Awesome Prison

Written by ex-con Gustavo “Goose” Alvarez and actor Clifton Collins Jr., this unique cookbook offers up more than 65 recipes made by inmates using instant ramen and other items they could get from the commissary while incarcerated. Among the contributors: Slash, Shia LaBeouf, and Danny Trejo.

Despite what you might think, prison inmates sometimes have access to technology. In order to prevent people from hiding contraband, there are special see-through versions of gadgets. Techmoan looks at some of these unusual devices and the sometimes arbitrary rules about what items are permitted.

Part of the mystique of artist Banksy is that you don’t always know which pieces of art were really made by him. In this video, he reveals that he’s the one behind an image painted on the wall of a UK prison. Banksy cleverly incorporated a description of his process using soothing narration recorded by the late Bob Ross. (Thanks Rob!)

Artist Molly Crabapple’s hand-illustrated documentary series kicks off with an episode about the often confusing rules and operational practices in prison that are designed to intentionally disorient, control, and dehumanize inmates. Narrated by Michael K. Williams (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire).

Designed by LEGO fan GabKremo, this maximum security prison model is made from 3,000 bricks. It’s got tons of details, including a barbed wire-fenced prison yard, individual minifig jail cells, a transport bus, a gym, kitchen, cafeteria, infirmary, and a weapons armory. Show your support for the design on LEGO Ideas.

Daniel Radcliffe stars in this true story about two men convicted of terrorism by the South African government for being part of an underground anti-Apartheid movement in the late 1970s. This fictionalization follows the story of Tim Jenkin and two fellow inmates and their dramatic 1979 escape from Pretoria Prison.

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and one place where this holds true every day is in prison, where inmates get truly creative with their limited resources. Former inmate Josh of Lockdown 23and1 shows us how he made pizza using basic commissary ingredients.