Contraband in Prison
INTRODUCTION
Each day in America, some of the most innovative minds are kept sealed in a box up to twenty-three hours a day, receiving only the minimum of basic human needs. Inmates have become some of the most notoriously ingenious visionaries in the modern world. From smuggling components into a facility to creating weapons made from paper, these individuals are constantly finding new ways to exploit the system to their benefit. Though there is seemingly an infinite amount of different types of contraband, the most commonplace items seized are drugs, tattooing equipment, electronics, and weapons. Contraband, as defined by US Legal, refers to property that is illegal to possess or transport. The Arizona Revised Statues define the promoting of prison contraband as a person, not otherwise authorized by law, who knowingly takes contraband into a correctional facility or the grounds of a correctional facility, conveying contraband to any person confined in a correctional facility, or by knowingly making, obtaining or possessing contraband while being confined in a correctional facility or while being lawfully transported or moved incident to correctional facility confinement (ARS 13-2505).
While not all contraband seized in a correctional institute poses an immediate danger, it is essential that it be removed from an inmate’s possession to maintain order. ’Zero tolerance’ cannot succeed at its stated goal because human ingenuity (as well as human depravity) is unbounded and government resources are not (Gritsforbreakfast). As long as there have been prisons, there has been contraband; created from necessity or boredom contraband is a virus that cannot be fully eradicated. You can take an item from an inmate, but what is to stop them from fashioning another from the building’s structure itself.
ELECTRONICS
The California State Prison Solano houses some of the state's toughest criminals. They're locked behind bars, but that doesn't mean they can't communicate outside
Each day in America, some of the most innovative minds are kept sealed in a box up to twenty-three hours a day, receiving only the minimum of basic human needs. Inmates have become some of the most notoriously ingenious visionaries in the modern world. From smuggling components into a facility to creating weapons made from paper, these individuals are constantly finding new ways to exploit the system to their benefit. Though there is seemingly an infinite amount of different types of contraband, the most commonplace items seized are drugs, tattooing equipment, electronics, and weapons. Contraband, as defined by US Legal, refers to property that is illegal to possess or transport. The Arizona Revised Statues define the promoting of prison contraband as a person, not otherwise authorized by law, who knowingly takes contraband into a correctional facility or the grounds of a correctional facility, conveying contraband to any person confined in a correctional facility, or by knowingly making, obtaining or possessing contraband while being confined in a correctional facility or while being lawfully transported or moved incident to correctional facility confinement (ARS 13-2505).
While not all contraband seized in a correctional institute poses an immediate danger, it is essential that it be removed from an inmate’s possession to maintain order. ’Zero tolerance’ cannot succeed at its stated goal because human ingenuity (as well as human depravity) is unbounded and government resources are not (Gritsforbreakfast). As long as there have been prisons, there has been contraband; created from necessity or boredom contraband is a virus that cannot be fully eradicated. You can take an item from an inmate, but what is to stop them from fashioning another from the building’s structure itself.
ELECTRONICS
The California State Prison Solano houses some of the state's toughest criminals. They're locked behind bars, but that doesn't mean they can't communicate outside
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