As I peer into the cardboard box NIST researcher Amanda Forster holds out for me, I can’t help thinking that this mild-mannered materials scientist has an impressive collection of shivs.

Forster’s collection of handmade prison weapons include a ballpoint pen with a razor embedded in the shaft and a toothbrush—originally designed to be gentle on your gums—that’s been reengineered to easily puncture flesh. They are vivid evidence of a scary fact of prison life: Anything can be turned into a weapon.

Image 1: Credit: J. Huergo/NIST

Corrections officers wear stab-resistant body armor that’s usually made from fibers of extremely strong material such as Kevlar, just like the ballistic body armor worn by police or military personnel. But because ballistic armor is designed to stop fast-moving bullets and stab-resistant armor is designed to stop objects propelled only by a human arm, they differ in how they are woven.

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