Famous escapes

As long as there have been ways to incarcerate people whether behind bars or through immoral ownership there have been escapes. Some are unsuccessful, such as the recent case of a 20-year-old man who jumped out of a moving police car, pictured here. And others are daring and brave and are among some of the most famous escapes in history.

Alcatraz

In its 29 years of operation, the infamous prison on an island witnessed numerous escape attempts. Almost all inmates who tried to escape were caught or killed, except for participants in the mysterious and intricate 1937 and 1962 attempts:

Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe (1937)
How they escaped
What prevented them from being spotted?
Find out what happened to them


Frank Morris and Anglin brothers (1962)
How they escaped
What tools did they use?
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A famous film dramatized the event

Libby Prison

Libby Prison in Richmond, Va, was one of the most infamous jails used in the American conflict known as the War Between the States. One of the country's most daring and organized breakouts happened there when 109 soldiers attempted escape.

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman is a well-known African-American humanitarian, abolitionist and spy who risked her life to help dozens of slaves escape. Before that, Tubman was enslaved herself and endured a life of violence and abuse. She freed herself in 1849.

Giacomo Casanova

An insatiable womanizer whose name has become synonymous with the art of seduction, Giacomo Casanova was also responsible for one of the greatest prison breaks of all time. He was imprisoned in 1753 at Leads, but he wasn't there for long


Alfréd Wetzler

Alfréd Wetzler, along with a man named Rudolph Vrba, was one of very few Jews to escape a notorious Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust. He is responsible for the first report about the camp that detailed its layout and inner workings.

Pascal Payet

This French criminal gained infamy for his Hollywood-style prison escapes. Pascal Payet was originally given a 30-year sentence, but his 2001 escape attempt, a 2003 breakout plan and his latest antics have earned him more time behind bars.

John Dillinger

Depression-era gangster and notorious American bank robber John Dillinger was no stranger to prison breaks when he engineered a bold getaway from an "escape-proof" county jail.

Ellen & William Craft

A slave in Macon, Ga., and illegitimate daughter of a white plantation owner, Ellen Craft, along with her husband, William, is among the most famous people to escape from slavery.

Dieter Dengler

Dieter Dengler was a Unites States Navy pilot during the Vietnam War. He was one of seven who famously escaped from a jungle prison camp in a Southeast Asian country.

The Great Escape

It's called The Great Escape due to the scale and complexity of this infamous prison break during World War II. In 1943, Roger Bushell organized the plot for a mass escape from a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp.

The Texas Seven

Seven Texas inmates carried out an elaborate breakout scheme from a maximum-security prison in 2000.