The year was 1953, and British criminal Alfred
George Hinds was serving twelve years in prison. But the Nottingham prison where he was held
wouldn’t be able to contain him, as he eventually got through locked doors and climbed a twenty-foot
wall to freedom. He spent almost a year across Europe before
being recaptured - and then quickly escaped while awaiting trial and headed straight for
the airport. He was caught again, but escaped from Chelmsford
prison and fled to Ireland where his freedom lasted two years. He became notorious in the British media,
dubbed “Houdini Hinds”, and was inducted into MENSA after his eventual release from
prison. Many people consider him the greatest prison
escape artist of all time. This video...is not about people like him. There are around 2000 prison escapes each
year in the United States, but that number is dwarfed by the number of escape attempts. Most of these are foiled very quickly, and
most never even get off the grounds of the prison. Common tactics for escaping prison include
trying to scale the prison walls, running into nearby woods, or attempting to get smuggled
out of the prison. Guards know to look out for these tactics
by now, and uncreative inmates usually find themselves right back where they started - maybe
with a longer sentence or less comfortable quarters. Other inmates take a more aggressive approach,
starting riots and taking guards hostage. Those usually end in a standoff and hostage
negotiation that is highly unlikely to end with release. But some inmates take more creative approaches
to escape. We said “creative”, not effective. Kenneth Burnum was doing a few years in prison
for burglary when he started to get stir-crazy. He watched other inmates at his Hamilton County,
Tennessee prison get prepped for release and thought - why not me? Then he took that a bit too literally. As another inmate was about to be released
on bond awaiting trial, Burnum took advantage of the light security and decided he would
simply take that man’s identity. He presented himself when the officers came
to collect the lucky inmate, and signed all the paperwork. He was just minutes away from freedom! There was just one problem. The inmate set for release, Glenn Taylor,
was black. And Burnum was definitely not black. Prison officials looked on the sheet and saw
the issue, and Burnum’s not-so-great escape was stopped in its tracks. Burnum briefly claimed to not have been aware
Taylor was black, but admitted he just wanted to escape. He wound up being charged with criminal impersonation
and attempted escape, ensuring he’d have a bit longer to cook up half-baked escape
attempts. At least he stayed clean, unlike our next
inept inmate. Everyone remembers the famous prison escape
from The Shawshank Redemption, as innocent lifer Andy Dufresne tirelessly tunneled his
way out of his cell and escaped through the prison’s sewer system. But fact isn’t as glamorous as fiction,
as one Brazilian inmate found out. He tunneled out of his cell into the sewer
system too, but he wasn’t all that well prepared. He decided to make his escape wearing only
a pair of shorts - not ideal wear for digging around through human waste to make your escape. At least the sewer is a clear shot to freedom,
right? Wrong! From the moment the unfortunate prisoner decided
to make his escape, it was nothing but one humiliation after another. He got stuck in the sewer only a few feet
from the cell, lost his shorts in the sewer, and had to be pulled to safety covered in
filth and completely naked by two other men. The man’s ill-advised escape was caught
on a video that went viral around the world, but his name was never released to the public
and no one knows what became of him. He’s probably happy about that. It’s hard to keep cool in prison, but one
inmate took impatience to another level. Andrew Wilson seemed to be a model prisoner. Doing time for burglary, theft, and possession
of controlled substances, he had kept his nose clean in prison and was approaching his
parole board hearing. All he had to do was stay calm and do his
work detail. Wilson wasn’t considered a high-risk inmate,
so he was given a little more freedom - which one day, he decided to take full advantage
of. He stole a truck at the work camp he was serving
at, drove off, and ditched the truck to run to freedom in the next town. He tried to stay ahead of the authorities,
but it wasn’t long before he was caught - with drugs on his person. He was facing new charges of possession and
escape from custody, and would be extending his stay in Tennessee’s corrections department. But he did get one piece of good news when
he was back in custody - the parole department had approved his release only twenty-four
hours after he had escaped! Patience is a virtue, but not for Andrew Wilson. Making an escape from prison is hard enough
- staying free is even harder. One inmate found that out the hard way. The Olympic Correction Center in Washington
was a relatively easy prison to escape from, and James Russell was no rookie. He was serving his fourth prison term and
had just been transferred to the minimum-security work camp. It didn’t take long for the serial thief
to take full advantage, as he made a break for it and escaped into the nearby woods. But he was in a rural area, still wearing
his prison gear, and needed some help to make his escape complete. He came across a cabin at a nearby river resort,
and decided to sneak in. Sounds like a smart plan? It’s not like anyone would recognize him. There was just one problem - the current resident
of the cabin was a guard at the exact prison Russell had escaped from. Seeing an escaped inmate, the guard immediately
tackled Russell. Russell escaped, but the guard notified all
the other guards in the area to be on the lookout. Russell was quickly tracked down by other
guards, facing new charges for escape. The serial offender’s brief stay in minimum
security was over. Most prison escapees are hardened criminals,
right? Not quite. Christopher Boscacci had only arrived at Elmwood
Correctional Facility a few days earlier, but he was quickly getting tired of prison
life. It was time to get out of there, and he made
a break for it. Boscacci was actually much better at escape
than most inmates, and the guards were taken by surprise at just how fast he made it over
the fences. But he wasn’t prepared for just how many
fences there were, and after leaving his shoe atop the barbed wire, he was eventually snagged
before scaling the last fence. What terrible fate was Boscacci fleeing? This hardened criminal doing hard time was
actually facing misdemeanor petty theft charges, and he was staying in a minimum-security facility
while awaiting arraignment. By making a break for it, he traded in his
relatively comfortable digs for a stay in maximum security - and felony charges that
would likely see him staying in the prison system for several years instead of a short
stay in county jail or probation. Most prisoners who fail at their escapes just
head right back where they left, but some aren’t so lucky. Prison escapes have been going on far longer
than the modern prison system, and old-time prisons could be very tricky to escape. What they lacked in modern security, they
made up for in treacherous designs that threatened any escapee with certain death. That didn’t stop Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, a
Welsh king in 1244. He had been held in prison for much of his
life due to conflicts over his father’s land, and he was eventually held in the notorious
tower of London by his brother Dafydd, in a particularly nasty family feud. He had enough - and he hatched a dangerous
plot. He designed himself an improvised rope made
from his bedsheets and threw them out the window, planning to scale the Tower of London
and rappel down. There was only one problem - all those years
in captivity weren’t great for exercise, and Gruffudd’s weight was too much for the
thin cloth to handle. He did make it down from the Tower of London,
but at a much faster speed than he was hoping. Gruffudd wasn’t the only famous prisoner
to try and fail to escape - and the next one shows that higher education is no guarantee
of strategic smarts. Dr. Samuel Mudd may have simply been in the
wrong place at the wrong time, treating the injured John Wilkes Booth after the assassination
of Abraham Lincoln. But his participation and lying to authorities
got him a life sentence in prison. He was imprisoned on the isolated Fort Jefferson,
and prisoners had a bit more freedom there since they couldn’t get off the grounds
easily. Mudd befriended Henry Kelly, a teenager working
on a transport steamer, and convinced the boy to smuggle him off the island. Mudd changed into professional-looking clothes,
snuck onto Kelly’s ship, and tried to blend in. There was just one problem - he was probably
the most famous convict in the country at the moment. He was soon identified by the Fort’s storekeeper,
arrested, and sentenced to hard labor. Kelly also found himself in trouble for participating
in the escape plot. But Mudd’s story had a happier ending than
most failed prison escapees - he was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson and headed home
after only a few years. Getting help is a good way to get out of prison
- but the partner in crime doesn’t always work out. Michael Coleman and Lester Burns were tired
of their stay in prison, and when opportunity presented itself, they made their escape. They were on a long trip in a prison van along
with other inmates when they had to make an emergency stop due to a prisoner’s medical
issue. While the guards were in the hospital with
the sick inmate, the inmates were left in the van - and five of them watched in shock
as Coleman and Burns jumped back into the van and drove it off! There was just one problem. Oklahoma inmate Joshua Silverman wanted no
part of this, and when Coleman and Burns stopped the van briefly, he called 911 and let the
authorities know exactly where they were. He knew the penalty for an escape attempt
and wanted to play it safe, and soon the authorities were all over the area, tracking down the
inmates one by one. Coleman and Burns were foiled because not
everyone they drafted into their escape was on board. Some inmates go further than most to escape
- and this next one even got his family involved. Clauvino da Silva was a notorious drug trafficker
in Brazil, and he was serving a sentence of more than seventy years when he hatched his
escape plan. One of the few people who still visited him
on the inside was his 19-year-old daughter, and when she arrived he convinced her to help
him. When the daughter left prison after her visit,
everyone noticed she looked a little different, and it didn’t take long for the ruse to
unravel. It was Clauvino da Silva dressed up as his
own daughter. And he was less than convincing. A tight pink T-shirt and a rubber mask that
made him look like a cartoon character weren’t fooling anyone. Making it worse - he had left his daughter
behind to serve his sentence. He wound up back in prison, and his daughter
found herself facing criminal charges for abetting an escape. One of Brazil’s greatest criminal masterminds
found his skills deserting him when it came to getting out of prison. Sometimes all it takes is one error to make
a great prison escape fall apart - as our last inmate found out. There was no escaping from the most notorious
prison in American history - Alcatraz Island. It had one unique security feature - the raging
waters off the coast, which made swimming to shore all but impossible. But that didn’t stop inmates from trying,
and all fourteen escape attempts were foiled - except for five men who were never found. Only one man ever got to shore from Alcatraz
Island. His name was John Paul Scott, and he would
have been a legend - if it wasn’t for one major misstep. A bank robber doing thirty years, he was sent
to Alcatraz in 1949 and served thirteen years before making his move. He snuck out using a rope while on culinary
duty, and left his injured partner in crime behind. He swam all the way to Little Alcatraz, a
nearby rock formation, making him the only person to survive the waters without being
captured. There was only one problem - he was completely
exhausted, and collapsed on the rock where he was picked up soon after. Was it possible to escape from Alcatraz? Not for long. For some crazy escapes that were actually
successful, check out “Insane Ways Prisoners Used Peanut Butter, Cross-Dressing, and Fruit
to Escape Prison”. And for the ultimate high-stakes escape, check
out “Death Row Inmates Escape Before Execution”.
