[General] smuggling in a file

[demex]

"A little bit of sugar is a great mood enhancer. I used to make cakes for the canteen, but then Stephanie made such a fuss, all this health-and-safety nonsense about food being brought in from the outside. You’d think I was smuggling in a file. But I still bake a little on the sly. My rebellion against the dictator state. Try it.” (Part II, Chapter 3, Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides )

The speaker is offering cakes she made herself. I have no clue at all what the underlined sentence means.

Please help. Thanks.

 

[emsr2d2]

People used to smuggle nail files (or metal files) into prisons for prisoners to turn into blades.

 

[demex]

Thanks for the reply. The meaning of FILES as in NAIL FILES didn't occur to me until now. The story did take place in a forensic mental hospital, and "health-and-safety" further explains everything. Thanks!

 

[jutfrank]

People used to smuggle nail files (or metal files) into prisons for prisoners to turn into blades.

Not nail files. :lol:

Metal files, to help them escape.

 

[emsr2d2]

Nail files can be made of metal and are small enough to be smuggled in. They can be used to injure people.

 

[jutfrank]

The idea is that a prisoner's wife conceals a metal file inside a cake, to be given to her imprisoned husband, who uses said file to file away the bars on his cell and escape.

The speaker may be thinking about a file being used as a weapon, though, yes, since she talks about 'health and safety nonsense'.