# How do prisoners shave? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 26, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190 "2017-07-26T20:03:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/1 "2017-07-26T20:03:35Z")
Hello Everyone, I was just wondering how prisoners shaved. More to the point: razors. I’m assuming that the guards don’t just hand or razors to everyone. Is each prisoner taken to the bathroom and handed a razor, watched while he shaves and then had the razor taken back? ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/2 "2017-07-26T20:32:01Z")
My room mate says that’s pretty much how it works, unless it’s minimum security prison. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/3 "2017-07-26T20:58:53Z")
Who pays for all these razors? ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/4 "2017-07-26T21:00:59Z")
There was a thread about this a while ago, and it was basically that prisoners were given razors, but it was tracked very carefully, and woe be to a prisoner who lost his razor. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/5 "2017-07-26T21:03:46Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > Who pays for all these razors? The same people who pay for the rest of their toiletries. Tax payers. I’m sure they’re not given straight razors either. Probably something like those disposable BIC safety razors ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/6 "2017-07-27T00:32:07Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Probably something like those disposable BIC safety razors Yep. And they are tracked and must be accounted for. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/7 "2017-07-27T01:29:14Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Probably something like those disposable BIC safety razors Exactly like those disposable BIC safety razors. That’s the brand we use in NY (presumably because it’s the cheapest). ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/8 "2017-07-27T02:14:55Z")
Of course, it doesn’t matter if the prisoner uses an electric razor. And about 25% of men in the USA use electric razors all the time. (Other countries vary; in Germany it’s 50% electric.) Presumably, the percentage for men is prisons is similar to that for the general population. Possibly higher, because electric razors are cheaper long-term, and most prisoners are poor. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/9 "2017-07-27T02:41:28Z")
Electric razors also frequently get turned into tattoo equipment, and hence merit special attention and accountability. And they may be banned outright in some prisons. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/10 "2017-07-27T04:43:20Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Electric razors also frequently get turned into tattoo equipment, and hence merit special attention and accountability. And they may be banned outright in some prisons. When I visited clients who were in the local jail (IAAL), we used an interview room that was just off one of the units (cellblocks). If I was early, or my client was delayed in coming from another part of the jail, I’d kill time chatting with the officers in “the bubble” that overlooked the unit. Off to one side in the bubble were maybe three or four electric shavers, each sitting in a charger. Any inmate could ask for one, and it would be given to the inmate; but the inmate only had five minutes max with it, before it had to be returned. I was given to understand that if it wasn’t returned in five minutes, serious stuff would happen. Thankfully, any time I was there, shavers were borrowed, but returned promptly, and inspected upon return. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/11 "2017-07-27T05:49:32Z")
Can’t speak for prisons. In the Milwaukee County Jail inmates purchase their own razors. If they have no funds in their account they can request a care package that includes a razor. All razors are the Bic disposables type. The razor are kept in a locked drawer behind the pod officers desk. Each inmates razor is labeled so they don’t use each others. Inmates sign their razors in/out. When razors are returned they are carefully inspected to make sure the inmate did not take the blade out and replace it with the shiny wrapper from a stick of gum (it’s happened! :eek: ) Inmates have no right to their razor. If there has been any trouble with a particular inmate or if there has been any unrest or arguments within the pod no razors are handed out to anyone that day. There are no electric shavers. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/12 "2017-07-27T17:49:19Z")
They buy them on the prison canteen on their accounts and they are then given to them - that is for our medium security prisons Category C, for high security Category A they are issued out and back. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/13 "2017-07-27T17:54:30Z")
I don’t know about prisons, but I had a friend who was one on a 72-hour psych hold, and it was electric razors only, and even those the patients couldn’t keep in their rooms. They had to ask for them at the nurses’ station, and hand them back when they were done. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-prisoners-shave/792190/14 "2017-07-27T19:04:48Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Of course, it doesn’t matter if the prisoner uses an electric razor. > > And about 25% of men in the USA use electric razors all the time. (Other countries vary; in Germany it’s 50% electric.) Presumably, the percentage for men is prisons is similar to that for the general population. Possibly higher, because electric razors are cheaper long-term, and most prisoners are poor. [possible hijack]And possibly lower, since electric razors are a larger up-front investment than cheap safety razors.[/ph]