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>> "lockup" crews are regularly exposed to the tools of a deadly trade. >> you know, in every prison we film in, there's always a shank museum, a place where the authorities display all of the weapons that are confiscated by staff. homemade weapons the inmates have made from bed springs or melted down plastic. i mean, they're truly ingenious but they're deadly as well. >> at california's san quentin state prison, we saw how sophisticated some inmate weaponry can be. this homemade pistol is known as a zip gun. >> this portion is filled with ground up match heads. the two holes here, the inmate ...

Certain cell houses are not allowed to have chicken bones or rib bones because they can do this with them. these are the dangerous ones here. the ones you don't really see. when a guy carries something like this, he really means business. he wants to hide it. very sharp, very pointed. this is what we'd call a .22 zip gun. shoots a .22 round. put your bullet in there. screw it down until it's tight. made in one of the shops. if a guy didn't know this, if this wasn't together, he had this piece laying on one bench and this piece laying over here, you really wouldn't know what it was. >> the c.e....

For weapons, what they hide or behind this plate here. i was looking behind these brackets and we found weapons laying up underneath there. they use this strap for getting underneath the bed, because we've found shanks there and had to fish them out. >> success rate, that's hard to say. sometimes it goes in spurts. we might find a lot of shanks one month and the next six months might not find any. >> this is numerous contraband we've found throughout the years here at the penitentiary. this is a zip gun. stick a .410 shell in there. we have a screw in there. a shank made out of a pen barrel an...

>> we try to go over every square inch we can. >> take this camera and stick it down the conduits here and check for weapons, what they hide or behind this plate here. i was looking behind these brackets and we found weapons laying up underneath there. they use this strap for getting underneath the bed, because we've found shanks there and had to fish them out. >> success rate, that's hard to say. sometimes it goes in spurts. we might find a lot of shanks one month and the next six months might not find any. >> this is numerous contraband we've found throughout the years here at the penitentia...

This is a spear. and as you can see, it's pretty rigid. this inmate lodged a metal screw for the tip. when the officer or inmate walks by the cell, the spear is thrust out. >> you wouldn't think that a rolled up newspaper or magazine would be -- make that good of a handle and it does. very effective. >> this is known as a zip gun. this portion of the zip gun is filled with match heads, ground-up match heads. a plunger is used to push shrapnel, pieces of metal, ground up zippers, packs it down. when his target walks by, the inmate would light those two fuses. basically what you have is a double...