Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches may evoke memories of childhood for most, but for some correctional facilities half of that tasty treat is becoming more hazard than delight.

Initially, the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) sold 18-ounce peanut butter jars through inmate commissaries. When it discovered how inmates were abusing the jars the TDOC last week turned to one-ounce squeeze packets.

“We found that our X-ray equipment had great difficulty in detecting items in the peanut butter,” says TDOC Commissioner George Little. “It became more and more apparent that inmates were using this as a means to conceal contraband.”

Guns, drugs and phones

The TDOC initially discovered the problem after an inmate escaped in August, 2005. Following an investigation, officials realized that he used a cell phone smuggled inside a peanut butter jar to orchestrate his escape.

“There had been a growing awareness that [the jars] were a problem,” says Little. “Although to be clear about it, [the August escape] was not what really occasioned the switch to packets. We had a series of events locally, including a situation where a weapon had been attempted to be smuggled at one of the Nashville institutions.”

According to Little, officials found drugs, guns, and ammunition in the jars after thorough searches of Tennessee facilities. The inmates cleverly wrapped their contraband in cellophane or cloth before placing them in the jars.

Smoothing out the problem

Tennessee isn't the only state eliminating peanut butter jars. The South Carolina Department of Corrections has also struggled with this problem.. South Carolina officials say they also found cell phones, drugs and weapons.

“Dogs cannot pick up the scent of drugs through the peanut butter,” says Jimmy Sligh, South Carolina DOC's Operations Coordinator. “We started using spoons to dig through the peanut butter any time we ran across a jar during our searches.”

South Carolina inmates now have access to 12-ounce jars which are too small to hold contraband. According to Sligh, officials were concerned that squeeze packets would create another problem.

“There are some waste management issues with those,” he explains.

Sigh offers other advice.

“I have also been told that jars of Vaseline have created a similar type of problem in some corrections institutions,” he says. “That is something officers can certainly keep an eye out for.”

Along with the switch to one-ounce packets, the Tennessee commissary raised the cost of its peanut butter, and told inmates the increase was due to misuse of the jars

“There's no doubt when you go from 18-ounces to one-ounce packets, it's going to cost a little more,” says Little. “I thought the fair thing to do would be to replace the jars they already had, but we had to pay more to do that, and we're not going to pay extra costs for this. We've explained to the inmates that we aren't trying to be mean, but it was the poor choices of their fellow inmates that drove the prices up.”

Little also says he is absolutely confident that security at all of the Tennessee facilities will improve with the new peanut butter ban. He believes other states might look to Tennessee when they end up in their own PB jam.

“I think other states will have to grapple with this issue. It was certainly a bigger problem than we had imagined.

He says even though the jars were big enough to hide a larger size of contraband they also served a wide variety of needs. So, it was unfortunate that his facility had to discard them, but he is proud of the insight his facility had to replace the jars with the packets.

“I think our staff did a fine job of executing this change,” Little says. “This is one instance where our inmate population responded well. If you'll pardon the pun, the operation went smoothly.”