Prisoners Resourceful Handmade Objects

The United States has a massive prison system containing around a quarter of prisoners worldwide, in 2019 alone 2.3 million people were incarcerated. America's prisoners are kept in the almost 7,000 jails, which are not cheap it reportedly costs 80 billion dollars annually to run these facilities. 80 billion dollars might seem like a lot, but it has to be shared by all 7,000 prison. This lack of funding is reflected in the poor conditions seen in these facilities, and though you don't want a prison to be comfortable many argue that the current standards are inhuman. incarceration rate, sometimes keeping people in jail double the time they might serve for the same crime in another country.
Combined the longer sentences, poor conditions, and lack of resources have caused prisoners to be forced to get creative when they need or want something. A recent article by the Atlantic showed off 7 inventions made by prisoners. The items ranged from small simple things like the toothbrush, pens, and dice to more unusual and complicated objects like the electric water heater, coffee kit, weight lifting gloves, and tattoo gun. All 7 objects are by no means products that could be sold in a retail store, but it is amazing how close they were able to get with such limited supplies. 
While I was reading the article I was surprised not only how the objects had been made, but also why they chose to make them. For the items like the toothbrush and pens I was initially confused at why they would need to make them, because both seemed like inexpensive and harmless objects. However the article said that they didn't want to run the risk of them using either as a weapon, so instead they gave them only the bristles of the toothbrush and the inkwell of the pen. The prisoner took what they were given and added string and tape to the inkwell to make a real pen and they added a stick to the toothbrush.  Out of all 7 I was actually most interested in the electric water heater, I didn’t really see why this would be something they would want. So I researched why and I found that most prisons have bad water heating systems, and so they would want to make one of these is they needed any sort of steady hot water. It was really interesting how it was made out of plastic utensils and old razors, but it doesn't look very safe. Overall I was surprised how resourceful they were about making these objects. 




Comments

  1. Kilali LatterMarch 27, 2020 at 8:08 AM

    This is very interesting. I didn't know that there were that many prisons used in the U.S. and how much money they cost. Its interesting that even though prisons use 80 billion dollars that the conditions there are not great and people have to make things like toothbrushes and pens. Its also very cool that inmates were able to be very creative and make these things with the limited resources that they have.

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