Security is vital in prisons, especially ones that deal with high-risk and dangerous offenders. That’s why the JVA Heidering prison in Germany’s Berlin-Brandenburg region was forced to change 600 locks after an intern shared a photo of the keys to cells on Whatsapp, potentially causing a very dangerous situation.
- He showed off the most important key. In a photo shared on WhatsApp, the former intern was seen holding the master key that unlocks every single cell and passage door. While it might seem crazy that that only one key could literally unlock the entire prison, that seems to be the case, which is why those who run the prison were freaking out.
- Apparently, he just wanted to brag. The unnamed intern is said to have shared the photo with his contacts simply to show off the fact that he’d gotten a position in a prison. He was obviously pretty proud of himself and wanted other people to be too. Sadly, this backfired in a major way.
- The key could have been replicated. If that had happened and copies were smuggled in, the 657 prisoners currently housed at JVA Heidering could have escaped their cells and run riot, potentially injuring or even killing staff and escaping back out into the streets. Thankfully, that didn’t happen, but the prison couldn’t take any chances and had to shell out around €50,000 to have the locks changed immediately.
- Sadly, the intern also lost his post. He clearly didn’t appreciate the importance of keeping the prison secure when he chose to do something so careless, so the prison had no choice but to let him go. Not only that, but he may even have to pay up for the money they put out to chang the locks! “The intern was banned from entering the house with immediate effect and the internship ended,” said spokesperson Sebastian Brux. Oops!
