Prisoners are constantly developing ingenious ways to not only communicate with each other, but also to communicate with people outside prison walls as well as ways to develop weapons with the little material that they have available to them. Prisoners often make weapons in their cells made out of whatever they can find and sharpen down to be able to do damage to someone else. They take the ends of toothbrushes and file or melt them down to a sharp point and if there is enough force behind it they can possibly kill someone and/or cause extreme puncture wounds. The weapons made in prison can be just as deadly as kitchen knives and inmates show no mercy when using them. These weapons, called shanks, have also been made from highliters, state issued razor blades, and pieces of furniture that can be found in the prison cell itself. Prisoners also fin ingenious ways to hide these shanks, including putting them inside their own bodies. Prisoners have been known to store shanks inside their rectums, which is dangerous to themselves and to the prison guards and inmates. Prison guards often have inmates squat and cough when they are entering of leaving the yard to be sure that inmates don't have shanks hidden inside their bodies, they are told to squat and cough because if they do have a sharp object in their rectum they will be stabbed internally if they cough.