Editor’s note: Gary F. Cornelius has had a distinguished career as a correctional officer, supervisor, trainer, college instructor and author. This article is excerpted from his book, “The High-Performance Correctional Facility: Lessons on Correctional Work, Leadership, and Effectiveness,” available from Civic Research Institute. Cornelius is also the author of “The Art of the Con” and “The Correctional Officer: A Practical Guide: Third Edition.” This excerpt is adapted from “The High Performance Correctional Facility.”
Getting officers to focus on the importance of escape prevention ought to be easy, but it can sometimes seem like the rules are too strict and the procedures too onerous, considering the “low” risk of an actual breakout occurring. But while escapes are relatively infrequent, they do happen, and happen often enough that guarding against them must be a top priority, always. Inmates have scaled walls, tried to run out of entrance doors, climbed through razor wire, tunneled underground, assaulted staff, taken hostages, picked handcuff locks, and assaulted officers during transport in their efforts to escape.
Noteworthy prison escapes
Here are six noteworthy escapes, each one an example of ingenuity, nerve, and determination on the part of the inmate, and all with one thing in common: they were all preventable.
- “The Squeeze Play”: In 2007, a jail inmate in the Gary (Indiana) City Jail removed his clothes and squeezed through a cellblock door food tray slot. He then dressed and was discovered at large in the jail looking for an unlocked door to the outside.He was facing armed robbery charges and a prison term of 28 years (Pantagraph.com).
- “The Switch”: In 2012, an inmate in a Michigan jail, charged with a parole violation, claimed that he was an inmate scheduled for release. In a holding area, containing several inmates, the correct inmate due for release was asleep. The imposter inmate removed a wrist identification band, claimed to be the inmate and gained his freedom.Jail officers discovered the mistake and the escapee was apprehended two hours later (mining journal.net).
- “Over the Wall”: In 2012, a Virginia jail inmate, serving a 14-year sentence for armed robbery, noticed that only one correctional officer was watching inmates in the recreation yard, from an overhead control booth. He climbed over the recreation yard brick wall and razor wire. The jail staff did not miss him for several hours. The inmate termed the escape “a piece of cake” (McNamara, 2012).
- “Coffee Break”: In 1982, an inmate charged with rape and kidnapping escaped from a Pennsylvania jail. Two officers were on post; one left to get coffee, left his keys on his desk and two doors unlocked, allowing the inmate to escape. A few months before,e the same inmate escaped from a West Virginia jail by crawling through a ventilation system to the jail roof (Cornelius, 2010).
- “Brute Strength”: In 2008, a Florida inmate, sentenced to life in prison, slipped out of his handcuffs inside a courthouse, hit a deputy sheriff with a five-foot ladder, and using brute strength, pried open a metal garage door. He squeezed through a one-foot opening, stole a car, resulting in a high-speed police chase before he was captured. As he was being placed inside a sheriff’s vehicle, he sai,d “I am going to make them [law enforcement officers] kill me!”(Cornelius, 2010).
- “Crash the Cruiser”: An arrestee, facing serious charges and a possible life sentence, was being transported to the county jail. He persuaded the deputies to slide open the partition because it was cold and he wanted heat. The deputies did as he requested. While the cruiser was going around a curve, the offender forced himself through the opening, grabbed the steering wheel and tried to wreck the vehicle. Fortunately, the deputies regained control, but the inmate fought. With the help of pepper spray and backup deputies, the inmate was transported to the jail (Ross, 2009).
References
Associated Press-miningjournal.net.(August 28, 2012). Inmate pretends to be another, walks out of jail .The Corrections Connection. http://www.corrections.com.Accessed January 8, 2013.
Associated Press. (March 8, 2007). Skinny inmate escapes through food slot. Pantagraph.com, http://pantagraph.com.Accessed March 15, 2007.
Cornelius, Gary F. (2010). The Correctional Officer: A Practical Guide, Second Edition. Durham: Carolina Academic Press.
McNamara, Anne. ( September 28, 2012). Inmate says escape was ‘piece of cake ’: 10 On Your Side’s Jailhouse Interview.http://wavy.com.Accessed January 8, 2013.
Ross, Darrel H., Ph.D.(March 10, 2009). Prisoner transports, officer safety and liability issues. CorrectionsOne News. http://www.correctionsone.com. Accessed February 22, 2014.
