(Not a need answer fast) 
Suppose someone escapes from prison in the United States and has access to millions of dollars in cash (maybe he buried it in a hideout before being incarcerated) but nothing else - no ID or papers, just his prison clothes - how far could he expect to live a successful escapee life?
Does he have any criminal contacts? Or at least, contacts who wouldn’t mind helping a criminal? Or know where one might find such contacts? Is he adverse to committing further crimes in the process of going on with his life?
The only tough part I can foresee would be getting rid of the prison clothes and replacing them with something that won’t raise questions. Any of those things I mentioned would be enough to do that. After that, you can just walk into any store and pay cash for anything you need. Maybe set up a bank account listing your occupation as something that would be paid in cash, and trickle the cash into the account at a slow, believable rate.
They would have a hard time living like a millionaire but every step down from that would be easier and easier. They could live like a homeless person with a few dollars for forever. They would do pretty well living the flophouse life with a few things and an off the books, cash only, apartment or trailer. They would probably need to cultivate a relationship to move on up after that. Getting fake papers is easy if the worst case for being caught is deportation. Getting fake papers that you would rely on to stay out of prison is not something I would trust.
Not sure you could open a bank account without proper identification nowadays.
Also, how identifiable are prison uniforms nowadays? I imagine the stuff in Orange is the new Black would not be identifiable as prison garb 50 or 100 miles away.
Switching to non-prison clothes might be the trickiest part. Once he had those, he could buy presentable clothes with cash and a cheap motel room until he found a more secure residence. Renting a room from a private landlord would keep him off the grid. Then he could buy a cheap PC and tell the landlord that he worked online as a consultant or some kind of IT support to explain his income. But that relies on a landlord who’s not too curious.
Carrying around millions in cash is going to be problematic, so that would limit my ability to travel cross-country. So maybe -
[ul][li]Grab $10K of it and stash it in your undershorts. I don’t know if prison uniforms have pockets.[/li][li]Find a homeless person and swap clothes with him for $20.[/li][li]Find a cheap hotel/flophouse and buy a week’s lodging upfront. [/li][li]Get better clothes - not anything flashy. Maybe Goodwill or something like that.[/li][li]Buy a used car, not from a dealer.[/li][li]Go back and get the rest of the cash.[/li][li]Drive somewhere else, being excruciatingly careful to obey all traffic laws. You don’t want to get stopped for speeding, since you don’t have ID. [/li][li]Find another cheap hotel. Pay cash for a week. [/li][li]You need to get documents. I would start with a state ID, not a driver’s license. Once you have the first one, build up from there. Maybe go to a graveyard, find somebody who died very young, and assume their identity. [/li][li]You can’t contact any of your friends or family, which is going to be hard because you have millions and they will want some or all of it.[/ul]Basically, keep your head down, pay cash for everything, don’t tell anyone anything. [/li]
It might work, even for a while. Most people, myself included, couldn’t bring it off.
Regards,
Shodan
So America’s Most Wanted is supposed to be able to just walk into banks and shops and eat at restaurants without anybody noticing? In the movies they are supposed to at least try to get to a country with no extradition treaty first.
They can hook up with a lonely person that is starving for attention and needs cash, then move in with them. That type of person would be very protective of them. They are everywhere and a good con men knows it. It would then be up to the con to accept his new prison situation and not mess it up by drawing attention to himself. Sort of like what Whitey Bulgar did.
Moved to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I’d be interested in reading this book, actually.
Glad to see that your pen-pal thing is going well!
It would be possible to live a fairly decent lifestyle, I believe, since you (probably) won’t need to work. With all the emphasis on identifying undocumented workers, getting a real, legal, substantial job would be one of the biggest hurdles. Pretty much everybody else will accept money orders for rent, major purchases, services, etc., without identification, so you don’t really need to open a bank account or anything like that.
If somebody will front me $3M-$4M, I’ll give it a try and let you know how it works out. Just give me a two-day headstart.
Okay, here’s some tips for having a successful prison escape. (What do I care? I’m retired.)
-
Move. There’ll be a cordon set up around the area where you were last seen. And lots of media attention. This will all happen within about an hour. So get out of the area immediately.
-
Don’t go home. We’ll be watching your family and friends.
-
Avoid public transportation. We’ll be watching bus stations, train stations, and airports.
-
Cross a state line. The police in the state you escaped from will be the primary agency looking for you. You want to go somewhere where they’re putting less effort into searching for you.
-
Don’t leave any clues behind. We will search everything in your cell and anywhere else you hung out at in the prison. And we will interrogate every prisoner who knew you.
-
Don’t commit any crime. Ever. Even if it’s something like a routine traffic stop. Your identity as an escaped convict will be in the records forever and with computers, the police check things like that pretty much every time they have contact with somebody.
The best bet is to plan ahead and stash some ID and a change of clothes along with the millions.
Lots of people live without a checking account or credit cards. My handyman is one. He works only for cash, yet manages to buy vehicles and rent a house. He does have identification.
I assume the person has successfully ditched his prison attire (those donation boxes where people leave clothes are handy for this) and made it to his stash? Take some money, go to the library, log onto Craigslist and find a vehicle with no title - an old Camry or Accord from a private owner will provide anonymity, shelter, and reliable transportation. An old conversion van would accomplish the same if you want more room, and will blend in at Camp Wal-mart anywhere in the country. Speaking of which, swing by a large hotel parking lot the night you buy this vehicle, you’ll want out of state plates with a current sticker.
For ID, find out where the local immigrant community works and build up an acquaintanceship as a customer with someone that’s been here for a while (and since you’re living in the parking lot at a Wal-Mart…). Ask if they know someone who could help with paperwork, offer a finders fee, then visit a cemetery and find an appropriate name to provide them. Use the fake ID to grow an identity based on the deceased.
Another option, easier but risky, is to buy the identity of someone homeless - the person is available to get you all the back up information you’ll need, you move out of state and get new ID issued there with your face (even a passport), and odds are they’ll pass away after a few years on the street.
You only have until the next roll call before they notice you missing.
They’ll probably bring in dogs right away to track your scent; unless there’s streams that you can cross to throw off the scent, you’ll need to get into a vehicle. Many buses/taxis/Ubers have video in them which means you need to get into a private vehicle. It’s probably best if you can get your buddy to either borrow his buddy’s car or rent one because you know they’ll look at surveillance video for any known cars in the area.
You’re probably going to want to be on the down low for at least a few days. You need to find a safehouse to stay in but it can’t be any known friend or relative because that’s where the various law enforcement agencies will be looking for you.
Eventually, get a prepaid phone & debit card & move out of the area; remember, you still can’t contact your family, except maybe by snail mail, mailed from a city other than where you live. You’re going to pay exorbitant rates as an unbanked person but you’ve got, lots & you’re on the lam…forever! Once you’re settled, & have internet, get a VOIP line with a VPN to make it look like you’re calling from, say, Bulgaria in case your relative’s phone is tapped but I still wouldn’t contact them on holidays, especially birthdays.
Why does everyone assume the OP wants to contact family? Knocking that out eliminates a lot of risk.
I’m wondering about medical care. They’ll want some ID even if you pay cash, and some security if you wind up in the hospital–right? That means establishing some kind of identity and credit. I don’t know how hard that is these days with RealID and whatnot. I wonder if doing a reverse runner into Mexico might be a good start to establishing a new identity.
Eventually the age of the cash would be suspicious.
<Grampa Simpson>
“Give me four Abes for a Jackson, I used to say. That’s what we call a Tubman today.”
</Grampa Simpson>
Because family is the least likely to rat you out especially if your crimes were relatively minor, or your family is the type that finds themselves as guests of the county on a regular basis.
Legit money is easily had via a family member getting a spare bank account and letting you toss some money in. deposit a couple hundred dollars a day and you look like some flavor of cash day laborer. If family member is confronted about account they can claim its money being hidden from S/O or used to support an affair.
Wave enough cash at a financially stressed apartment complex rental agent to not notice you dont have ID and you could find yourself living in a normal apartment and paying rent via money order or previously mentioned bank account.
You can’t rent an apartment, buy a house or sign up for utilities without an ID.
So unless he finds a straw to do it for him, he will end up living in his car. But once he is pulled over he is fucked.
In real life a person like this would do one of two things.
-
Obtain fake identification they could use to set up a life.
-
Find someone else to buy all their stuff, then pay that person in cash while keeping everything in that person’s name.