if I told you something as innocent as dental floss has fueled multiple successful Prison Breaks you'd probably think I'd lost my mind but it's completely true you see with limited access to pretty much everything you and I take for granted prison inmates get insanely inventive with what they can get their hands on for this reason a ton of seemingly innocent items are totally banned from prisons from the exposed dangers of Jolly Ranchers to the real reason several prisons banned Dungeons and Dragons climb into your orange overalls as we uncover why prisons ban some extremely surprising
everyday [Music] items flossing your way to Freedom now it goes without saying that regardless of a prisoner's crime they should be at least afforded basic human rights such as food clothing and hygiene Essentials that being said did you know that dental floss specifically is actually banned from many prisons and no it's not because the prisons want to punish inmates with bad teeth and gingivitis no the real reason is way crazier allow me to explain in 2012 a group of prisoners in White Plains New York banded together to demand their constitutional right to floss threatening to
sue the prison if they refuseed to supply the dental product I mean who knew prisoners were so passionate about oral hygiene but the reality of the request according to the prison staff was much less squeaky clean than it it seemed in fact prison officials initially Flatout refused the request expressing concerns about security issues what with dental floss having a surprising history of being closely entangled with jailbreak back in the year 2000 Texas prisoner Anton Lara used floss coated with toothpaste as an abrasive in order to cut his way out of his prison cell given that
for prisoners the one thing they have is time such a seemingly insurmountable task is made possible making painfully gradual progress over weeks and months Lura eventually managed to cut some of the lower bars off of his cell door and used his new found freedom to carry out some uh let's say unfortunate Deeds on a fellow inmate so clearly he wasn't using his powers for good given this truly unexpected scenario utilizing dental floss and toothpaste of all things it demonstrates how incredibly resourceful prisoners can be and you can begin to see why prison officials are hesitant
to allow floss on the inside but it's not just that one tale that supports the argument in 2012 convicted robbers Joseph Banks and Kenneth connley conducted an unbelievable escape from Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center the pair fabricated a rope made from woven and knotted bed sheets and floss and shimmed out to Freedom through a carefully prepared Gap below the window of their 17th story cell after successfully AB sailing down the building the two hailed a cab and made their escape however it wasn't long until the fugitives were caught Joseph was found merely 2 Days Later hiding
in an apartment a few doors down from his childhood home remaining on the run for a slightly more impressive 18 days Kenneth was found in the basement Boiler Room of an apartment complex disguised as an old man even so knowing the escapes were made possible with the help of certain innocuous seeming items it's easy to see why prisons may have trust issues when it comes to floss despite this however not to mention the fact that a plastic floss can container can also be potentially weaponized the New York prisoners mentioned earlier were eventually granted their right
to floss albeit only with kaser's floss Loops which are circles of rubbery floss which are designed to break easily and contain no hard plastic but while we're on the topic of preventing jailbreaks did you know that there's actually a good reason for why many prisons in the US issue their inmates with bright orange jumpsuits it's simple really it's so that escaping inmates are easily identifiable and can be reported to the police although it would seem judging by the earlier story of Joseph Banks and Kenneth Connelly's Great Escape certain Chicago cab drivers may turn a blind
eye to the blinding orange meanwhile over in the UK If inmates are particularly well behaved they may be permitted to wear their own clothing on the inside though there's a strict ban on black or white clothing as this may be mistaken for the black and white uniform worn by prison guards which could make an escape possible so I'm sorry prisoners but it looks like you're your sentence is going to include adding a splash of color to your wardrobe whether you like it or not Forbidden Knowledge it's safe to assume that while serving time in prison
inmates have a lot of time on their hands and while many turn to books as a source of entertainment a prisoner's choice of books can actually be somewhat limited with many surprising titles being banned turns out it's a pretty common practice for prisons to ban books deemed too violent sexually explicit or even containing content that might encourage the breaking of prison rules one such book that has been vetoed by many prisons such as Utah state is Robert Green's the 48 Laws of Power a book which provides advice on how to seduce charm and deceive opponents
allowing skillful manipulation but in an institution where subordination is the name of the game it's easy to see why prisons would rather their inmates not get a hold of this type of literature likewise any books that might teach inmates potentially dangerous skill skills such as electrical wiring are also commonly off limits as you can see here on the list of band books from the Michigan Department of Corrections that band list also threw in such classic titles as Sun su's Art of War you are going to prison the Practical guide by Jim hogshire Raymond buckland's Complete
Book of Witchcraft classic trains magazine ESPN's NBA Draft preview magazine the truck driver's guide book and the utterly despicable book almost too scary to mention web design demystified by Wendy Willard OH as you can see the reasoning Behind These bands is sometimes self-evident and sometimes more than a little baffling bizarrely the list even includes several Dungeons and Dragons handbooks but we'll get more into that a little later perhaps one of the most unexpected books that is banned from prisons over in Texas though is a Charlie Brown Christmas pop-up Edition now it goes without saying that
it certainly isn't for any lwd content instead it's actually due to its pop-up cardboard flaps which allow for easy smuggling of Contraband items if you thought that was extreme prisons across Missouri ended up Banning prisoners from receiving books from the outside world all together in 2023 due to their being twoo many smuggling attempts nestled among gifted Pages y all because some delinquents couldn't help themselves from smuggling now Big Bruce and cell 2011 won't get to find out what happens at the end of Pride and Prejudice for shame imposs possibly the most bizarre book Bannings though
in 2022 the Michigan Department of Correction specifically banned Spanish and Swahili dictionaries when explaining why the prison claimed these books are quote a threat to the state's penitentiaries they went on to elaborate that quote if certain prisoners all decided to learn a very obscure language they'd be able to then speak freely in front of staff and others about introducing Contraband or insulting staff or assaulting another prisoner which granted makes sense but why only Spanish and Swahili and if the prison is talking about quote unquote very obscure languages it seems odd to include Spanish considering it
is the second most spoken language in the US so they may have banned Spanish and Swahili but at least prisoners still have simlish as an option Su speaking of which why not say Ola habari more even sus to me down below in the comments and while you're at it be sure to like this video And subscribe to the channel and hit the Bell icon so you never miss an upload perfect now let's head back behind bars and discover some more bizly bandn items deadly sweet from rotting your teeth to increasing your waist size we all
know the dangers of candy however did you know that candy can be particularly dangerous inside prison and not just any candy but specifically Jolly Ranchers want to know more hard candies including Jolly Ranch ures are considered dangerous enough to be banned in some prisons like those under the administration of the Minnesota Department of Corrections why you wonder well first of all according to the New York daily news some crafty prisoners have actually been known to melt hard candy down into a liquid and then mold it into a sharp weapon letting it Harden as it cools
the cylindrical shape of Jolly Ranchers in particular makes for an easily assembled shaft and pointed tip that only requires melting the ends of each piece rapidly providing sturdy gripping surface for the hand that being said fully melting the candy and reshaping it into a mold is much sturdier whether that entails molding it into a big heavy block to drop on enemies Looney Tune style or your more classic sharp pointy shape needless to say candy Shanks can then be used to get up to all kinds of Mischief though obviously candy Weaponry isn't the most hard wearing
but it's not just Weaponry but when melted down the candy can even be mixed with a cocktail of different crushed up medications in order to create an edible intoxicant so candy shank wielding prisoners that are also intoxicated what could possibly go wrong in addition to Jolly Ranchers chewing gum is also off limits in some prisons apart from being the source of unsightly messes you may never have considered gum could in theory be used to escape it sounds unlikely but a reported concern is that particularly cutting prisoners might be able to use large quantities of gum
to create molded impressions of the guard's Keys should they manage to get their hands on them now I'm not exactly sure what the prisoners could possibly use to fill the impression as melting and casting metal isn't exactly easy in jail unless welding classes are offered that is that said if we've leared anything so far it's that prisoners can come up with a way to do just about anything so better to be safe than sorry right on top of all that that some prisoners might even use chewing gum to block the locks on their cell doors
to prevent guards entering during a planned attack or similar bad behavior in fact it's for this very same reason that one prison over in the UK had to stop serving oatmeal but with inmates using it to block up their keyholes who' have ever thought that oatmeal of all things could pose a security threat I'm almost impressed Under the Influence being at the top of the food chain it's fair to say that we humans are pretty clever creatures this is in part thanks to our resourcefulness and ability to adapt and as such we will pretty much
always find a way to get our mths on some booze back in 2009 a bunch of UK prisoners were so parched for a drink that they went to Extreme Measures it was during a swine flu outbreak and the prison had taken precautions by implementing hand sanitizing stations throughout the prison but with the sanitizer containing high amounts of ethanol AKA straight alcohol the boo starved prisoners decided to mix it with soda resulting in a hand sanitizer cocktail needless to say that this is not only gross but extremely dangerous what with many hand sanitizers also containing methanol
which can destroy brain cells and nerves cause blindness and even death sadly if unsurprisingly this prison's hand sanitizer binge was actually suspected to have caused one inmate's demise forcing the prison to remove all hand sanitizers crazy how consuming something not designed for human consumption could be problematic did someone say Darwin Awards for a similar reason sugar has been known to be banned in some prisons including a handful in Australia and the UK as it can be used to make alcohol commonly known as prison Hooch or Pruno this is essentially a mixture of sugar water and
any available source of yeast such as fruit including the skin fruit juices are also a common Choice given that they're common in prisons the concoction is then left to ferment in a relatively warm hard to find Place such as a toilet tank for about 5 to 7 Days resulting in an alcoholic beverage and having fortunately never tried the stuff I can't comment on how it tastes though some have described its flavor as a vomit flavored wine cooler M delicious for a fantastic video demonstrating a full Recreation and taste testing of prison booze be sure to
check out Larry lon's YouTube channel after you finish this video dark magic there are many things you'd expect to be banned from prisons alcohol technology weapons Etc however possibly the last thing you'd ever expect a prison to have specifically banned is Magic okay okay before you start thinking prisons are discriminating against WI Wizards allow me to explain in 2023 the deputy director of the New Mexico Corrections Department Timothy hatch decided to ban magic the Gathering for all prisons in New Mexico in case you don't know Magic the Gathering is a trading card game which features
fantasy elements like casting spells and summoning creatures of course these prisoners weren't actually summoning goblins to do their bidding which left some thinking the decision was made purely out of spite to deprive the inmates of fun however the Department stated that the decision was made due to inmates of at least one prison in the state using the cards as an alternative form of currency which is a practice they want to Stamp Out wait till they hear about Dogecoin in a similar sweep of anti- fantasy action the wowp pun Correctional Institution of Wisconsin Bandits inmates from
playing Dungeons and Dragons when explaining why the prison claimed that it was concerned the game might encourage fantasies of escaping I mean hate to break it to them but I'm pretty pretty sure most prisoners are already fantasizing about escaping other reasons listed included the allegation that D and encourages competitive hostility violence possible gambling as well as potential tension that might arise from one person being allocated the elevated role of leader or dungeon master of the game pretty crazy right with this ban being widespread across prisons in multiple US states it seems like someone in the
administration must really hate nerds but as we've seen seen already for prisoners where there's a will there's a way and it would be no surprise to learn that a whole network of secret tabletop Ro playing is taking place right now in prison broom closets and Shady jail yard Corners everywhere across the states consequential Communications it's true that love knows no bounds not even the bounds of Prison Walls and while many relationships temporary or otherwise form on the inside it can be extremely challenging to maintain a pre-existing relationship with one person locked up and the other
still enjoying free life on the outside so when convicts leave behind lovers in the civilian world it's not uncommon for them to send and receive Love Letters to keep the spark alive however when it comes to those letters there's actually a quite surprising rule enforced by guards besides the obvious policy that inmates aren't permitted to receive shall we say physically stimulating photography if you catch my drift the Fairfax County Detention Center in Virginia specifically banned lipstick stained letters why you're probably wondering well it actually makes a lot of sense according to The Marshall Project a
nonprofit criminal justice publication a smear of makeup can be easily laced with crushed down psychoactive compounds which can then be used or sold by the receiving inmate so in order to prevent this pery Virginia prison's policy any El lipstick stained letter will be sent back from once it came it's for the same reason that Utah State Prison even ban its inmates from receiving crayon and marker pen drawings you might assume these doodles to be the work of an innocent child but that's exactly what the people using them to smuggle Contraband into prisons would want you
to think the truth is that controlled substances can be easily crushed down into a thin paste and laced into the drawings or worse yet even the paper itself might be soaked in liquefied Narcotics with inmates can then use across the pond in the UK prisons have similarly banned quote Christmas cards with glitter and sticky stuff on and this isn't out of a warden's personal disdain for glitter but rather to combat a spike and illicit substance usage affecting British prisons the concern is that these compounds may be sprayed onto the card ready for consumption despite this
the prisons didn't go full Grinch mode and completely ruin the spirit of Christmas What would them so generously allowing inmates to receive photocopied versions of their Christmas cards a nothing captures the loving warmth of the holidays quite like a grayscale photocopied card hopefully at least the printed copy was still warm H warm copy paper creatively dangerous it's hardly surprising that many prisoners are of the well let's just say aggressive disposition so naturally they may have a tendency to want to use weapons s well on the inside and as you'll see soon where there's a will
there's a weapon as it seems some prisoners can make a weapon out of just about anything case in point numerous prisons in different US states prohibit spiralbound notebooks due to the metal spiral being easily removed inmates can then use it for a whole host of Mischief such as unraveling it to create weapons or even potentially fashioning lockpicking tools to try and Escape their cells regardless goes without saying that a sharp piece of metal can do some damage when in the wrong hands speaking of sharp items one prison in Scotland even had to confiscate ceramic mugs
from its inmates due to them smashing them and using them as Weapons presumably the inmates are now reliant on sippy cups exclusively for their Morning Joe besides mugs one of the most common prison weapons is what's often referred to as sock and lock AKA a sock filled with padlocks or anything else available that's small and weighty it essentially forms a DIY flail that can do serious damage and there are countless incidents on record in fact in the UK's notorious cookham wood prison inmates made such a habit of filling their socks with heavy objects such as
batteries pool balls and even cans of tuna that the prison decided to actually ban fulllength socks in 2015 but don't worry there wasn't just a bunch of barefooted prisoners trotting around the prison replaced their standard socks with ankle socks which don't have enough length to be swung around as a flail and while the sock band certainly helped one of the prison's insiders insisted that regardless inmates will always find a way to hurt one another and if you think that's an exaggeration a former inmate of New York City's Riker's Island prison explained on a quora thread
that while he was serving time even the tiny plastic battery covers on remote controls were banned reason being some other prisoners apparently had a habit of Shaving them down and using them as Weapons jeez these prisoners really don't leave any stone unturned likewise another unexpected item that some prisons have banned for quite disturbing reason is baby oil intended to soothe and moisturize skin prisoners have been known to use it for quite literally the opposite effect according to ex inmate and now tick tocker SC convict the oil would be heated in the microwave to extreme temperatures
and I'm pretty sure you can figure out the rest so yeah if you find yourself in The Slammer don't trust the safety of any everyday object because someone's going to find a way to hurt you with it felonious fan clubs ah don't you just love love some might even argue that despite a person's crimes everyone deserves love but try telling that to the prisons that have actually put a ban on love how so well over in Denmark the Danish government has introduced a new bill that specifically prohibits prisoners who are serving lifetime sentences from entering
into a new romantic relationship to some it might seem like an unnecessary and perhaps even harsh policy to introduce but there is actually a pretty reasonable justification for it having noticed a rising number of quote groupies of criminals those being young women and men who are allegedly fascinated by certain criminals and obsessively engage in communication with them basically totally fangirling over them the government hopes that this bill will reduce the prevalence of this Behavior needless to say getting p with prisoners who've been condemned for some of the worst crimes known to man doesn't always go
swimmingly for both parties and encouraging celebrity-like worship of society's most depraved is not exactly something governments nor prison officials want taking place so with that in mind perhaps the Danish ban on love Isn't So harsh after all but I'd be interested to know your thoughts on this so let me know down in the comments no time for tea there are many things commonly associated with the British the royal family extreme insincere politeness a love for queuing and perhaps most important of all Cups of Tea and if you ever doubted for a second just how seriously
Brits take their tea well then just keep watching back in 2018 a British prison cookham wood youth jail came under Fire after an independent prisoner welfare monitoring board discovered that it was depriving inmates of Cups of Tea gosh how positively barbaric the prison defended Itself by claiming the ban was only a punishment for bad behavior though the independent board ruled it as quote inappropriate nonetheless I mean you can lock the British up strip them of all their possessions family and friends but by God you can go to hell before you take away their Cups of
Tea ah jolly good show now Where'd I leave my Crumpet big off is about to start all right that brings our stint Behind Bars to an end enjoy your freedom and let me know down in the comments which Contraband item shocked you the most and as always thanks for watching [Music]
