So here you are. You’re watching a jail break movie, and
the main characters have worked out an elaborate escape plan, successfully made it to freedom
and after finding out, the guards just say: “Fine. It’s your legal right after all”. Boy, the Shawshank Redemption would be a pretty
short movie huh? 15 minutes tops. But in fact, a situation like this is possible
in some countries of the world. In Germany, Austria, Belgium and Mexico, this
desire to escape, and fighting for your liberty is considered to be a basic human nature and
right. Not only is it considered such by people,
but officially recognized by law. In Germany, this law is more than 130 years
old, as it dates to 1880s, to the times of the German Empire. Back then, the Reichstag, or German Government,
declared the right to seek self-liberation a basic human right. After an actual attempt to escape that was
taken by a Mexican burglar in 2002 who knew about the legal escape law, a local Supreme
Court judge explained that "The person who tries to escape is seeking liberty, and that
is deeply respected in the law". An important detail to note here is that there
is a difference between seeking liberty and actually having liberty. So yes, local prisoners won’t be punished
for breaking out of jail. Before you decide to get those countries off
your travel list because it sounds like they have criminals running around the streets,
here’s one important detail. While escapees won’t be punished for the
escape itself, they will be charged with any crime they committed en route to liberty. For instance, if someone decides to break
a window and just jump out of it, or break their cell bars, they will damage jail property. Even if they just open the window, they’ll
be charged with stealing jail property. And since they’d prefer not to go naked,
the clothes they’d be wearing and stealing are prison property. If they bribe a guard, they’ll be punished
for bribery. If they get into the first vehicle they find,
it’ll be theft. And, if they’re ever spotted somewhere by
the police and captured, even years later, they’ll still have to do the time they had
left before their escape with no good conduct prisoner sentence reductions possible. Plus, you can get extra jail time for the
crimes you’ve committed during the grand escape. So you see, it’s practically impossible
to break free and remain unpunished even in the countries when seeking liberty from jail
is legal. But still, there were people who managed to
do it the legal way (if you can say so in this context) and use their right to the fullest. Check this one out: In 1971, American businessman
Joel Kaplan managed to escape from Mexico City’s Santa Maria Acatitla prison along
with one other inmate. It was all so well planned and arranged -- obviously
with outside help -- that this real-life escape sounds like something straight out of Hollywood
movies. It was a regular evening and most of the 136
jail guards were watching a movie with their guns in their hands when a Bell helicopter
landed into the prison yard. They thought it must have been some surprise
official visitor and didn’t take any action against the helicopter, of course. Meanwhile, it took two prisoners from Cell
number 10 less than two minutes to get into the helicopter and escape to safety. So, none of them had to shoot or bribe the
guards. They didn’t damage prison property and didn’t
steal a vehicle to use for their escape. In fact, the helicopter was private and not
rented or leased, so they didn’t use rented property for the wrong purpose. Then, they changed into a private plane that
was also legally bought. When they reached the US border in Texas,
Kaplan continued his journey to California and the other escapee went for Guatemala. The plan for the flight was made in advance
and approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. When crossing the US border, both Kaplan and
the pilot gave the customs their real names, so no crime with fake IDs was committed either
and they entered the country absolutely legally. More than that, after returning home Kaplan
proudly announced that his escape was fully legal as he took care of all the little details
and made no mistakes. Mexican authorities did find a crime that
accompanied the escape, which was the use of accomplices -- since the businessman hired
a pilot. But the businessman never had to go back to
jail as the FBI nor the Mexican authorities ever tried to charge him again. A more recent situation when a prisoner broke
out of jail and it didn’t add up to his time there, also took place in Mexico. A guy sentenced to 20 years for drug trafficking
managed to escape -- not once but twice! His first escape was in 2001, and it was 13
years later when he was caught and put back into jail. The second time he escaped from maximum-security
Altiplano prison outside Mexico City was in 2015 -- 17 months after his second arrest. He designed a complicated construction with
a mile-long tunnel running from the shower area and a motorcycle inside running on a
rail. The tunnel was even equipped with electricity,
and moving along it the drug lord broke the bulbs to make it harder for the police to
find him. And, he also got rid of his localization bracelet
before entering the shower area that was one of the only blind spots in a well-supervised
jail. Thanks to many efforts of the police and the
Mexican government, the escapee was found and arrested again a couple months later. And, no extra time was added to his sentence
for these 2 successful escape attempts. Not all prison escapes go unpunished, but
some of them deserve an honorary mention since they appear too unbelievable to be real, yet
they all are. Here’s one. A 50-year-old man in South Korea was arrested
as he was suspected of robbery on September 12, 2002. Just 5 days later he managed to escape from
his prison cell thanks to his yoga skills! His 23 years of yoga practice made it possible
for the man to simply squeeze through the food slot in his cell bars that was 5.9 inches
tall and 17.7 inches wide. He covered himself in skin ointment to make
it easier to slip through. The whole process only took him 34 seconds
while the guards were sound asleep. Doctors weren’t able to explain this phenomenon
since the skull of an adult male normally won’t fit through such a small hole. Maybe he deflated his head. It could happen. Now Even though he was arrested again 6 days
later, the guy will now always be proudly nicknamed “Korean Houdini”. After the incident he was placed in a cell
with a way smaller food slot. Have you seen the movie “Catch Me If You
Can”? Its plot is captivating, but not many people
know it was inspired by real life and based on an autobiography of Frank Abagnale. He was sentenced to 12 years of jail for his
bold forgery and impersonation crimes in the 1960s and was escorted by a Marshall who had
forgotten his papers. Abagnale took advantage of the situation and
convinced the guards he was an undercover prison inspector. When he got into jail, Mr Abagnale got two
business cards made by his friend and accomplice. Both of them were obviously fake, one of a
FBI agent and one of a prison inspector. The smart criminal told the guards to call
the FBI agent. His friends played that part on the phone,
and told the guards to let Abagnale out. Then, he just walked out the front door to
safety. Then there was a criminal in the UK back in
1955, who earned the title of “escape Artist”. Thanks to his creative skills, he managed
to make a copy of the jail workshop key using his memory. He captured every detail of the original key
so precisely he was able to reproduce it and escaped. 8 months later, he was re-arrested in Ireland. When he was at court in London he once again
escaped while on his way to the bathroom. Upon being arrested again he organized escape
#3 using his same trick. This time, he reproduced the key to a bathhouse. But it was not his artistic skills that eventually
helped him gain pardon. He studied the laws regarding his case and
managed to stand his ground in 17 court appearances! In 2015, two guys became the only people in
170 years to have managed to escape from Clinton Correction Facility, NY. They got out through a maze of tunnels carving
into a pipe. They used hacksaw blades that the prison tailor
smuggled for them in frozen hamburger meat. As they were leaving, they left a goodbye
note for the guards wishing them to have a nice day. So which of the escape stories impressed you
the most? Let us know in the comments below. Don't forget to give this video a like, share
it with your friends and click “subscribe” to stay on the Bright Side of life!
