# Has, in in, say, the last twenty years, any murderer escaped from prison and not been recaptured? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-in-in-say-the-last-twenty-years-any-murderer-escaped-from-prison-and-not-been-recaptured/816538 "2018-06-21T21:23:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steven\_Estes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Steven\_Estes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Estes)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-in-in-say-the-last-twenty-years-any-murderer-escaped-from-prison-and-not-been-recaptured/816538/1 "2018-06-21T21:23:11Z")
One occasionally hears on TV news, about a murderer or two escaping from a prison. Almost invariably the prisoner(s) are recaptured within a day or two or, at most, a couple of weeks. Has, in, say, the last twenty years, any murderer escaped from prison and never been recaptured? How about from a maximum security prison? ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-in-in-say-the-last-twenty-years-any-murderer-escaped-from-prison-and-not-been-recaptured/816538/2 "2018-06-21T21:43:46Z")
Not a murderer, but: > [@](#): > > In October 2013, Kevin Patrick Stoeser escaped from the Austin Transitional Center where he was serving the remainder of a 156-month sentence for four counts of child sexual assault and one count of possession of child pornography. He pleaded guilty to these charges in 2003. He was never captured but DNA-confirmed remains of his skull were found near Del Valle, Texas on September 8, 2014. > **[List of prison escapes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prison_escapes#2000%E2%80%93present)** > > The following is a list of historically infamous prison escapes, and of people who escaped multiple times: > There have been many infamous escapes throughout history: > Taylor County Jail, 1978 > (1970–2003) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-in-in-say-the-last-twenty-years-any-murderer-escaped-from-prison-and-not-been-recaptured/816538/3 "2018-06-21T21:54:08Z")
If you google “escaped prisoners at large” you will find numerous articles. Here are some of the more interesting ones, including two murderers, both called Glen. > **[On the Lam: Seven Prison Escapees Who Were Never Found](https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/new-york-prison-escape/lam-prison-escapees-who-were-never-found-could-still-be-n371901)** > > Some prison escapees are never found, and these could all still be alive and on the loose. > [@](#): > > Glen Stark Chambers was sentenced to life in prison for the 1975 fatal beating of his girlfriend, Connie Weeks. > [Florida] > > Glen Stewart Godwin was sentenced to a lengthy sentence in California’s Folsom State Prison for a grisly murder in which he repeatedly stabbed his victim and then tried to destroy the body by blowing it up in a car > [California] ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2018, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-in-in-say-the-last-twenty-years-any-murderer-escaped-from-prison-and-not-been-recaptured/816538/4 "2018-06-21T23:42:51Z")
Edward Salas managed to stay on the lam for four years. He was serving a life sentence for murder when he escaped in 2008 with seven other inmates. Some fellow escapees were captured within minutes, others in months, but Salas wasn’t caught until 2012. [Clovis, New Mexico jail break - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis,_New_Mexico_jail_break) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-in-in-say-the-last-twenty-years-any-murderer-escaped-from-prison-and-not-been-recaptured/816538/5 "2018-06-22T08:15:31Z")
Knowing the notoriously poor security and high levels of corruption at many prisons around the world, it would surprise me if this didn’t happen on a regular basis. Google for “prison break Mexico”, or similar terms for other countries, and you’ll get plenty of news articles about mass escapes of dozens or even hundreds of inmates at a time. These tend to be organized by large criminal gangs or terrorist groups who have the resources to shelter the escapees indefinitely. Last year, for example, almost a thousand prisoners escaped from the Kangwayi prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo, among them ADF fighters involved in mass murders. I haven’t seen any reports about them being recaptured. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-in-in-say-the-last-twenty-years-any-murderer-escaped-from-prison-and-not-been-recaptured/816538/6 "2018-06-22T12:56:39Z")
Bad things can happen before escaped killers are recaptured. Case in point - the Tison gang rampage in 1978. Gary Tison had already escaped once, killing a guard before he was recaptured, then broke out of state prison in 1978 with fellow prisoner Randy Greenawalt (a convicted serial killer). Together with their accomplices they were responsible for four more murders before it was all over. > **[The story of Gary Tison's fateful final escape — from those who were there](https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-best-reads/2017/09/19/arizona-tison-gang-spree-prison-escape-1978/660262001/)** > > Gary Tison spent much of his adult life in an Arizona prison where he spent even more time plotting his escape. Tison died of exposure in the desert; Greenawalt was captured and ultimately executed, but not before becoming religiously devout, and famously expressing the belief that he’d meet up with his victims someday. “I just hope they were Christians” he said. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2018, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-in-in-say-the-last-twenty-years-any-murderer-escaped-from-prison-and-not-been-recaptured/816538/7 "2018-06-22T22:10:20Z")
Note quite within the time horizon in question, but five prisoners who escaped from the [Maze prison in 1983](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maze_Prison_escape) stayed at large until they were [effectively pardoned as part of the Northern Ireland peace process;](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/mar/27/northernireland.devolution) and two of them have never been tracked down. (The other three were known to be living outside of Northern Ireland, I believe.) ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-in-in-say-the-last-twenty-years-any-murderer-escaped-from-prison-and-not-been-recaptured/816538/8 "2018-06-23T00:20:38Z")
We watch a lot of crime shows including ‘I Almost Got Away With It’. The thing that blows me away about the vast majority of these cases is that the prison break usually involves years of planning an meticulous execution and yet not a moments thought of what to do when they actually get out. That’s why they almost always get caught. I was especially amused of the guys that spent two years of prep then escaping. The very first thing they did was get coke ang hookers, rented a hotel room and had a loud party and got the cops called on them. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-in-in-say-the-last-twenty-years-any-murderer-escaped-from-prison-and-not-been-recaptured/816538/9 "2018-06-23T11:33:19Z")
Well, there was [Brenden Abbott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenden_Abbott). That was Australia though. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-in-in-say-the-last-twenty-years-any-murderer-escaped-from-prison-and-not-been-recaptured/816538/10 "2018-06-23T14:30:45Z")
Here’s a list of four murderous escapees , and the fifth in the list, because I didnt write it, was a career criminal who got a long sentence worthy of being considered an escapee to be found. One of the murders was on death row. Another murderer is female, a black panther, was liberated by black panthers, and its well known where she is … Cuba. See [http://crimefeed.com/2017/07/independence-days-5-escaped-prisoners-who-never-got-caught/](http://crimefeed.com/2017/07/independence-days-5-escaped-prisoners-who-never-got-caught/) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-in-in-say-the-last-twenty-years-any-murderer-escaped-from-prison-and-not-been-recaptured/816538/11 "2018-06-23T14:45:24Z")
6 guys escaped Virgina’s death row in 1 day in 1984. All were caught and executed , 1 additional guy could have escaped but stayed behind and also was executed. > **[Mecklenburg Correctional Center](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecklenburg_Correctional_Center)** > > Mecklenburg Correctional Center was a maximum security prison operated by the Virginia Department of Corrections in unincorporated Mecklenburg County, Virginia, United States, near Boydton. It was closed in 2012 due to a decrease in the number of inmates in the Virginia corrections system and expensive ongoing maintenance needs. The 189 acres (76 ha) facility served as a reception and classification facility. > Mecklenburg formerly housed the Commonwealth of Virginia's male death row. > It is lo... ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-in-in-say-the-last-twenty-years-any-murderer-escaped-from-prison-and-not-been-recaptured/816538/12 "2018-06-23T15:36:17Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > 6 guys escaped Virgina’s death row in 1 day in 1984. All were caught and executed , 1 additional guy could have escaped but stayed behind and also was executed. > > [Mecklenburg Correctional Center - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecklenburg_Correctional_Center) Interesting, but how does this fit the OP’s question?