Criminals' Craftiest Prison Breakouts

Many prison breaks fail because planners lack time for escape plans. Staying out is harder than escaping initially, like for seven Texas convicts. National media called them "The Texas Seven"; their prison break was one of the boldest in Texas.

On December 13, 2000, seven men in the John B. Connally Unit, a maximum security prison in southern Texas, started their escape plan. George Rivas was the mastermind and acknowledged leader.George Rivas served 18 straight life sentences for armed robberies. The group started their multi-stage escape plan during lunchtime.A man faced eighteen straight life sentences for numerous armed robberies. The group started their multi-stage escape plan during lunchtime. Officers supervised feeding 2,500 inmates; Rivas and the others stayed in the maintenance unit where they worked.

One inmate distracted the maintenance supervisor. Another inmate struck him on the head from behind, making him unconscious. The escapees stripped the supervisor, gagged and tied him, and locked him in a utility room. Eight more staff and guards soon joined him.

Rivas took control of the maintenance unit. He called the central Guard Tower controlling the exit gates. Posing as the supervisor, Rivas told the tower he was sending workers to install cameras. The plan succeeded. The group seized control of the Guard Tower and various weapons. They climbed into the maintenance truck and drove out through the gates. The father of one inmate parked an SUV at a nearby mall. The "Texas Seven" swapped vehicles there.

Their freedom lasted just over a month. The owner of an RV park in Woodland Park, CO, where the seven wanted men hidden, recognized them on an episode of "America's Most Wanted".The owner of an RV park in Woodland Park, CO, where the seven wanted men hidden, recognized them on an episode of "America's Most Wanted".The owner contacted authorities. Realizing they were surrounded, the escapees surrendered peacefully, except for Larry James Harper.Larry James Harper chose suicide over returning to prison.Larry James Harper opted to commit suicide instead of going back to prison.

Richard Matt and David Sweat used outside contacts to bring individual hacksaw blades into the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY.They smuggled hacksaw blades into the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY.The hacksaw blades entered shipments of frozen hamburger meat inside the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY.They smuggled frozen hamburger meat into the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY.The shipment contained frozen hamburger meat.

Sweat wrapped the tools in cloths and towels to guard his hands from the bare blades. He carved tunnels through walls and ceilings, finding an exit route. The hacksaws cut through concrete, piping, and other strong materials. Tunnels often hit dead ends. Sweat reportedly worked every night for months, even hand-rigging a fan when the work became too hot.

Police fired on Matt after a few weeks. They eliminated Matt. Two days later, police recaptured Sweat. Upon returning to prison, Sweat admitted he and Matt planned to terminate.Sweat admitted to Matt that they planned to terminate.Sweat stays in New York. He gets one hour outside his cell daily.

Thirty-six Alcatraz inmates tried escaping various ways. They were shot, drowned, or caught quickly. The prison's escape-proof image ended withFrank Morris.He worked with the Anglin brothers.

Morris, an smart, experienced inmate, moved in and out of prison his whole life. He escaped seven times. More than his escapes, Morris's urge to flee got him to Alcatraz. He reached the island on January 18, 1960.

Brothers Clarence and John Anglin tried escaping a federal prison in Atlanta. They landed in Alcatraz to rob banks. Because they shared similar backgrounds, Morris and the Anglins planned to leave the island together. Inmate Allen West helped the group but did not escape. Later, West told investigators everything for leniency.

The plan used fake dummies to fool guards during night counts. These crude models used toilet paper and soap wax. Oil paint and hair from the barbershop gave the models a real look under dim light, so a guard might not look twice.

The escape plan.The plan started in December 1961. Inmates chipped away at their vents until May 1962. They crawled through and started working on the vent above their cell block. They rotated shifts: one inmate worked the cement while another watched. Morris built an inflatable raft from prison raincoats, supposedly using a design fromPopular Mechanic..

On June 11, 1962, the bank-robbing escape artists placed the dummies in their beds and pulled up the blankets. They slipped from their cells through the widened vents, moved to the San Francisco Bay, and disappeared. They havenever been caught, nor heard from. The FBI closed their case in 1979. The US Marshals Service still searches for the three escapees.

Stephen Jay Russell'sHe staged posing as a doctor and faked an AIDS diagnosis; these were many elaborate prison and jail escapes.inspired a book about his life and crimes, and a movie starring Jim Carrey. Russell's first escape happened on May 13, 1992, during a six-month sentence. He somehow got a walkie-talkie and street clothes and walked out of jail. Russell fled to Mexico, staying there for two years.

When Russell returned to the US, authorities took him in and sent him back to jail with an extra three years. Russell then met his life partner, a prisoner named Phillip Morris. But when Russell was released, Morris stayed in jail.

Russell faced embezzlement charges again after leaving. He escaped jail by pretending to be a judge and lowering his bail, which he paid with a bounced check. Authorities then detained Russell again, sending him to a maximum security prison in Huntsville, Texas. There, he stole green felt-tip markers and dyed his prison clothes the color of scrubs. This allowed him to walk past several correctional officers and exit the facility.

Russell admitted his Achilles heel was his love for Morris. "I did those things because I wanted to be with Phillip. I was out of control," he told the interview.The GuardianThe article detailed this, stating, "And therein lay his fatal flaw; despite managing to outwit federal authorities repeatedly, Russell was always caught because each time he escaped, he ended up beating a path to Morris's door."

Russell's last escape was his boldest move. He took laxatives, stopped eating, and lost much weight. He then faked his prison medical records, claiming he was HIV positive. Russell faked AIDS symptoms, which earned him special parole at a nursing home for end-of-life care. Inside the facility, Russell acted as a doctor and called the prison board to report his death from AIDS complications.

The plan worked briefly, but Morris stayed in jail. Russell visited, acting as a lawyer. Police caught Russell in 1998 and sent him back to maximum security prison in Texas. Reports say Russell rarely leaves his cell for fear of another escape attempt.

The St. Clair Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison located in Springville, AL. It has 5,000-volt electric fences.These electric fences acted as a strong barrier against escapees, freeing officers from watching towers.A convicted felon, Steve Murphy, circumvented the half-million dollar security fence.Steve MurphyMurphy used a broomstick to get around the half-million dollar security fence.A broomstick.

In January 2001, Murphy taped plastic jugs to a broom handle. He used it to lift the bottom wire of the high voltage fence enough for him and five other inmates to slip under without touching. Once clear, the six men walked into the night.

This shows the planning for their escape, though. Their freedom lasted only about a week. While heading to Canada in a stolen car, an officer pulled into the wooded area where the escapees were relaxing. Seeing the police car, the six inmates ran into the woods on foot. Authorities quickly caught the escaped convicts.escaped convicts.

Richard Lee McNair killed one man and hurt another in a 1987 incident at a grain elevator in Minot, North Dakota. McNair got two life sentences for his actions and escaped prison three times.

McNair first broke out of the local police station in 19881988Bound to a chair, Richard Lee McNair used lip balm to grease himself free of handcuffs. He fled on foot. Police caught him the same day after he fell from a tree while hiding.

October 1992, McNair and two other inmates escaped the North Dakota State Penitentiary. They crawled through the ventilation ducts. Authorities caught the other inmates days later. McNair evaded capture for ten months. During that time, he dyed his hair a new color and drove stolen cars.

In April 2006, McNair was locked up again at the United States Penitentiary in Pollock, LA. While fixing mailbags, McNair built an "escape pod" with a breathing tube and left with the outgoing mail. Soon after, a police officer saw McNair running near train tracks and stopped him. McNair told the officer he was just running. The officer told him an escaped inmate was nearby. The cop let McNair go, thinking he was not the suspect.The officer's dash cam recorded the whole exchange. The footage later appeared on the news.The dash cam recorded the entire exchange. The footage later played on the news.

While running, McNair mocked the police and his former prison warden. He even...McNair mailed a Christmas card to the warden and signed it with his name.McNair bought a cell phone using his real name. He eventually reached Canada, dodging Canadian police. McNair drove between the United States and Canada in stolen cars, using the internet to follow local news about him. Several episodes of America's Most Wanted featured him.America's Most Wanted

After eighteen months on the run, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police caught McNair in New Brunswick in October 2007. McNair now serves his life sentences in perhaps the world's most secure prison.The United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility, in Florence, CO.

Frank Abagnale Jr. started committing crimes as a teenager. Steven Spielberg made a 2002 film about his life.Catch Me If You CanAbagnale performed many bold schemes throughout his life, including...posing as a pilot, doctor, and an attorney. Authorities caught Abagnale several times in the US and abroad.

In April 1971, police sent Abagnale to the Federal Detention Center in Atlanta, GA, for trial. Federal marshals could not find his papers upon arrival. Abagnale thought quickly and pretended to be a prison inspector.pretended he was a prison inspectorsent to work undercover.

Many facilities faced investigation then due to civil rights and prison conditions; Abagnale's story held water. He stayed on the prison grounds for weeks, "posing" as a prisoner until he arranged for a friend to get him. Abagnale walked out of prison and into a waiting car.

Abagnale remained free for two months. Then, authorities took him back and gave him a short sentence. Later, he left prison and used his conning skills to help the FBI with white-collar crimes.

Choi Gap-bok spent 23 years in and out of prison for various robberies. Then, Choi Gap-bok started practicing yoga.Choi Gap-bok practiced yoga.Choi planned to get free one day. In 2012, just five days after landing in jail for another robbery, Choi tested his skills in Daegu, South Korea. Choi waited for the guards to sleep. Then, Choi put lotion all over his body. The 5'5", 115-pound prisoner wiggled through the tiny 18'x6' tray slot in the jail door.

Six days after his escape, someone saw Choi hiding in a cardboard box on an apartment building roof. Police took him and put him in a cell with an even smaller tray slot.

In 1999, authorities jailed Pascal Payet for a murder-robbery in Paris, France. Three years later, Payet...Payet hijacked a helicopter and escaped from prison.While running in 2003, Payet helped three former inmates escape. Payet used a helicopter again.

Police finally caught Payet in 2005. Guards watched him closely in prison, seeing him as a security risk. Still, Payet escaped again two years into his sentence. In 2007, with outside help, Payet got out of solitary confinement and escaped prison using...Payet escaped prison using a hijacked helicopter.Police caught Payet in Mataró, Spain, after two months on the run.

April 1998: A semi-truck hit the four fences of the Everglades Correctional Institution. An inmate drove a car.Jay Sigler drove the car.Jay Sigler's mother followed the vehicle.Jay Sigler's mother followed the vehicle.

Almost nine years into a 20-year armed robbery sentence, Sigler and inmate Christopher Michelson planned an escape like a Hollywood producer. After Michelson left, he contacted Sandra Sigler, Jay’s mother. She recruited John Beaston. The three worked on the plan to free Jay.

Beaston shot the correctional officers with a shotgun using the impact diversion. Jay jumped into the car. The crew drove to a mall to swap vehicles. Beaston and Sandra left in one car. Jay and Michelson fled in the opposite direction using another vehicle. Authorities chased Jay Sigler after finding him in a car. Michelson hit another car, killing its driver.

Michelson faced charges for causing the driver's death. Sandra Sigler later had to testify against her son.Sandra Sigler was forced to testify against her son.Sandra Sigler testified as part of a plea deal. A jury found Jay Sigler guilty of third-degree murder.A jury found Jay Sigler guilty of third-degree murder for the car fatality. A judge sentenced him to an extra 18 years in prison.A judge sentenced Jay Sigler to an additional 18 years in prison for the car fatality.

The French thief was...Michel Vaujour's partner got her helicopter license to break him out.Michel Vaujour is famous for multiple prison escapes. One escape got national attention on May 26, 1986. Vaujour boarded a helicopter piloted by his partner Nadine at La Sante Prison in Paris, France. Nadine had taken six months of flying classes to get her pilot's license just to get Vaujour out.

Vaujour evaded capture forfour monthsHe faced police during an attempted robbery and got a 16-year sentence. Nadine received a two-year sentence.

In 2013, French wanted-man Rédoine Faïd made a daring escape. This escape started a multi-country hunt. Faïd held five people at gunpoint, including guards, using them to shield himself from authorities while detonating incendiary devices at his detention center.Rédoine Faïd used prison guards as human shields before blowing up a detention center.The devices blew out several doors, letting him escape. Authorities caught Faïd six weeks later.

Faïd escaped prison again in 2018 after friends hijacked a helicopter.Faïd hijacked a helicopter.and freed him. A judge first gave Faïd a 25-year sentence for an armed robbery where a French police officer died.

Jimmy Causey escaped the Lieber Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison in South Carolina, in July 2017. Causey reached Texas before authorities got him back. He had weapons, cash, cell phones, and other items. Allegedly,a drone delivered wire cuttersfrom the outside helped him pass the security fence.

Causey did not escape a high-security prison first. His first escape was in 2005, but it seemed less tech-savvy. Both times, Causey used a dummy to make his cell look occupied.

In 2017, inmates from Walker County Jail in Jasper, AL, acted togetherA dozen Alabama convicts fooled a prison guard using peanut butter saved from sandwiches.They molded peanut butter from prison PB&Js around door numbers. This made it look like a cell door, and they got outside.

In a bold move, the inmates asked a new guard to open the door to the "cell." He opened it, letting 12 inmates walk out and escape, though they were all caught later that night.