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Remember that riot at a Texas prison a few weeks ago? I’ve been poking into that more: Turns out some of the guys defeated the locks & broke out of their cells. And they’ve been doing it for years, at prisons across the state. My latest: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/08/11/breaking-out-with-a-bar-of-soap
More than a dozen current & former staffers & half dozen prisoners told me how it’s done - sometimes using nothing more than a bar of soap and a shoelace.
“Some folk get those damn doors off with toothpaste powder and dental floss,” a former Lt. told me.
“Some folk get those damn doors off with toothpaste powder and dental floss,” a former Lt. told me.
Basically, the guys just jam some stuff - soap, dominoes, headphones pieces - in the doors to keep them from latching fully. Then when they shut it, it’ll look closed but won’t really be. https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/prison-cell-locks-broken-texas/
Sometimes that makes a light turn red in the picket showing that it isn’t closed - and sometimes it doesn’t. Even if it does, some officers admitted that they don’t really go check.
Then, the guys just have to slip a piece of cardboard or a shoelace or something in the door and push up the latch and they can pop out.
Of course, if you can pop out, other people can pop in - so one said he had to get shanks & reinforcement to keep his door locked.
Of course, if you can pop out, other people can pop in - so one said he had to get shanks & reinforcement to keep his door locked.
The exact logistics of it can work a little bit differently at different units, and some places prisoners said they pay the inmate janitors to help rig their cells.
And, side note, to be clear the issue isn't that they need to take away the soap. (Duh.) Basically any object of the right size - including waded-up paper - will do the trick.
One former staffer sent me video of how it’s done, with another staffer demonstrating - popping the lock in under a minute.
Another officer said one time some staff locked themselves in one section & had to ask a prisoner to pop the lock for them.
Another officer said one time some staff locked themselves in one section & had to ask a prisoner to pop the lock for them.
To experts & reform advocates, this is more evidence of the need for independent oversight, something they’ve called for repeatedly before but has never gained enough traction to get anywhere with the legislature https://www.texastribune.org/2018/11/26/advocates-say-time-right-independent-oversight-texas-prisons/
Sometimes, this doesn’t matter that much - sometimes they’re just getting out to mill around or chat. One officer recounted a prisoner popping the lock just to shout to her more clearly.
As the Telford Lt. told me: “Them sunnabitches would get out and be running around. Eight building was real bad, some of them would just come out like it was open. It wasn’t nothing.”
But usually - pre-COVID - they weren’t fed up enough, or locked in enough, to do it. Now prisoners & some staff told me it’s happening more frequently. And sometimes - like at Briscoe - the results can be more violent. https://twitter.com/keribla/status/1284895478442864640
Since COVID, some of the video I’ve seen showed men fighting or clearly on drugs (K2). Another showed them out casually talking with the staff - and in all those cases, the narrator said those were max-security prisoners who’d popped out while the unit was on a lockdown.
Prison officials - who were incredibly responsive and commented extensively for this (credit where credit is due!) - said they take this extremely seriously and that it’s been an ongoing problem they’ve been working to solve for years, trying to stay one step ahead of prisoners.
They framed it as a universal concern of prisons, saying all locks can be defeated and it’s a constant matter of upgrading and retrofitting things to minimize the possibility of it happening. Here’s the full statement: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7032817-Lock-Questions-With-the-Texas-Prison-System.html
Plus, the spokesman said, sometimes the locks do work:
"In a recent incident there were a number of locks that were manipulated which allowed offenders out of their cells. The same locks unmanipulated kept another offender who was the intended target of an attack unharmed."
"In a recent incident there were a number of locks that were manipulated which allowed offenders out of their cells. The same locks unmanipulated kept another offender who was the intended target of an attack unharmed."
Officers said that installing metal coverplates would solve the problem at a lot of units, but as you can see in the above statement, officials said that wouldn’t solve anything. They also said they’ve tried it in the past and are trying out another kind of cover plate now.
Personally, I was shocked ppl can just break out & that it seems to happen so much. It seems like a really basic aspect of prison, keeping things locked.
And despite officials saying these concerns are sent to the highest levels, it doesn’t appear that happens consistently.
And despite officials saying these concerns are sent to the highest levels, it doesn’t appear that happens consistently.
That said, some other states have also at times struggled with other sorts of lock problems - like Arizona, where nonfunctional locks turned into a bit of a scandal last year: https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/investigations/final-report-set-to-be-released-after-abc15-exposed-broken-locks-inside-arizonas-lewis-prison
To prisoner advocates in Texas, this raises some basic questions about the point of it all: “What is the definition of security if inmates won’t even remain locked in their cells?” Jennifer Erschabek said. “What is the purpose of the prison system?”
