People Do Not Escape From Jail Anymore

I do not think people realize how common prison escapes used to be and how rare they are these days. Just last month, after his murder conviction, Danilo Cavalcante managed a surprising feat. He scaled the prison walls unnoticed, with a tower guard missing the escape entirely, granting him a short-lived freedom.

For two weeks, despite numerous sightings and a search involving hundreds of officers, law enforcement struggled to recapture Danilo Cavalcante. Officials faced criticism and had to defend their search efforts. Ultimately, it was a combined effort of 500 local, state, and federal officers that cornered Cavalcante in a wooded area of South Coventry Township. A four-year-old police dog named Yoda played a pivotal role in his capture.

In contemporary times, such escapes are anomalies. Prison breaks, once frequent and sometimes even successful, have dwindled. Today, such incidents become major news, and escapees are typically recaptured quickly. The modern era makes it challenging for fugitives to remain at large.

But just a few decades ago, 40 prisoners would escape from jail a day.

Today, it’s only around 2000 a year in the United States, with most of those prisoners just walking away from minimum security jails.

Technology is usually credited as the reason prison breaks have gone down. Prison escapes are less common today primarily due to advancements in security technology and the evolution of prison design. Modern prisons are equipped with sophisticated surveillance systems, including high-resolution cameras, motion detectors, and biometric scanners, all of which have significantly improved the detection and prevention of escape attempts. Additionally, prison walls and barriers have been reinforced with materials that are more difficult to breach.

The Prison Escape and Culture

Prison escapes were so common they used to be a prominent part of popular culture. For instance, "The Shawshank Redemption," a film from the 90s, was frequently broadcasted on television for many years, to the point where I got sickvof it. Notably, for a long time, "The Shawshank Redemption" maintained its position as the #1 film on IMDb's top 250 list, as voted by users.

But there were other films, like Papillon, Cool Hand Luke. Numerous songs were written about it like "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash. "Jailbreak" by Thin Lizzy. "Jailbreak" by AC/DC. "The Wall" by Johnny Cash, this song tells the story of a prison inmate's failed escape attempt.

The real stories of prison escapes were often quite captivating. We all know about the legendary real stories of real jail breaks like Alcatraz (one of the escapees sent a letter to the FBI 50 years later). But there were much more. The famous French-Canadian bank robber Jacques Mesrine broke out of jail several times. They made a great movie about his life.

One of America’s most infamous serial killers, Ted Bundy, was sentenced to two death penalties and eventually executed in 1989 at the age of 42. Before his execution, however, Bundy escaped from custody. In 1977, Bundy was at a courthouse, unshackled, representing himself in his own case. During a recess from court, Bundy asked if he could go to the courthouse library to research his case. While out of view from the guards, he jumped from the courthouse’s second story window, and despite injuring his ankle, was able to make an escape to freedom, albeit temporarily. He was a fugitive for six days before being captured in Aspen, Colorado. He escaped jail again Dec. 30, when he piled books and other items under a blanket on his bed, making it look like he was sleeping. He escaped through a light fixture hole in the ceiling, and eventually made it to a crawl space and an apartment above the jail. He put on street clothes and walked free.

Stories of Escape Are Intriguing

One can't help but be struck by the intense display of human ingenuity that such endeavors embody. These stories are replete with instances of inmates harnessing their creativity and resourcefulness to challenge and subvert structures meticulously engineered to prevent just such events. Sometimes they get caught on video like this prison escapee who outsmarts a police officer while on the run.

Delving further into the intricacies of these tales, one can't ignore the palpable unpredictability that engulfs them. Peruse the Wikipedia page yourself.

In This Newsletter

In a world where prison escapes have dwindled into the annals of history, Ross Ulbricht finds himself in a predicament. I'm inclined to believe he possesses a veritable treasure trove of Bitcoin, tantalizingly out of reach. With a life sentence shadowing him, his only ticket to this digital goldmine is a daring escape. But in our modern era, pulling off such a heist of freedom seems more fiction than fact.

1) What was the Silk Road? A digital black market from the early Bitcoin days. Currently, one bitcoin is worth $30,000 today. What if you had thousands of them?

2) Who is Ross Ulbricht? The former owner of the Silk Road and someone who posts on twitter frequently.

3) Why do I think he is the Richest Prisoner in the World: I will explore this theory in full.

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