List of people who escaped multiple times from prison
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The following is a list of historically famous prison escapes, and of people who escaped multiple times:


Famous historical escapes

There have been many infamous escapes throughout history:


13th century

* In 1244, whilst imprisoned in the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...
,
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Fawr Gruffudd or Gruffydd ( or , in either case) is a Welsh name, originating in Old Welsh as a given name and today used as both a given and surname. It is the origin of the Anglicised name '' Griffith[s]'', and was historically sometimes treate ...
crafted a makeshift rope made of bed sheets and cloths, lowered it, and climbed down. However, because he was heavy, the rope broke and he fell to his death.


17th century

* In 1621 Dutch author Hugo de Groot escaped from Loevestein Castle, where he was held captive, by hiding himself inside a book chest. He was then smuggled outside.


18th century

* Englishman
Jack Sheppard Jack Sheppard (4 March 1702 – 16 November 1724), or "Honest Jack", was a notorious English thief and prison escapee of early 18th-century London. Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in ...
took to theft and burglary in 1723, and was arrested and imprisoned five times in 1724 but escaped four times, making him a notorious public figure and wildly popular with the poorer classes. * The Italian author and adventurer
Giacomo Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...
escaped from prison in 1757.


19th century

* On November 27, 1863,
John Hunt Morgan John Hunt Morgan (June 1, 1825 – September 4, 1864) was an American soldier who served as a Confederate general in the American Civil War of 1861–1865. In April 1862, Morgan raised the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry Regiment (CSA) and fought in ...
and six of his officers, most notably Thomas Hines, escaped from their cells in the
Ohio Penitentiary The Ohio Penitentiary, also known as the Ohio State Penitentiary, was a prison operated from 1834 to 1984 in downtown Columbus, Ohio, in what is now known as the Arena District. The state had built a small prison in Columbus in 1813, but as the ...
by digging a tunnel from Hines' cell into the inner yard and then ascending a wall with a rope made from bunk coverlets and a bent poker iron. * In the Libby Prison escape, during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, over 109
Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
broke out of a building at
Libby Prison Libby Prison was a Confederate prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. In 1862 it was designated to hold officer prisoners from the Union Army. It gained an infamous reputation for the overcrowded and harsh conditions. Priso ...
in Richmond, Virginia on the night between February 9 and February 10, 1864. Fifty-nine of the 109 prisoners successfully made it back to the Union lines; two were drowned in the nearby James River, and forty-eight were recaptured. *Anarchist activist Peter Kropotkin managed to escape from a low-security prison in
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. He hid himself in one of the finest restaurants there and later moved to England. *The notorious outlaw
Billy the Kid Billy the Kid (born Henry McCarty; September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), also known by the pseudonym William H. Bonney, was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West, who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at th ...
managed to escape from prison in 1881, but was captured and shot by Pat Garrett only a few months later.


1900–1949

* In 1901, Lum You was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by a
Pacific County, Washington Pacific County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,365. Its county seat is South Bend, and its largest city is Raymond. The county was formed by the government of Oregon Territory in Febr ...
court. He enjoyed great public sympathy, including from county officials, who supposedly allowed him to escape by leaving his cell door unlocked at night. He eventually seized the opportunity, but within a few days he either gave himself up or was recaptured. * German Naval Air Service Kapitänleutnant
Gunther Plüschow Gunther Plüschow (February 8, 1886 – January 28, 1931) was a German aviator, aerial explorer and author from Munich, Bavaria. His feats include the only escape by a German prisoner of war in World War I from Britain back to Germany; he was ...
escaped from the
Donington Hall Donington Hall is a mansion house set in parkland near Castle Donington village, North West Leicestershire. The Hall and Estate was purchased in April 2021 by MotorSport Vision, which also operates the neighbouring Donington Park racing circu ...
prisoner of war camp in 1915. *
Frederick Mors Frederick Mors (born Carl Menarik, 2 October 1889 – 1918?) was an Austrian serial killer. Mors killed eight elderly patients by poison while employed in a nursing home in New York City. He was very cooperative, readily admitting to the murders ...
, an Austrian-born American serial killer, was declared insane and placed into the Matteawan Institution for the Insane in the United States in 1915. He escaped in 1916 and was never seen again but supposedly resurfaced in Connecticut in 1917. His body was possibly found in 1923 and identified as a suicide. * In 1921, at age 22
Victor Folke Nelson Victor Folke Nelson (June 5, 1898 – December 9, 1939) was a Swedish-American writer,"Prison Ethics." ''The Tennessean''. March 6, 1933."Bound to be Read." ''The Evening Sentinel''. Carlisle, Pa. March 16, 1933."The Articulate Convict Studies Pri ...
made a sensational and highly publicized run and escape"Victor F. Nelson Eludes Pursuers." ''Boston Evening Globe''. May 12, 1921. from a line of 13 prisoners after attending chapel at the Charlestown State Prison. Despite an attempted intervening tackle from a prisoner trusty and bullets from a guard's gun, Nelson ran some distance, leapt, caught the lower end of the window bars, and scaled the 40-foot high wall of the prison's Cherry Hill section.Merrill, Anthony. "The Man Who Broke Charlestown". ''Boston Sunday Advertiser Green Magazine''. December 17, 1939. At the top of the wall, he performed "what was always believed an impossible stunt: throwing his body across a 10-foot space to the wall,""Back in Prison After Restful Sojourn Here". ''Daily Springfield Republican''. September 12, 1921. where he managed to catch hold of the coping of a nearby structure and then to drop 30 feet down to the Boston and Maine railroad tracks."Victor F. Nelson, Notorious Ex-Convict, Believed Poisoned". ''The Boston Herald''. December 10, 1939. He was convinced to volitionally return to prison by his respected mentor and progressive penologist
Thomas Mott Osborne Thomas Mott Osborne (September 23, 1859 – October 20, 1926) was an American prison administrator, prison reformer, industrialist and New York State political reformer. In an assessment of Osborne's life, a ''New York Times'' book reviewer wrote ...
several months later."Movie Made Escaped Convict Go Back to Charleston Prison". ''The Boston Sunday Post''. December 17, 1939. * In 1922, an
IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...
bomb blew a hole in the wall of the Jail in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland. 106 IRA prisoners escaped. A few weeks later, these same prisoners returned fully armed, and took over the whole prison, freeing remaining prisoners. * Leonard T. Fristoe was imprisoned for double murder in 1920 of a police Constable and a deputy Sherriff in Nevada. He escaped from Nevada State Prison in 1923. He lived for nearly 46 years under the allias of Claude R. Willis, before being turned in by his own son. After serving several years in prison he died of natural causes. *
John Dillinger John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression. He led the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Dillinger was imprisoned several times an ...
served time at the Indiana State Penitentiary at Michigan City, until 1933, when he was paroled. Within four months, he was back in jail in Lima, Ohio, but his gang sprang him, killing the jailer, Sheriff Jessie Sarber. Most of the gang was captured again by the end of the year in
Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...
, due to a fire at the Historic Hotel Congress. Dillinger alone was sent to the Lake County jail in
Crown Point, Indiana Crown Point is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 33,899 at the 2020 census. The city was incorporated in 1868. On October 31, 1834, Solon Robinson and his family became the first settlers to ...
. He was to face trial for the suspected killing of police officer William O'Malley during a bank shootout in
East Chicago, Indiana East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,698 at the 2010 census. The city is home of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwater harbor characterized by industrial and manufacturing ac ...
, some time after his escape from jail. During this time on trial, a famous photograph was taken of Dillinger putting his arm on prosecutor Robert Estill's shoulder when suggested to him by reporters. * On March 3, 1934, Dillinger escaped from the "escape-proof" (as it was dubbed by local authorities at the time) Crown Point, Indiana county jail, which was guarded by many police officers and national guardsmen. Newspapers reported that Dillinger had escaped using a fake gun made from wood, blackened and shined with shoe polish. * French prisoner
René Belbenoît Jules René Lucien Belbenoît (; 4 April 1899 – 25 February 1959) was a French prisoner on Devil's Island who successfully escaped to the United States. He later published the memoirs, ''Dry Guillotine'' (1938) and ''Hell on Trial'' (1940), ab ...
escaped from the penal colony of
French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas. ...
on March 2, 1935 when he and five others took to the sea with a boat they had bought. After a series of daring adventures, during which all of the other escapees were captured, he reached the United States in 1937. In 1938 his account, ''Dry Guillotine'', was published. Belbenoît had written it in French and it was translated in English by Preston Rambo. It went through 14 printings in less than a year. * Japanese prisoner
Yoshie Shiratori was a Japanese national born in Aomori Prefecture. Shiratori is famous for having escaped from prison four different times, making him an anti-hero in Japanese culture. There is a memorial to Shiratori at the Abashiri Prison Museum. There ar ...
broke out of prison four times, first from Aomori Prison (1936), Akita Prison (1942),
Abashiri Prison is a prison in Abashiri, Hokkaido Prefecture that opened in 1890. The northernmost prison in Japan, it is located near the Abashiri River and east of Mount Tento. It holds inmates with sentences of less than ten years. Older parts of the prison ...
(1944), and Sapporo Prison (1947). A novel and TV-drama ''Hagoku'' was based on his true story. * Fort San Cristóbal is located on the top of the mountain San Cristóbal, which is very close (4 km) to
Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
. Built inside the mountain, it served as a prison despite the fact that it had been obsolete since its opening in 1919, due to its weakness against aviation. On May 22, 1938, during the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
, around 30 prisoners organised a mutiny for a massive prison break. 792 prisoners fled but only three succeeded in getting to the French border; 585 were arrested, 211 died and 14 of the arrested who were considered the leaders were sentenced to death. Most fugitives were intercepted during the following days. In 1988, a sculpture was erected to honour the memory of the prisoners who died there. The fort ceased to be a prison in 1945. *
Colditz Castle Castle Colditz (or ''Schloss Colditz'' in German) is a Renaissance castle in the town of Colditz near Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz in the state of Saxony in Germany. The castle is between the towns of Hartha and Grimma on a hill spur over the r ...
was used as an "escape-proof" prisoner-of-war camp during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, but over the course of 300 escape attempts, 130 prisoners escaped. Thirty escapees eventually managed to reach friendly territory. The men had tunneled, disguised themselves as guards, workmen or women, sneaked away through sewer drains, and even built a glider in a plan to get over the wall. *
André Devigny André Devigny (25 May 1916 – 12 February 1999) was a French soldier and member of the Résistance. Biography Devigny was a schoolteacher who joined the French Army just before the outbreak of World War II in 1939. He was part of the fighting ...
, a French resistance fighter during World War II, escaped Montluc Military Prison in Lyons with his cellmate in April 1943. * French author
Henri Charrière Henri Charrière (; 16 November 1906  – 29 July 1973) was a French writer, convicted in 1931 as a murderer by the French courts and pardoned in 1970. He wrote the novel '' Papillon'', a memoir of his incarceration in and escape from a pena ...
tried to escape in vain several times, but eventually was successful in 1943. His story, '' Papillon'', was published and filmed under the same name. * In the Great Escape, 76 Allied POWs (primarily Commonwealth airmen) escaped from Stalag Luft III during World War II. 73 of the escapees were captured and fifty of them were executed by the
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
, while only three succeeded in reaching neutral territories. * In the
Cowra breakout The Cowra breakout occurred on 5 August 1944, when 1,104 Japanese prisoners of war attempted to escape from a prisoner of war camp near Cowra, in New South Wales, Australia. It was the largest prison escape of World War II, as well as one o ...
, at least 545 out of 1,004 Japanese POWs escaped from Number 12 POW Compound at Cowra on the night of 4 August 1944. Out of the roughly 500 escapees, 231 died and 108 were wounded. 31 killed themselves and 12 were burnt to death in huts set on fire by the Japanese. Sixteen of the wounded showed signs of attempted suicide. * In the Latrun Prison break, 20 members of the Jewish underground group Lehi escaped from Latrun prison camp in
Latrun Latrun ( he, לטרון, ''Latrun''; ar, اللطرون, ''al-Latrun'') is a strategic hilltop in the Latrun salient in the Ayalon Valley, and a depopulated Palestinian village. It overlooks the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, 25 kilometers ...
,
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
(now
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
), through a 76 meter long tunnel on the night of October 31, 1943. * In the
Great Papago Escape The Great Papago Escape was the largest Axis prisoner-of-war escape to occur from an American facility during World War II. On the night of December 23, 1944, twenty-five Germans tunneled out of Camp Papago Park, near Phoenix, Arizona, and fled ...
, over 25 German POWs escaped by tunneling out of Camp Papago Park POW facility, near
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...
, on the night of December 23, 1944. They then fled into the surrounding desert but because the rivers in Arizona were mostly dry and had not been navigable for decades, most of them were recaptured without bloodshed over the next few weeks. * In the
Acre Prison break The Acre Prison break was an operation undertaken by the Irgun on May 4, 1947, in the British Mandate of Palestine, in which its men broke through the walls of the Central Prison in Acre and freed 27 incarcerated Irgun and Lehi members. History ...
, 28 members of the Jewish underground groups
Irgun Irgun • Etzel , image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...
and Lehi escaped from
Acre Prison Acre Prison also known as Akko Prison is a former prison and current museum in Acre, Israel. The citadel was built during the Ottoman period over the ruins of a 12th-century Crusader fortress. The Ottomans used it at various times as a govern ...
in Acre,
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
(now
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
) on May 4, 1947. * 12 members of the Jewish underground groups
Irgun Irgun • Etzel , image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...
and Lehi escaped from the central prison (today the
Museum of Underground Prisoners Museum of Underground Prisoners is a museum in Jerusalem, commemorating the activity of the Jewish underground— Haganah, Irgun and Lehi—during the period leading up the establishment of the State of Israel. History of the building The mus ...
) in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
,
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
, on February 20, 1948.


1950–1975

* In 1955, serial killer Edward Edwards pushed past a guard and escaped from an
Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...
,
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
jail while being held on burglary charges. By 1961, he was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Edwards was captured in Atlanta, Georgia on January 20, 1962. * In 1959, Frank Freshwaters escaped from an Ohio prison while serving a sentence of involuntary manslaughter from a 1957 car accident. After 56 years he was arrested in Florida. * In the Alcatraz escape on June 11, 1962, American criminals brothers John and Clarence Anglin, and Frank Morris escaped
Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz (, ''"the gannet"'') or The Rock was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States, the site of a ...
on
Alcatraz Island Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pri ...
using an inflatable raft, never to be seen again. It was never determined by the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
whether they succeeded in their escape or died in the attempt. * In 1966, serial killer Monroe Hickson escaped from the Manning Correctional Institution. In 1967, he was added on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. The body of a deceased farm worker in Chapel Hill, North Carolina was confirmed to have been Hickson in 1968. *In 1971, a 45 meter long tunnel was dug and 111 political prisoners, including future
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
José Mujica José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano (; born 20 May 1935) is a Uruguayan politician, former revolutionary and farmer who served as the 40th president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. A former guerrilla with the Tupamaros, he was tortured and im ...
, escaped from the high security Punta Carretas Penitentiary in Montevideo,
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. It was the largest prison escape in history. * In 1973, three
Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...
prisoners escaped in the
Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape The Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape occurred on 31 October 1973 when three Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escaped from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, Ireland, by boarding a hijacked helicopter that briefly landed in the prison ...
, when a hijacked helicopter landed in the exercise yard at
Mountjoy Prison Mountjoy Prison ( ga, Príosún Mhuinseo), founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed ''The Joy'', is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. The current prison Governor is Edward Mullins. History ...
,
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
,
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
. * In 1974, Thomas Knight, a man awaiting trial for a double murder, escaped from the Miami-Dade County Jail, along with ten other prisoners. Eight of the eleven escapees were captured within two days but Knight remained a fugitive for over three months. While on the run, Knight committed another murder. He was captured in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and later executed in 2014. * In 1975
Billy Hayes Billy or Bill Hayes may refer to: In entertainment * Bill Hayes (actor) (born 1925), American actor and singer * Bill Hayes (television producer), executive producer of ''Jon & Kate + 8'' * Billy Hayes (musician) (born 1985), drummer in Wavves and ...
, a convicted
drug smuggler The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...
escaped from a İmralı prison on an island in the
Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via t ...
,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, using a rowboat. He made his way to Greece, where he was eventually deported to the U.S. Hayes wrote a book on his experiences, '' Midnight Express'', which was later adapted into the 1978 film of the same name starring Brad Davis as Hayes.


1976–1999

* On 5 April 1976, in the
Segovia prison break The Segovia prison break ( es, Fuga de Segovia) occurred in Segovia, Spain on 5 April 1976 when 29 political prisoners escaped from Segovia prison. This was the largest prison break in Spain since the Spanish Civil War. The prisoners escaped by me ...
, twenty nine prisoners escaped from prison, in Spain's largest prison break since the country's
civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. The majority belonged to the
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
separatist group
ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...
. The majority of prisoners were recaptured in shoot outs with the authorities in the next few days, during which one escapee was killed, though four managed to escape to France. * On 10 June 1977, the convicted murderer of
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
,
James Earl Ray James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 – April 23, 1998) was an American fugitive convicted for assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. After this Ray was on the run and was cap ...
, escaped from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Tennessee, along with six others. Ray was recaptured after two days. He had been running and hiding in the mountainous forest surrounding the prison. * On 23 September 1977, a group of seven prisoners, including Patrick Kimumwe, escaped from the fortified compound of the State Research Bureau, the Ugandan intelligence agency during the rule of
Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...
. * Serial killer
Carlton Gary Carlton Michael Gary (September 24, 1950 – March 15, 2018) was an American serial killer who murdered three elderly women in Columbus, Georgia, and one in Syracuse, New York, between 1975 and 1978, though he is suspected of at least four more ...
escaped from a low-security prison by sawing through the bars of his cell. Later on 15 March 1983, Gary escaped again from police custody. * In 1977, convicted murderer James Robert Jones escaped from prison in Kansas, and lived in Florida for 37 years under the alias of Bruce Walter Keith. He was arrested in March 2014. It is assumed that he used someone else's identity. * On 30 December 1977, serial killer
Ted Bundy Theodore Robert Bundy (Name change, born Cowell; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more th ...
escaped from prison while most of the guards were off for Christmas. He did so by sawing through the vent of his cell with a hacksaw blade, ending up in the chief jailer's apartment (who was away on Christmas break). He then stole some clothes from a closet and left the building. Earlier in June he escaped from a courthouse by jumping out a window in the court's law library. * In 1979,
Assata Shakur Assata Olugbala Shakur (born JoAnne Deborah Byron; July 16, 1947; also married name, JoAnne Chesimard) is an American political activist who was a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA). In 1977, she was convicted in the first-degree murder ...
successfully escaped prison in Union, New Jersey when three members of the Black Liberation Army took prison guards as hostages, freed Shakur and fled in a prison van. No one was injured during the prison break, including the guards-turned-hostages who were left in the parking lot. In 1984, Shakur escaped to Cuba where she gained political asylum. Shakur was moved to the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists List on May 2, 2013. * In 21 January 1980, three prisoners of
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
separatist group ETA (pm) escaped from the prison of San Sebastian. They were: Izaskun Arrazola, Jesus Maria Salegi and Mikel Matxirena. They mingled with visiting relatives and walked out the front door. * On 23 July 1980, Zdzisław Najmrodzki, had escaped from the prison in
Gliwice Gliwice (; german: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional capi ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, by jumping from the barred window. His crewmates had partially sawn off the bars a few days prior to escape which allowed him to break them. Najmrodzki slid down the line outside the building and got to the awaiting him a motorcycle. Overall, between 1974, and 1989, he had escaped in total 29 times from prisons and the authorities.''Do Rzeczy Historia'', no 8(66)/2018, September 2018, pp. 40-43. * On 11 April 1981, convicted murderer Edward Dean Kennedy escaped from the Union Correctional Facility in Florida, and hours later would be murdering a state trooper and the trooper's cousin. He was eventually recaptured, was sentenced to death and was executed in 1992. * On 2 March 1982 in
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
, PCP guerilla fighters assaulted the Ayacucho prison, resulting in the release of 255 inmates. * In the 1983 Batticaloa Jailbreak on 23 September 1983, 41
Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...
political prisoners and 151 criminal prisoners escaped in eastern Sri Lanka. * In the Maze Prison escape on 25 September 1983, 38
Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...
members escaped from
HMP Maze Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to Sept ...
in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, the biggest prison escape in Irish or British history. * On 7 July 1985, in prison of San Sebastian two prisoners escaped:
Joseba Sarrionandia Joseba Sarrionandia Uribelarrea (Iurreta, Biscay, April 13, 1958) is a Basque people, Basque writer who has published a large number of books of poetry and short stories, as well as novels. He has been awarded on numerous occasions for his work, a ...
and
Iñaki Pikabea Iñaki is a male given name. It is a neologism created by Sabino Arana meaning ''Ignatius'', to be a Basque language analog to "Ignacio" in Spanish, "Ignace" in French, and "Ignazio" in Italian, and an alternative to the names Eneko and Iñigo. ...
. Both of them belonged to the
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
separatist group
ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...
and they managed to escape as there was a concert in the jail with Basque singer Imanol Larzabal. They hid themselves inside two loudspeakers. The Basque Radical Rock group Kortatu created the song Sarri, Sarri in honor of this escape, which became a big hit. The escape was planned with theater critic Mikel Albisu, who would become the leader of ETA. He drove the van when they escaped. During three months, the two fugitives and Antza were hiding in a flat in San Sebastián, before moving to France. Since that day Sarrionandia has lived exiled in secret during more than 30 years and the topic of exile is foremost in his writings. * On 3 September 1989, Zdzisław Najmrodzki, had escaped from the prison in
Gliwice Gliwice (; german: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional capi ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, via tunnel. While walking at the prison yard, he had fallen underground into the tunnel, dug over the course of 3 weeks by his mother and a crewmate. From the tunnel, he had got to the motorcycle prepared for him outside the prison. Overall, between 1974, and 1989, he had escaped in total 29 times from prisons and the authorities. * In 1984, six death row inmates, including the
Briley Brothers Linwood Earl Briley, James Dyral Briley Jr., and Anthony Ray Briley were a sibling trio of serial/spree killers, rapists, and robbers who were responsible for a murder and robbery spree that took place in Richmond, Virginia, in 1979. Linwoo ...
(Linwood and James), escaped Mecklenburg Correctional Center, making it the largest mass death row escape in American history. All were recaptured within 18 days, and all six men would eventually be executed. The final execution took place in 1996. * On 4 December 1986, William Scott Day escaped a psychiatric center in
Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti (), commonly shortened to Ypsi, is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 20,648. The city is bounded to the north by Superior Township and on the west, south, an ...
, then embarking on a killing spree in several states spanning 39 days. He was eventually re-captured and sentenced to life imprisonment in
Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, which he served until his death in 2006. * In November 1987 Peter Thomson aged 19 at the time escaped from Winchester Prison. During a 2 hour window of opportunity, Peter Thomson broke out from the education wing onto the grounds and promptly made his way over the prison wall. A large-scale search was made of the surrounding area, but he was never found. * On 7 March 1993,
Peter Gibb Peter Robert Gibb (30 June 1954 – 23 January 2011) was an Australian criminal, known for his escape from the Melbourne Remand Centre in 1993. Escape from Melbourne Remand Centre Gibb had several prior convictions for manslaughter, armed robbe ...
and Archie Butterley escaped from the Melbourne Remand Centre in Australia, with the help of prison guard Heather Parker who was having a relationship with Gibb. Police found Butterley shot dead six days later and re-captured Gibb. * In 1993, ten prisoners escaped from Pārlielupe prison in
Jelgava Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united Du ...
, Latvia. The following year, 95 prisoners escaped through a tunnel they had excavated. As of August 2005, four prisoners, two from each of the escapes, were still at large. * In 1994 Arthur Rudy Martinez, an inmate serving a life sentence after being convicted of numerous rapes and robberies, escaped from a Washington State prison and eluded capture for nearly two decades. He later turned himself in to authorities after being diagnosed with cancer in an attempt to take advantage of free medical care he would receive in prison. He died two months later. *
Trikala Trikala ( el, Τρίκαλα; rup, Trikolj) is a city in northwestern Thessaly, Greece, and the capital of the Trikala regional unit. The city straddles the Lithaios river, which is a tributary of Pineios. According to the Greek National Stati ...
,
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
, on 23 May 1995, Albanian inmates staged a daring escape from an old Turkish administration building-turned-prison, using weight dumbbells to break the locks of the gates and bed springs as a ladder to scale the wall. 29 prisoners escaped, and about half of them absconded to
Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
and were never recaptured. Only Albanian inmates escaped, having kept escape plans secret from the prison's international population. * On March 17, 1995, in Sublette, Kansas Dawn Amos, Douglas Winter and David Spain escaped in the early morning hours after shooting Sheriff Deputy, Irvin Powell twice. The trio later fled to Colorado where an elderly man was kidnapped and later released unharmed. Powell later died of his injuries in an Oklahoma City hospital three days later. * In the 1995 Vellore Fort Jailbreak on 15 August 1995, 43
Tamil Tiger The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
inmates escaped from
Vellore Fort Vellore Fort is a large 16th-century fort situated in heart of the Vellore city, in the States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu, India built by Vijayanagara Empire, Vijayanagara kings. The fort was at one time the headquarters of ...
prison in India. * On August 27, 1995, multiple prisoners escaped from Vridsløselille Prison in
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
,
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...
after a bulldozer was driven into the prison wall. * In January 1997, Korean criminal Shin Chang-won escaped from Busan Prison in South Korea. * In 1998, the Belgian child molester
Marc Dutroux Marc Paul Alain Dutroux (; born 6 November 1956) is a Belgian convicted serial killer, serial rapist, and child molester. Initially convicted for the abduction and rape of five young girls in 1989, Dutroux was released on parole after just thre ...
notoriously managed to escape for a few hours. He was caught the same afternoon, but the incident forced two politicians to resign and deepened the loss of faith in the Belgian judicial system. * Martin Gurule escaped from the Texas Death Row at
Ellis Unit O. B. Ellis Unit (E1, previously Ellis I Unit) is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison located in unincorporated Walker County, Texas, north of Huntsville. The unit, with about of space, now houses up to 2,400 male prisoners.
in 1998. He was found dead a few days later. * In 1999,
Leslie Dale Martin Leslie Dale Martin (April 24, 1967 – May 10, 2002) was an American convicted murderer who was executed by the state of Louisiana for the June 1991 rape and murder of 19-year-old Christina Burgin. He remains the most recent person executed invo ...
and three other inmates on
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
's death row escaped from their cells at the
Louisiana State Penitentiary The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...
. They were caught within hours, before they even managed to escape prison grounds. The four men had managed the escape with the use of hacksaws that had been smuggled in for them by a bribed corrections officer. Other officers were inattentive to the inmates' two to three week effort at cutting their cell doors and window. After the escape, two corrections officers were fired and two others were demoted. Two corrections officers later overheard Martin plotting another escape, which included taking hostages and commandeering a vehicle to ram the prison's front gates. Martin was immediately moved to the holding cell outside the death chamber, a month before his
execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...
in 2002.


2000–present

* The
Texas 7 The Texas 7 were a group of prisoners who escaped from the John B. Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas, on December 13, 2000. Six of the seven were apprehended over a month later, between January 21–23, 2001, as a direct result of the television ...
escaped from John B. Connally Unit on December 13, 2000. Six of them were captured after over a month and a half on the run; the seventh killed himself before being captured. * In January 2001, three inmates escaped from Chicago State Penitentiary's H-Unit (Hi-Max). One of them was injured during the escape, and while trying to get back into the prison, he got caught in the razor between the fences. The other two offenders (one serving a life sentence for murder, the other for rape and kidnapping) were at large for several days before being apprehended in a small town approximately from the prison. * In New York, convicted murderers Timothy A. Vail and Timothy G. Morgan escaped from Elmira State Penitentiary in July 2003; both were recaptured in two days. *
Colton Harris-Moore Colton Harris Moore (born March 22, 1991) is an American former fugitive. He was charged with the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars in property, including several small aircraft, boats, and multiple cars, all committed while still a teen ...
fled a three-year sentence by walking out of a
halfway house A halfway house is an institute for people with criminal backgrounds or substance use disorder problems to learn (or relearn) the necessary skills to re-integrate into society and better support and care for themselves. As well as serving as a ...
in April 2008. On 11 July 2010, he was captured at
Harbour Island, Bahamas Harbour Island is an island and administrative district in the Bahamas and is located off the northeast coast of Eleuthera Island. It has a population of 1,762 (2010 census).Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
. * The
Sarposa Prison attack The Sarposa Prison attack was a raid on the Sarposa Prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan by Taliban insurgents on June 13, 2008. One of the largest attacks by Afghan insurgents, the raid freed 400-1000 prisoners.Time magazine,Taliban Militants Storm ...
was a raid on the
Kandahar detention facility Kandahar Central Jail, also known as Sarpuza Prison or Sarposa Prison, is a minimum security prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It has been historically used for the incarceration of common criminals of Kandahar Province. In the last two decades, the ...
in
Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
,
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
by
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...
insurgents on June 13, 2008. One of the largest attacks by Afghan insurgents, the raid freed 400–1000 prisoners. * On August 4, 2008,
Sarah Jo Pender Sarah Jo Pender (born May 29, 1979) is an American woman convicted along with her former boyfriend, Richard Edward Hull, of murdering their roommates, Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman, on October 24, 2000, in Indiana. She has claimed ever sinc ...
escaped from
Rockville Correctional Facility Rockville Correctional Facility is a state prison located in Adams Township, Parke County, one mile (1.6 km) northwest of Rockville, Indiana. A part of the Indiana Department of Corrections, it is the largest state prison for women in India ...
with the help of prison guard Scott Spitler, who was expecting a $15,000 payment. She remained on the run for four months. * Eight inmates charged with violent crimes escaped from the Curry County Adult Detention Center in Clovis,
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
on August 24, 2008. The men escaped by climbing prison pipes in a narrow space inside a wall, then using homemade instruments to cut a hole in the roof. The jailbreak was featured on a September 6 episode of '' America's Most Wanted''. As of October 2010, convicted murderer Edward Salas was the only inmate still at large. Salas was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service on Thursday, October 4, 2012, in Chihuahua City, Mexico, and was extradited back to New Mexico. * Lance Battreal, Charles Smith, and Mark Booher escaped from a Michigan City, Indiana prison on July 12, 2009 through tunnels under the prison yard. Smith was captured on July 20, 2009 near Chicago Mayor
Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term ...
's vacation home in Grand Beach,
Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
. Battreal was captured on July 21, 2009 at his mother's house in Rockport, Indiana. Booher was captured on July 23, 2009 in a hotel in Indianapolis,
Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
. * On March 30, 2010, three inmates, Quentin Truehill, Kentrell Johnson, and Peter Hughes escaped from Avoyelles Parish Sheriff's Office in Mansura, Louisiana after holding an officer hostage. They went on a crime spree through Louisiana and Florida that included multiple robberies and thefts, and all three participated in the kidnap and murder of Florida State University grad student, Vincent Binder. They were ultimately apprehended nearly two weeks after the escape in Miami, Florida. Hughes and Johnson are currently serving life in prison for Binder's murder, and Truehill is sitting on Florida's death row for the same offense. *Three inmates at an
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
for-profit
Management and Training Corporation Management & Training Corporation or MTC is a contractor that manages private prisons and United States Job Corps centers, based in Centerville, Utah. MTC's core businesses are corrections, education and training, MTC medical, and economic & soci ...
-operated facility escaped on July 30, 2010. Daniel Renwick and Tracy Province were murderers and John McCluskey had been convicted of attempted murders. Renwick was captured in a shootout in Rifle, Colorado on August 1, 2010. Though he still had 32 years on his sentence in Arizona, he was sentenced to 60 years to be served in Colorado. Province, already a lifer, was captured on August 9, 2010, in Meeteetse, Wyoming. After being sentenced to 38 1/3 years in Arizona, he was quickly extradited to face murder charges in New Mexico. McCluskey, who had been doing consecutive 15-year sentences, was captured with Casslyn Welch, his cousin/accomplice, in eastern Arizona on August 19 in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. He was sentenced to 43 years in an Arizona prison on escape, kidnap, hijacking, and robbery charges. Like Province, Welch, and McCluskey were soon extradited for the alleged robbery, hijack, and murder of two vacationers in New Mexico. Kenneth John Gonzales, the U.S. Attorney in New Mexico, filed death penalty charges against all three. McCluskey was convicted after a three-month trial in Albuquerque on October 7, 2013, after Province and Welch testified against him, conditions of their plea bargains. The death penalty phase of the proceedings began on October 21, but the jury delivered a sentence of life imprisonment for McCluskey, and Province received the same. Welch was sentenced to 40 years. * On August 28, 2012, Darnell Keith Washington escaped from the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center in San Bernardino County, California. The escape happened with the help of his wife, and they later went on a month-long crime spree across southern California, consisting of multiple carjackings, robberies and one murder. The couple was recaptured in Washington state on October 5, and were extradited to California. Tania was sentenced to 23-years imprisonment in May 2016, and Darnell was sentenced to death months later. * On July 27, 2013, 1,000 inmates escaped from the Queyfiya prison near Benghazi,
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
. The escape occurred after a wave of political assassinations and attacks on political offices around the country. Local residents of Benghazi forced the inmates out of the prison. * In October 2013, Kevin Patrick Stoeser escaped from the Austin Transitional Center where he was serving the remainder of a 156-month sentence for four counts of child sexual assault and one count of possession of child pornography. He had pleaded guilty to these charges in 2003. He was never captured, but DNA-confirmed remains of his skull were found near Del Valle, Texas on September 8, 2014. *On June 7, 2014, Serge Pomerleau, 49, Denis Lefebvre, 53, and Yves Denis, 35, escaped from a Quebec detention center with help from a helicopter. The three men were arrested a couple of weeks later and returned to the same facility. *On June 8, 2014, Robert Elbryan, 42, George Broussard, 64, and Christopher Boris, 52, escaped from a Quebec detention center with help from a helicopter. The three men were arrested a couple of weeks later and returned to the same facility. *On September 11, 2014, T.J. Lane, 19, serving three life sentences for indiscriminately killing fellow students at his Ohio high school in 2012, Clifford E. Opperud, 45, serving 12 years for robbing, burglary and kidnapping, and Lindsey Bruce, 33, sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a 5-year-old girl, escaped Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution by scaling a fence. Bruce was captured a few minutes after the escape, Lane was apprehended about 5 hours, and Opperud about 8 hours later. *On June 6, 2015,
Richard Matt Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...
, 48, and David Sweat, 34, were discovered missing from the
Clinton Correctional Facility Clinton Correctional Facility is a New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision maximum security state prison for men located in the Village of Dannemora, New York. The prison is sometimes colloquially referred to as Dannem ...
in Dannemora, New York during a headcount at 5:30am. An "external breach" was found on a street approximately 500 feet south of the prison wall. Both inmates had been convicted of murder. Richard Matt was shot dead on June 26, 2015, near Lake Titus in Upstate New York. Two days later on June 28, 2015, David Sweat was captured just miles from the Canada–US border, shot twice before being taken to a local hospital. *In June 2015, two convicts escaped maximum security in the Tihar Prison Complex in
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
by digging a tunnel under a wall and scalin
it
*On July 11, 2015, Mexican drug lord
Joaquín Guzmán Loera Joaquín or Joaquin is a male given name, the Spanish version of Joachim. Given name * Joaquín (footballer, born 1956), Spanish football midfielder * Joaquín (footballer, born 1981), Spanish football winger * Joaquín (footballer, born 1982) ...
, also known as "El Chapo", escaped from Federal Social Readaptation Center No.1, a maximum security prison. His escape involved an elaborate tunnel leading from the shower area in his cell stretching 1.5  km to a house construction site. The shower area in his cell was not detectable to the security cameras, creating a blind spot. The tunnel lay 10 meters underground and was equipped with a ladder to climb to the bottom, artificial lights, air ducts, and various construction materials. A makeshift motorcycle was found in the tunnel, believed to have been used to excavate the tons of earth removed, transport materials, and Guzmán himself. An investigation and manhunt quickly followed. He was recaptured on January 8, 2016. *On January 22, 2016, three inmates escaped the Orange County Men's Central Jail, a maximum security jail in
Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...
. The three inmates (Jonathan Tieu, 20; Hossein Nayeri, 37; and Bac Tien Duong, 43) cut through steel bars, made their way through plumbing tunnels, and used a makeshift rope made out of bedsheets to rappel down the multistory facility. Bac Tien Duong surrendered to police in Santa Ana CA on January 29. The other two inmates, Hossein Nayeri and Jonathan Tieu were arrested in San Francisco on January 30. *On 7 November 2016, two inmates escaped HMP Pentonville in North London. The two inmates (Mathew Baker and James Whitlock) used diamond-tipped cutting equipment to break through cell bars before they scaled the perimeter wall. They left mannequins in their beds to fool the prison guards. Two days later, Baker was found – with dyed hair and a fractured leg – hiding under a bed at his sister’s home. Whitlock was found at an address in Homerton, east London, after six days on the run. *On 5 April 2019, about 200
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
detainees revolted and attempted to escape from Dêrik prison in
al-Malikiyah Al-Malikiyah ( ar, ٱلْمَالِكِيَّة, al-Mālikīyah; ku, دێرکا حەمکۆ, translit=Dêrika Hemko; ) also known as Derik, is a small Syrian city and the center of an administrative district belonging to Al-Hasakah Governorate. ...
, Syria. The breakout was foiled, and some of the prisoners were subsequently distributed to other detention centers. *On November 3, 2019, Samuel Fonseka, 21, and Jonathan Salazar, 20, both convicted murderers, escaped from the Monterey County Jail, located in Salinas, California. The two men escaped after using a “hard-plastic” cleaning brush to knock a hole in the restroom sheetrock ceiling. The hole was in a blindspot in the communal bathroom that could only be seen by someone inside the restroom. They then escaped by going through the 11-inch-wide hole, then through a maintenance gap between walls, and finally out a hatch that was kicked open, with the cameras nearby blocked by recent construction. After they escaped, they took off their jail suits; they were wearing street clothes underneath that allowed them to blend in as they headed to
Tijuana, Mexico Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and
< ...
. Fonseca and Salazar had been in rival gangs and were not known to associate with each other before being housed in the same unit of the jail. Similarly, it is unknown why the two headed for Tijuana, how they made the 7-hour trip, and why they tried to re-enter the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
from
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
around midnight three days after their escape, only to be arrested by the
U.S. Marshals The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforce ...
on the border. Fonseca was accused of killing two men over three days in Salinas in June 2018. Salazar was arrested in the October 2017 shooting death of a Salinas man and the wounding of the man’s wife while the couple drove in a Salinas neighborhood. *On September 6, 2021, Zakaria Zubeidi and five other Palestinian militants escaped by tunnel from Gilboa Prison in Israel. *On December 1, 2021, a group of gangsters broke into a prison in Tula, Mexico, freeing nine inmates (including a drug lord) and injuring two law enforcement officers. *On April 29, 2022, Alabama murder suspect Casey White managed to escape Lauderdale County Jail aided by correctional officer Vicky White (no relation). The two were captured in
Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...
on May 9, 2022. Vicky died hours later that day from a self-inflicted gunshot wound suffered just prior to capture. *On May 12, 2022, Gonzalo Lopez assaulted a correctional officer while on a
Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails ...
prison bus and escaped from custody near Centerville, Texas. On June 2, 2022, he killed a family of five in their home after several weeks on the run. He was shot dead by law enforcement shortly afterwards. *On December 13, 2022, Roberto José Carmona escaped while on temporary leave to his wife's house in Córdoba, Argentina, before proceeding to kill a passing taxi driver and steal his cab. After crashing the car, he attacked and injured four others before being apprehended four hours later. Carmona had been convicted of abducting, raping and killing a teenager in 1986, and had killed two inmates in separate incidents in 1994 and 1997, respectively.


People who escaped multiple times


See also

*
Prison escape A prison escape (referred as a bust out, breakout, jailbreak, or prison break) is the act of an inmate leaving prison through unofficial or illegal ways. Normally, when this occurs, an effort is made on the part of authorities to recapture th ...
*
List of helicopter prison escapes There have been multiple prison escapes where an inmate escapes by means of a helicopter. One of the earliest instances was the escape of Joel David Kaplan, nicknamed "Man Fan", on August 19, 1971, from the Santa Martha Acatitla in Mexico. Kapl ...
*
List of prisoner-of-war escapes This list of prisoner-of-war escapes includes successful and unsuccessful attempts in chronological order, where possible. Thirty Years' War *In the beginning of the war Hans Ulrich von Schaffgotsch's detachment of 8,000 imperial cavalrymen su ...


References


Works cited

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prison escapes * * Lists of events