LV jail guard’s invention makes his job safer

Angie Bluethman

Friday, March 28, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

It was a corrections officer's worst nightmare: A handcuffed prisoner grabs a hidden weapon and attacks a guard with it.

Michael Albanese had dealt with the nightmare for 12 1/2 years as a corrections officer at the overcrowded Clark County Detention Center. When he saw the scene in the movie "The Fugitive," where a handcuffed prisoner is able to attack a guard with a sharpened toothbrush, his inventive mind clicked into action.

"All of a sudden, I said, 'Hey, there's a solution to that -- some type of glove,'" Albanese recalled.

Sitting at home watching the movie on a sultry August evening, Albanese grabbed some paper and began sketching a device to restrict prisoners' hands while they are being transported.

Albanese, 34, invented The Tube, a round, black vinyl mitt that prisoners slip their hands into. The device is then cuffed at the wrist. With The Tube, a prisoner is prevented from using his hands to grab a hidden weapon or try to pick handcuff locks.

To Albanese, who has seen violence firsthand during his tenure at the jail, his invention is just common sense.

"It's just going to save some lives in the long run," said Albanese, who owns a patent on the device.

The halls of the detention center reek of sweat and urine as Albanese surveys the prisoners, stuffed side by side on cots.

He ignores the yells of one prisoner who insists he ate light bulbs and "they was good."

"I just know how much they (prisoners) can do. They have so much mobility with the handcuffs," Albanese said, surveying the cells.

Sgt. Joseph Cino, who supervises the transportation of inmates, said the mitts are invaluable.

"There's nothing they (inmates) can do" when restricted with the mitts, Cino said, relating stories of inmates using combs and knives to pick locks on handcuffs in escape attempts.

The county jail has only eight pairs of mitts, which Albanese donated. A decision hasn't been made yet to purchase the device, which retails for $48.95.

Convicted murderer Patrick McKenna, considered Nevada's most dangerous criminal, wears the mitts anywhere he is transported.

Albanese said the criminals who have worn the mitts seem to like them because it makes them feel more "hard-core."

The mitts also come with a pair of cotton gloves to help prevent moisture build-up and keep the interior cleaner. To clean the mitts, Albanese suggests washing them by hand and spraying them with a disinfectant between users.

Albanese, who began marketing his product last year, is still $15,000 in the hole, but is hoping his mitts will pay off soon.

"I'm one of those people -- you risk it all for your dream," he said.

The New York City Correctional Department is Albanese's largest customer. The department ordered several pairs as part of a pilot program last year and now has 275 pairs.

The mitts are used on some of the most violent inmates, particularly those in Rikers Island, the city's largest correctional facility, said 1st Deputy Commissioner Bernard Kerik.

"It's a very effective tool in our violence reduction," he said.

Along with The Tube, Albanese is researching other ideas, experimenting with designs and materials to make the job of law enforcement officers safer.

One of his marketing tools is relating stories of officers who have been injured by handcuffed inmates.

He believes his mitts can help alleviate one of an officer's worst fears -- a prisoner working his way free.

"You always think somebody else is going to come up with a solution. It turned out I was the lucky one."