35 Of The Most Creative Things Prisoners Made Behind Bars And We're In Awe

Even in jail, the spirit of creativity still lingers.

Sophia

• Published in Interesting
• January 9, 2022

Life in prison is something that you might only mostly see in mystery novels and crime dramas if you come from a place or a neighborhood that gives you the privilege of staying away from this part of your city. Think of The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, or Orange Is the New Black.

However, we may sometimes question: how many people actually know what it's like to live in prison? Is it just hours of staring at empty walls or just trying to fit in with the other inmates?

Living behind bars might suck, but for some people, they never took it as a reason to stop doing their passion—particularly, their love for artisan work and art itself. Some inmates spend most of their time creating something completely beautiful and awesome, you would wonder how they even got themselves locked in the first place, with a mind like that,

But working on something creative while in prison is not a new concept. Some shows and documentaries have covered the work of inmates who have made beautiful quilts and other art to sell while they spend their time locked away.

Some do this as community service, but some just do it to help themselves bear with the passing time. It's even a wonderful thing to think that some of these things were just made from trash or from the materials that are only available to them.

Check out some of their wholesomely creative works below!

1. Picture frames made out of chip bags

2. Hms St George model made by prisoners of war

3. Hand-crafted Mah-Jong set

4. Miniature piano made out of cardboard, rolled paper, craft paint, bed sheets and clear-coated floor wax

5. An electric guitar called "Lady", built by a prisoner in a state prison in Pennsylvania

6. When inmates bugged the guards' room to listen for cell shakedown

7. The Convict Cookbook From the Washington State Penitentiary

8. Paper Mache heads made by Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin as they escaped the Alcatraz Prison

9. Beautiful chess pieces made in prison

10. A tattoo gun

11. Table made out of ramen noodles and masking tape

12. Dice made out of toilet paper

13. Celluloid bakelite ring

14. Tin can grill

15. Hand-painted cards

16. Roses made of Jolly Ranchers

17. This Brazilian Prisoner dug an escape tunnel for five years...only to burst out of the guard room.

18. Harley motorcycle sculpture

19. Salvador Dalí art on prison linen

20. Art from prison made by Liv Bao Jin, which he made and sold to pay his bills.

21. "The Last Supper" on a jailhouse door

22. Dumbbell made of old batteries

23. An inmate was asked to draw his own interpretation of the prison system while only given a blue pen. He made sure to color his work by melting Skittles and M&Ms

24. Pokemon cards made in prison

25. Toy dachshund made by a prisoner of war in Bristol

26. Made by a prisoner in Angola

27. This inmate knitted a hat for a cat he was given as part of a rehabilitation scheme

28. Carved only using a spoon

29. Lamp from popsicle sticks

30. A soap sculpture of a guard's face made by as prisoner in Brazil

31. Bleach soap carved using a plastic spoon and an empty Bic pen

32. Makeshift flashlight made by a prisoner

33. Flip Flops with a hidden phone

34. Chess made out of toilet paper, dried bread and shoe paste

35. Trained cockroaches smuggle cigarette into prison cells in June 1938

You can keep anyone in a cell but there is always an artist inside that can't be tamed and these photos certainly prove it. Even if they may have been convicted of something morbid, it's always an enlightening thing to see their beautiful works that have been cleverly made within their cells.

Comment down your thoughts or share this article for all your family and friends to see!

Sophia