and make sure you toss it good, 1/2 an hour later all I come up with out of a 2 man cell, after finding out his cellie had caught a DR for Dangerous Contraband (Smoking Also) was some pencil lead lighters, I was kind've disappointed.

Karnaj

[Sultan of Shakedown]

Where to begin??? Bump stop remover, the little white plastic containers, they pull apart. So do many of the plastic containers for Afro gel and hair products. Water coolers also pull apart. Found weed, tattoo guns etc. in them. Loaves of bread are also real good. The hollow them out and put smokes, weed etc. Carry them right under everyone's noses. Laundr bags are another favorite. Altered pop cans. Ramen noodles are also good they can be resealed.
I caught a guy selling candy bars in our TV room, and low and behold they had small packets of chronic resealed inside them. Baby ruth and Hershey. I wondered why a candy bar was going for 5 books of stamps each.

I am going to check the agitators, never would have guessed that one.

[Big Bwana Jake]

When it come to shaking down/searches, you have to think like a thug. Where would I hide the **** that I have on me where I can get to it easily. One officer here is always finding shanks in the pipes that support the card tables. Some of the pipes have metal covers, others have covers that are fake so they can hide contraband in them. When I do pat searches during open movement, I try and search as many inmates as possible. I some times let the 'Blockers' pass by and hit their buddies that are carrying contraband from the chow hall, work area, ect......

[keykeeper]

Last night I had a con tell I couldn't look through his mail. Stuffed inside an envelope from his lawyer was some nice gang info(Dead Men Inc.). Pretty obvious, no originallity. Also recently seen a con hide a cell phone inside a slit in shower shoes. Cut a slit in the side,hollowed it out a little, and the phone fit in nicely.

[Karnaj]

Yeah they try to argue the legal mail issue with us and we are kinda tied when it comes to that, we can't read the legal mail just search the envelopes for anything obvious like drugs, or a shank or easily identifiable porn.

Karnaj

[Sultan of Shakedown]

Personal mail is always good. Many thugs hoard it for the specific reason of hiding stuff in it or wasting your time if you do search through mail. I caught one of the bookies a couple of years ago who had 175 books of stamps (flats) hidden inside his greeting cards. He also had betting slips, take in, and pay out sheets. Many nicknames were also on them. His greeting cards//two shoebox size boxes full// were the main place he had the contraband. He took a razor and cut the ends of the card and slid the books in between the two pieces of card. Some cards do not need cut, the pouch is already there. The only reason I caught it was a book of stamps fell out of one into my lap. I had searched this guy a couple of times and missed them. I had to rip the rest of the cards around 1,000 to get the rest of the contraband out. Needless to say, I got filed on and he "checked in".
A trick is to start with odd color mail or odd sized mail, then check the rest.
I came across a thug that was actually dumb enough to write down the days he smoked weed, location, and nickname of who he smoked it with, in a pocket calendar within mail.
I got several drug busts off his little calendar.
Legal mail is a whole different story.

[Joker]

Wow keep them coming very interesting