How Inmates in Solitary Confinement Trick the Guards | FRONTLINE

In the solitary confinement unit of the Maine State Prison, inmates have devised ways of outwitting the officers. It's called "fishing." Inmates unravel threads from their sheets to make fishing lines. They send each other notes, newspapers, drugs, razor blades and even makeshift knives.

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[nofd]

I will say it is interesting what the human mind can achieve with minimal resouces. This is like the old old days when people had alot of time to think and come up with shit like geometry and calculus

[JillianNoelle]

Passing notes from cells, great way to keep busy and fulfill bordem

[johnnyjohnson]

I seriously doubt that they're fooling the guards. It's probably tolerated just to let them interact in some small way with other humans.

[madlilpony]

i remember being so hungry and telling my homie in another cell and he sent me food like this. shit is real and its not like were hurting anyone

[ryanp]

They aren't tricking anybody. The guards just don't care. Sure it's a pretty innovative way to send stuff and communicate, but it's not as though they're fooling anybody. 

[SupaNation]

I remember these days never thought it would be a topic on YouTube. This real shit tho.

[clutch]

I have watched over 100 prison shows/documentaries, almost everyone of these shows mention kiting, the COs and guards knows all about the inmates tricks, its just a matter of catching them in action. They do not fool anyone. But it is still an ingenous way of communicating under such situations.

[johnhoward]

You ought to film how the inmates in San Quentin's South Block go fishing up and down multiple tiers.

I was in there in 2013 and I used to watch that shit from my tiny cell.

Some guard in the catwalk across from the tiers had this long pole that he would snag fishing lines that were going up or down from floor to floor.

[veeseee]

Id like to be the guy to put my foot on the kite. It aint going no where's.

[matemaatongastayfefeka]

Can someone pls explain to me how to do this step by step

[JamaicaSugar]

I don't get the physics of this. It's not just a straight shot; the lines are going at angles I don't understand how they fo it. How do they achieve the propulsion? Like 1:02 wth?

[mikegee]

We used to make spread and pressed it flat in a Cheeto bag so it slid under the door 😂

[XclubX]

Most UK Jails, this isn't possible above ground floor level, because of the layout

[Prof_Tickles]

According to Larry Lawton these are called “kites.”

[onetruekeeper]

Each cell should have a automatic emergency water shutoff valve on the outside in case the inmate wants to turn his cell into a lake.

[cathya]

This is why I adore prison show the Ingenuity they have to do stuff like this is always fascinating to me

[jeffreyreanzo]

what jail or where place in America they have been.

[badboybootz]

I used to make a ramp and fish top tier to bottom tier

[LikeWater]

That's fucking awesome to see it like this. Im quite familiar with fishing and kites. Just never seen it from this perspective. Dope.

[andrewc]

In some jails you can send kites through the toilets. You blow the water out of the toilet then drop a long line down to a lower floor. They do the same and your lines tangle, allowing you to send stuff between floors as well. Leaving the water out of the toilet allows your voice to carry through the pipes as well.