This article was produced by Bolts and is republished with permission.
After driving five hours to visit her son in prison, Anita Wills, 80, found herself in an impossible situation: fish her bra wire out of the fabric using only a paperclip, or be turned away from visiting with her son. Those were the rules at the California State Prison in Lancaster that day — bra required, but underwire bra forbidden. While the wire was so small that Wills didn’t even know it was there, the visiting staff would not let her see her son until she removed it. They claimed to not have scissors, giving her only a paperclip.
Wills cried as she struggled for over an hour to remove the wire with the paper clip, and says she heard guards laughing because they knew it was impossible. But giving up would mean she couldn’t see her son, and that the long drive and hotel costs would have been for nothing, so she tried for as long as the guards would let her, to no avail…