Prison escapes
Prison escapes refer to the unauthorized departures of inmates from correctional facilities, posing significant challenges to the criminal justice system. These events can occur in various types of facilities, which are categorized by their security levels, ranging from low-security community treatment centers to high-security supermax prisons designed to prevent escapes entirely. The likelihood of escape is influenced by the classification of prisoners based on factors such as the severity of their offenses and their history of flight risk. High-profile escapes often attract media attention, particularly when they involve maximum-security institutions and result in violent incidents.
Some notable examples include escapes facilitated by prison staff, as seen in cases from New York and Alabama, where employees provided assistance to inmates. Additionally, escapes can happen during authorized releases or while inmates are being transported, where security measures are less stringent. Recaptured escapees typically face additional felony charges, resulting in extended sentences or placement in more secure facilities, while successful defenses for escaping are rare and heavily scrutinized. Overall, the prevention of prison escapes remains a critical objective for correctional authorities to ensure public safety and maintain the integrity of the justice system.
Subject Terms
Prison escapes
Definition: Unauthorized departures by lawfully incarcerated inmates from state and federal corrections facilities
Significance: Completion of criminal sentences is an important measure of the success of the criminal justice system, so preventing prison escapes is an important goal in corrections.
Different prisons have several levels of security that vary with the size of the facilities and the types of criminals they house. The lowest level of security starts with community treatment centers, or as they are sometimes called, halfway houses. Such facilities are considered halfway between jails and prisons and full release into society. The next level up includes institutions such as prison camps, which are often located in rural areas. They typically do not have fences, and their inmates work with minimal supervision.
Escapes from halfway houses and prison camps occasionally occur; however, efficient prisoner classification systems tend to minimize such escapes by identifying the prisoners who are the greatest escape risks and sending them to facilities with higher levels of security. Prisons at the medium and maximum levels have security procedures and physical equipment designed to prevent escapes. The highest, or maximum, level of security is maintained in facilities known as supermax prisons. Designed with the goal of making escape physically impossible, these prisons house prisoners who are consider the “worst of the worst.”
Prisons differ from “jails” in being designed to house criminals who are sentenced to at least a full year of incarceration. Both state and federal governments run prisons. State prisons house inmates convicted of felony violations. Federal prisons hold inmates who violate federal laws. Most federal prisoners commit felonies, but because the federal government does not have the equivalent of county jails, the federal prison population includes inmates convicted of misdemeanors.
Security Levels and Possibilities of Escape
At the state level, departments of corrections usually determine the security levels of the institutions in which convicted prisoners serve their sentences. At the federal level, the Bureau of Prisons makes this determination. Although it is the prerogative of officials in the prison system to determine what types of institutions in which inmates are to serve their sentences, the recommendations of judges and prosecutors may carry some weight.
Decisions concerning the security levels of the institutions in which offenders serve their sentences take into account such factors as severity of the offenses, prior criminal histories of the offenders, and the extent and strength of the offenders’ ties with their communities. The decisions are typically made while the offenders are held in classification centers. Prison officials weigh these factors with the offenders’ risk of flight and the dangers they might pose to the communities if they escape back into society. The higher the levels of risk that offenders pose, the greater the levels of security that are required in the institutions in which they are to be housed.
Prisoners can and do escape from every type of prison facility. The attention that prisoner escapes attract is in proportion to the security levels of the institutions from which they flee. When a prisoner escapes from a maximum-security prison’s death row, news of the escape makes national news. In December 2000, for example, seven prisoners escaped from a maximum-security Texas prison. Several of them were awaiting death sentences. Their escapes and subsequent trail of terror led law-enforcement officers from numerous state and federal agencies on a multistate chase that ended with the death of one escapee and the arrest of the others in a rural Colorado community.
Prisoners also occasionally escape while on authorized furlough releases or while they are in transit. Any furloughed prisoner who fails to return to the designated facility at the end of the furlough is considered to have escaped. Although strict security measures are usually the practice for transporting prisoners, the levels of security cannot be as strict as they are when prisoners are inside prison facilities. To escape while in transit, prisoners may use smuggled handcuff keys or makeshift weapons or have outside assistance to attack the prison guards escorting them.
Consequences of Escape
Recaptured escapees face felony charges for their escapes. If they are convicted, their prison sentences are extended, and they are likely to be housed in more secure facilities. Should recaptured escapees not be prosecuted for the offense of escape, they will probably lose whatever good time they have accumulated for past good behavior. The only generally accepted excuse for escape is to evade a death threat. For that defense to be successful, the escapee must not hurt anyone during or after the escape and surrender to authorities as soon as possible after escaping.
Bibliography
Burns, Robert E. I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang. New York: Vanguard Press, 1932. Memoir of a famous prison escapee whose story prompted calls for prison reform during the 1930s.
Cesereanu, Ruxandra. “Political Escapes from Prisons and Camps in the 20th Century Antisystemic Mentalities.” Caietele Echinox vol. 32, 2017, pp. 174–182. Legal Source, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hus&AN=124170482&site=eds-live. Accessed 30 Jan. 2018.
De Simone, Donald. I Rob Banks, That’s Where the Money Is. New York: SPI Books, 1992. Memoir of a professional bank robber who made several successful escapes from prisons.
Elsner, Alan. Gates of Injustice: The Crisis in America’s Prisons. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Financial Times/Prentice-Hall, 2004. Critical analysis of the many problems faced by federal and state prisons, including the deterioration of facilities and failings in security.
Peterson, B. E., A. Fera, and J. Mellow. “Escapes from Correctional Custody: A New Examination of an Old Phenomenon.” The Prison Journal, vol. 96, no. 4, 2016, pp. 511–533. PsycINFO, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2016-35659-001&site=eds-live. Accessed 30 Jan. 2018.