Clever contraband keeps jail on lookout

Inmates at the Kootenai County Jail used to be able to serve time in their own duds. Then some began sewing drugs or weapons into the seams of their clothing.

They used to be able to use full-size toothbrushes. Then someone sharpened the end of a toothbrush to attack something other than plaque.

Now inmates wear jumpsuits and clean their teeth with stubby brushes.

The booming jail population and increasing number of “repeat customers” means the problem of contraband in the Kootenai County Jail is as bad as it’s ever been. Inmates are getting smarter and more creative, and jail staff members say they are struggling to stay on top of the situation.

Many inmates attempt to smuggle in contraband – especially tobacco, drugs, lighters and weapons – by hiding it on or inside their bodies.

“They stick it in parts of their bodies we don’t want to know about,” Deputy D.J. Hall said.

And the female inmates, Hall said, are just as ingenious and dangerous.

Staff once caught a woman trying to sneak a 7-inch knife into jail inside her bra. Another removed the underwire from her bra and sharpened one end to a point. She hid the weapon inside her mattress and planned to use it against another inmate, Hall said.

Jail Commander Travis Chaney said something doesn’t have to be illegal to be considered contraband. Something ordinarily allowed inside the jail becomes contraband if it is used in the wrong way.

An empty container of dandruff shampoo, for example, was used to make “pruno” – an alcoholic beverage from fermented fruit and other ingredients.

Seized contraband is kept in a locked display case in the staff briefing room as a reminder of what boredom and desperation can breed.

Each item includes a description and the date it was found.

“They spend a lot of time thinking about what to do with this stuff,” Sgt. Robert LaFleur said. “They get creative.”

A standard-issue plastic cup, tucked inside a sock, became a makeshift club.

A staple attached to the end of a pencil was used by an inmate in a suicide attempt.

Toilet paper was braided into a noose.

There are tattoo kits using a variety of sharpened objects – even the stem from a pair of eyeglasses – and graphite shavings from pencils in place of ink.

One woman used graphite on a toothbrush for eye makeup.

Dampened toilet paper has been shaped into dice for gambling and even used for art projects. There’s a kitten sculpted out of toilet paper, complete with whiskers, that looks harmless.

“But we don’t know what’s inside of it,” Hall said.