Hacker News Reader

I had a hard time understanding the article. Can someone explain why putting an image of the prison's master key on an inmate pamphlet makes any sense? Someone went through the trouble of putting that exact key on the cover--it wasn't coincidental. Did the designer think it was a way of teasing the inmates with the key to their freedom?

View on HN

This is a good point. No one seems to be able to answer why that picture was taken and then chosen as the cover of the welcome to prison booklet.

I bet somebody originally wanted an aerial shot of the prison, but someone else wisely objected because that would be bad security move - giving prisoners a map of the area...

At first blush, I think one could easily have the attitude that a picture of a key is no more dangerous than a picture of a gun. The vulnerability is clear but not completely obvious. Especially when prisoners can also see the real keys, as guards no doubt have to use them near prisoners from time to time.

Given the description of the key looking like an E, the picture could have been an image of an ancient old key and the actual key was an ancient old key. Old locks with that E style shape are very easy to open due to being so warn. We used to pick them at school using modified spoons and such like. I'd hope the prison wasn't like this though.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com