Shoplift writes: "Gadgets abound to prevent prison inmates from assaulting one another or fashioning weapons, from hiding contraband, from sabotaging the plumbing system, from committing suicide. Tragedy and struggle disappear beneath promotional exuberance when selling specially-configured air grilles that can’t be used to fasten a noose, or a wall-mounted, flameless cigarette lighter that can’t be used for torture. And, of course, force, control, detection, and tracking are all markets, with companies scrambling to get inside the electrified perimeter fence.


Corruption is also marketable in the five largest magazines serving the prison products industry. In an ad for a closed circuit television system (CCTV), the tagline reads, "A Good Security System Confines Inmates…Not You!" Pictured is a television monitor showing a cross-eyed prison guard looking helpless on camera. "Is your security system too confining? Does it limit your performance and dictate your procedures?" asks the manufacturer, in essence promising that cameras can be carefully placed to monitor the infractions of prisoners, but not those of guards.

Last year, a company that manufactures storage bags for inmate belongings killed an ad that was too telling. Their mischievous creative team had staged a photo depicting an inmate handing over his belongings to the storage officer, who is seen surreptitiously dropping the inmate’s watch in a bag marked, "eBay."

Another CCTV manufacturer takes the traditional, fear-based approach to its advertising. (The model-type of choice for prison advertisers is "Tiny," a fat, bald, white prisoner with a thick mustache — a comical yet recognizable symbol for prison violence.) Here, Tiny is seen menacing the camera with a sledgehammer. In the background, a smokey cell gallery is aflame, where another prisoner is trying to drag the guard into a cell. Sex predators aren't of much concern on the inside if you look at the number of prosecutions, but the fear of rape makes for good advertising.

Even the death penalty can offer fodder for the clever copywriter serving the prison industry. A full-page, four-color ad from a maker of prefabricated concrete cells makes their point that precast concrete reduces construction time. The slogan: "Executing Schedules."

For many jail and prison employees, the magazines aimed at them are one of the few sources of affirmation for their choice of work. At once shunned by the bourgeoisie who prefer to pretend that prisons don’t exist and hated by the underclass who are all too familiar with the prison system, the prison worker increasingly relies on the world within the perimeter for social cues. Moreover, anyone working in a prison will have a harder time digesting a daily newspaper. A magazine that speaks to them in terms of security, detection, and litigation control with an undramatic acknowledgement of violence is a welcome tonic."