The eBay Jail Break
Anamosa State Penitentiary, IA
Prison officials just paid $6,000 to have the outer locks changed in the Iowa maximum security men’s prison that houses 1,289 inmates. Fred Scaletta, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Corrections told InformationWeek that changing the locks was a precautionary measure because they’re not sure if the keys sold on the popular online auction site were actually for the prison.
But they certainly could be, so prison officials weren’t going to take any chances.
Scaletta explained that a man who used to work as a locksmith for the prison was allowed to work from his home. He retired in 1974 and has since died. When the man’s wife died, their estate, including some keys that are thought to be for the prison, went on sale.
No one at the corrections department knew there was anything amiss until an employee pointed the sale out to them and said some keys might be involved.
“They were sold under the pretense that they were actual keys but we don’t know,” said Scaletta. “We were a little surprised. It’s a very, very unusual thing to happen. You hear about assaults and disturbances that become newsworthy. But you don’t expect to hear that so-called prison keys are being sold online.”
Read the rest of the story at Information Week
May 11th, 2007 at 8:13 am
Well, heck, all ya need is a couple of horses and a strong piece of rope to tie around the window bars. Who needs any keys? We don’t need no stinkin’ keys!
May 11th, 2007 at 9:15 am
Uhm, don’t they have other security measures as well like, I don’t know…guards? Security cameras? Watch points? Fencing around the grounds (preferably with barbed wire and glass shards at the top to keep some people in and others out)? This is supposed to be a maximum security facility. Kinda sounds like it is being run by the Keystone Cops. But what do they care. Taxpayers will absorb the $6,000.
May 11th, 2007 at 9:44 am
It sounds like it might have been cheaper to win the keys in the Ebay aution rather than pay $6,000 to change the locks.
I dont’s suppose anyone at the prison has considered finger scans or retina scans to verify people before doors open. They do that for some time tracking systems, and computer centers. You would think they would do that for a maximum security prison.
May 11th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
So what, someone bought an old key—like they would ever get past security to get to the cells to unlock them and –for what would they want to for anyways? I mean unless you packed it where the sun don’t shine–you won’t get it in and even that isn’t a guarantee……….snaps rubber glove….Muhahahahahhah!
May 11th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
very funny GT! as far as the article goes, im thinking why would anyone waste the time, and the 6000. seems a bit out there to me.
May 12th, 2007 at 12:06 am
But I.O.W.A. stands for IDIOTS…OUT…WANDERING…AROUND… I used to live in Omaha Nebraska, and my at high school we had so many jokes about Iowa it was crazy, but what do you do when Iowa’s favorite car color is PRIMER! hahahahahahaha. Sorry guyz, I guess I am just as immature as I started out. Oh well.
May 12th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
That’s ok wht–I don’t think we all come here to feel smarter
—– just better informed. Which by the way makes a great “smartass” 