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Inmate ingenuity, revisited: More MacGyver tales from the inside

Real-world stories of inmate ingenuity highlight the importance of ongoing training to prevent manipulation and contraband smuggling

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Inmate ingenuity is a topic that must be taught periodically so staff will not become complacent.

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If there was a university for street smarts, inmates would have Ph.D.s. I stress this point in my jail training classes. If you meet a veteran correctional officer (CO) who works in a jail, prison, juvenile detention center, community corrections center or any place that confines offenders, ask them to tell you about the intelligence and ingenuity of offenders they have had in their custody. Their answers, like the examples that you will read about below, will astound you.

In my career, I have met inmates who have displayed amazing levels of cunning and talent. Many people outside the corrections field believe inmates are dumb. After all, if they were so smart, how could they be locked up? But this is definitely not the case.

Inmate ingenuity is a topic that must be taught periodically so staff will not become complacent. This includes both the sworn staff wearing the uniform and the civilian staff — including teachers, volunteers, chaplains, counselors, cooks, medical staff, maintenance workers and administrative workers.

| EARLIER: Inmate ingenuity: Escapes and attempted escapes

Some of the most important lessons I have learned in my career as a jail deputy (and in retirement as an instructor) include:

  • Desperate people do desperate things: Inmates want comfort and tend to crave things they are used to having on the outside. Some of these include contraband — either smuggled or manufactured — that can be used to escape or wield power over other offenders and staff. Offenders take risks, both on the street and while incarcerated, and often are willing to risk quite a lot for comforts that make them feel less “institutionalized.”
  • Inmates are not stupid: As I mentioned already, while many offenders are not “book smart,” many are street smart. This often means using knowledge gained by observing people to exploit their weaknesses. It also entails using people, lying to people and manipulating people to get what they want. Many people working in corrections may think, “I am too smart. I could never be manipulated by an inmate.” This is a dangerous mindset.
  • NEVER underestimate the ingenuity of an offender: They may not have a college degree (or even a high school diploma), but many inmates are remarkably resourceful. Like MacGyver, the inventive television character of the 1980s who could make seemingly anything out of whatever happened to be lying around, offenders can be very innovative. People outside of corrections are often astounded at how crafty (in both senses of the word) inmates can be while incarcerated.

| RELATED: The 4 Cs of inmate management

The need for ongoing training

Training in many areas needs to be ongoing, including constitutional rights of offenders, preventing escapes, managing special populations, preventing suicide and yes, dealing with inmate ingenuity. Trainers and supervisors must make it clear that the old phrase “wolf in sheep’s clothing” applies when we manage and interact with inmates.

A key tactic of offender deceit is making the staff person think that the offender is really a nice person, by talking nice, acting nice and appearing sincere in obeying the rules. In reality, there is no way to tell which offenders are sincerely cooperative and which are being deceitful. In my classes on manipulation, I urge all staff who interact with inmates to use “universal precautions” and view all offenders as potential schemers and manipulators. They are not to be trusted. Training must emphasize these views.

Veteran correctional staff learn early on — often after they get “conned” — that offenders are more ingenious and intelligent than they want us to believe. As a result, when it comes to schemes, plans and contraband, do not be surprised at what offenders can manufacture and plan to do. Let’s take a look at several incidents and discuss what can be learned from them.

Examples of inmate ingenuity

Inmates in facilities across the country have demonstrated remarkable — and often disturbing — creativity in circumventing rules and exploiting weaknesses within the correctional system. The following examples reveal just how creative some can be and how far they are willing to go.

  • New York, New York: In April 2024 a correctional officer admitted in court he had smuggled comic books containing pages soaked in K2, fentanyl and heroin into the Rikers Island correctional institution. The prison employee was testifying in the trial of four inmates who were charged with racketeering, murder and drug trafficking. The CO, who had been on the job for about two years, began talking to the gang leader about rap music and basketball. Once a relationship was established, the inmate started asking for favors, including bringing in cigarettes and comic books. The CO said inmates would use pages from Bibles and tea bags to smoke drugs.
  • Etowah County, Alabama: In January 2025, an Alabama prison inmate was charged with masterminding a scam to swindle money from unsuspecting families. Using a smuggled cell phone as well as information gleaned from online jail websites, the inmate scammer would contact relatives of arrestees with low bonds, pretending to be a bail bondsmen. They convinced the family members to send money via Venmo, Cash App or Zelle to secure the release of their loved ones. The inmate was charged with several counts of theft in connection with the scheme.
  • Randolph County, Indiana: In 2017, five people, including two inmates, were charged in a conspiracy to smuggle drugs into an Indiana county jail. An inmate, a recent participant in the work-release program, obtained Suboxone strips from people on the outside while on work assignment. (Suboxone is used to relieve pain and treat addiction to narcotic pain relievers.) According to news reports, the inmate would leave the drugs under his food tray; an inmate who worked in the jail kitchen would retrieve them and give the strips to other incarcerated offenders.
  • Newport News, Virginia: In 2023, two inmates, ages 37 and 43, escaped from the Newport News County Jail using a metal bar and a toothbrush as digging tools. Taking advantage of a flaw in the jail’s construction design, they created a hole in the wall of their cell large enough to squeeze through. After fleeing the facility, they were later arrested at a local IHOP restaurant after patrons called police.
  • Butner, North Carolina: In 2022, a 62-year-old federal prison inmate was caught hiding in some bushes on prison grounds. In his possession at the time were several items that could have been used in an escape. The items included a 14-foot homemade rope, a mattress cover, gloves and a fake cardboard handgun wrapped in black electrical tape. Curiously, the inmate had previously pled guilty to using a fake gun in two separate bank robberies in West Virginia. He was sentenced to an additional 30 months for his attempted escape.
  • Sorocaba, Brazil: In 2009, officers at a Brazilian prison noticed a pigeon sitting on an electric wire. What was unusual was the small cloth bag tied to the pigeon’s leg. After capturing the bird, officers discovered components of a small cell phone inside the bag. Another bird was observed dragging a second small bag inside the exercise yard. That bag contained the phone’s charger. Investigators believed the pigeons were bred and raised inside the facility, smuggled to the outside, loaded up with cell phone parts and released to return to the prison. Investigators also believed inmates in organized crime groups planned to use the cell phones to communicate with family and friends as well as conduct criminal activities.

Another innovative, yet disgusting, example of inmate ingenuity stems from the zero-tolerance policies many jails and prisons are adopting regarding tobacco use for inmates. Tobacco bans have spawned something of a cottage industry in correctional facilities. Inmates collect used chewing tobacco from officers’ spit jars (often in discarded soda bottles) and dry it out in microwave ovens. The dried dregs are sold to inmate “customers,” who roll up the nasty waste in toilet paper so they can smoke it. A 16-ounce soda bottle filled with spit and chewing tobacco can reportedly net an inmate up to $100 in stamps. Inmates call it the “chew trade,” and the vile product is referred to as “cop spit.”

What can be learned

These incidents are but a small fraction that demonstrate inmate ingenuity throughout the field of corrections. From impersonating bail bondsmen to using food trays to smuggle drugs, the imagination of inmates knows no bounds. Each incident described above, and others you might find in textbooks and news reports, can and should be used in training.

Here are a few important things to remember.

  1. Continuing education is critical: The subject of inmate ingenuity must be revisited in roll calls, on supervisor rounds, in training sessions and staff orientations. It’s easy to relax into complacency and forget the remarkable lengths inmates will go to to enjoy a creature comfort or illicit thrill.
  2. Necessity is the mother of invention: Examples like these serve as a constant reminder that offenders are not intellectually inferior to jail staff. While both sworn and non-sworn staff receive formal training, offenders learn on the street to survive with their wits. They figure out how to leverage their experiences and observations to use both people and things to fit their needs. This must be made clear to non-sworn staff, such as those working in programs, medical care, food service and volunteer services. Inmates will target them, seeking feigned “friendships” and looking for weaknesses.
  3. These talents could be used for good: Have you noticed how talented many of these offenders are? I have met inmates who can write well, draw and even cook. Channeled properly, these talents can be a path to learning skills and trades that can support their reentry. This is something worth thinking about as you plan programming for your facility.

I remember a line from a movie, where a character said words to the effect of: “If the world does not suit you, you must make adjustments.” Offenders, with ingenuity, do just that.

Revisit the topic of inmate ingenuity. Do it often.

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Lt. Gary F. Cornelius retired in 2005 from the Fairfax County (VA) Office of the Sheriff, after serving over 27 years in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. His prior service in law enforcement included service in the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division. His jail career included assignments in confinement, work release, programs, planning/ policy and classification.

He has taught corrections courses for George Mason University since 1986. He also teaches corrections in service sessions throughout Virginia, and has performed training and consulting for the American Correctional Association, the American Jail Association and the National Institute of Justice.

He has authored several books about corrections including Stressed Out: Strategies for Living and Working in Corrections, The Correctional Officer: A Practical Guide: Third Edition, The American Jail: Cornerstone of Modern Corrections, The Art of the Con: Avoiding Offender Manipulation and The High-Performance Correctional Facility.

Gary received a Distinguished Alumnus Award in Social Science from his alma mater, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and an Instructor Appreciation Award from George Mason University. He is an independent freelance correctional author and trainer. Gary served on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Correctional Training Personnel (IACTP) representing local adult corrections. He can be reached at adjinstructor@hotmail.com.