In July 1992, long shadows formed as the sun set over Medellin, the Colombian city nestled in the Aburra Valley. Perched against one of the steep hills overlooking the city sat the La Catedral Prison, although the word prison was hardly a good description. More like a luxurious estate, the facility boasted a private football pitch, Jacuzzi, and exp…

In February 1864, a group of Union soldiers escaped from Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. Filthy and starving, the prisoners had set about finding a way out of Libby – which had become an overcrowded hell hole. For other inmates, the long months spent trying to pass the time as the American civil war raged between the North and South was too muc…

On Sunday, September 25th, 1983, the day started as normal in H-block 7, with the prison officers having no indication of what the prisoners had in store. Brendan McFarlane, on the other hand, began the day with a sense of anticipation of what the prisoners had planned, mixed with a slight feeling of apprehension, knowing that it was on.…

In September 1983, the Irish Republican Army planned and executed a mass escape from Her Majesty’s Maze Prison in Northern Ireland. 38 prisoners made it beyond the walls of the Maze, which the UK government had boasted was the most secure prison in all of Europe. The IRA prisoners were hell-bent on embarrassing the UK government and attracting atte…

Darcy Dugan felt no remorse for trying to get out. When you cage an animal against its will, deprive it of its natural element and kin, it will naturally try to escape – particularly if it can see a way out. The way he saw it, the warder’s job was to keep him in custody. His job was to get out. And he had already found another possible way.…

A few days after his court hearing, Billy was transported in a red panel truck to the Bakirkoy mental hospital prison facility to begin his 17 days of observation. He and a group of other prisoners were unloaded and escorted into a reception area, where hospital attendants in dirty white smocks took Billy’s watch and the 100 lira note that he had t…

Billy lay on the old, stained mattress that sat atop the steel frame bolted to the floor. He’d been imprisoned in a Turkish jail cell since October 1970, charged with drug possession. Although he had lawyers, his faith in their abilities and in the Turkish legal system had dwindled and was now practically non-existent. No one could tell him how lon…

It was March, 1849. Henry Brown, a slave working in a tobacco factory in Richmond, Virginia, was 33 years old. He had it better than most other slaves it was true, but he was still a slave all the same. Besides, there was no telling how long that relative comfort would last. He’d watched too many of his companions whipped and humiliated by their ma…

On July 11th, 2015, guards at the Federal Social Readaptation Centre No. 1, made their usual rounds. The Federal Social Readaptation Centre No 1, known as the Altiplano prison for short, is a maximum security prison in Almoloya de Juárez in the State of Mexico. Completed in 1990 and with security features that included 1 metre thick reinforced conc…

بقلم Escape Official

On September 1st, 1939 World War II erupted in Europe after Germany invaded Poland and the United Kingdom and France retaliated by declaring war. Over the course of six years, Europe watched as German forces expanded their territory both east and west, before the Allied forces turned the tide and slowly forced Germany to retreat. As the war progres…