10 most infamous jail breaks of all time

Mexico's most notorious drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman recently managed to escape from a high-security prison again after 2001, when he did so in a laundry cart.

Guzman’s escape from the Altiplano Federal Prison has brought great shame to the Mexican government with the authorities vowing they’ll see Guzman behind bars very soon. Business Insider compiles the most notorious jailbreaks of all times:

1.Colditz Escape

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The reason this tops the list is because of its innovative method of execution. Colditz was touted as one of the most famous German prisoner-of-war camps for World War II. While many escape attempts were made, the most daring was that by two British pilots, Jack Best and Bill Goldfinch who planned to design a two-man glider to fly away.

While the duo never had to fly their glider as the camp was relieved by the allies just as the machine was nearing completion, this remains as one of the most ambitious prison escapes in the history of mankind.

2.John Dillinger

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Dillinger escaped from the “escape proof” Lake County Jail after he was arrested in 1934. The most astonishing fact is that he carved a fake gun out of soap before he stole the Sherriff’s Ford and fled to Illinois.

However, the FBI tracked him down and shot him to death.

3.The Great Escape

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In January 1943, Allied soldier Roger Bushell led a plot for one of the biggest prison escapes. The idea was to dig three tunnels that were codenamed Tom, Dick, and Harry. The tunnels were small, but they housed larger chambers to fit in an air pump, a workshop, and staging posts along each tunnel. The prisoners also installed small rail car systems for moving sand more quickly. A whopping 130 tonnes were transported over the five-month period.

Finally on Friday, March 24, the escape began. 76 men crawled through the tunnels, and finally at 5am on March 25, the 77th man was spotted by one of the guards. However out of the 76, only 3 successfully escaped. 50 were killed, and the rest captured.

4.Death Camp Escape

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Alfred Wetzler escaped from the Auschwitz death camp during the Holocaust. Wetzler and an accomplice climbed into a hollow wood pile that was supposed to build a section for future prisoners.

Their fellow prisoners placed wooden boards around them and sprinkled Russian tobacco soaked in gasoline around the area to stop the prison dogs from locating the duo. The two hid there for four nights before heading for the Polish border using a child’s atlas.

5.Sobibor Death Camp – the real Inglorious Bastards

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This is one of the most successful prison escapes in the 20th century. The Death Camp was a major part of the Nazi Operation Reinhard to kill European and Polish Jews.

It also housed Leon Feldhendler and Alexander Pechersky, a first lieutenant Russian POW. Under their supervision, prisoners designed knives and other edged weapons in the workshops. Finally, a mind boggling 300 of the 600 prisoners escaped.

6.Pascal Payet

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This man escaped French high security prisons twice, both times with a hijacked helicopter!

He was initially sentenced to a 30 years in jail for the murder committed while robbing of a security van. After his escape in 2001, he was captured and was awarded seven more years for his audacious escape. He then escaped from Grasse prison using a helicopter hijacked by four masked men from Cannes-Mandelieu airport. He was finally captured on September 21, 2007, in Mataró, Spain.

7.The Alcatraz Escape

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In 1962, Frank Morris, Clarence and John Anglin broke out of the famous Alcatraz prison in one of the most daring breaks ever committed. They did it with makeshift tools like a drill that was made from a vacuum cleaner’s motor. The trio escaped from the ventilation shaft and used a raft to sail to San Francisco bay and were never heard from again. While some presume they died in the bay, no bodies were ever discovered. This escape was later made into a movie starring Clint Eastwood.

8.The Jungle Prison Escape

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A German-American Navy pilot Dieter Dengler was shot down during the Vietnam War. However, in 1966, he and six others escaped into the jungle after they killed three guards.

23 days later Dengler was rescued by an American helicopter, half dead and severely dehydrated with scars from mosquitoes and leeches. He is the only American soldier to successfully escape from a prison camp during Vietnam.

9.The Original ‘Catch Me If You Can’

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Frank Abagnale is well known for his prison break in 1971. He and his accomplice Jean Sebring made guards believe he was an undercover officer, and produced fake identification to back his claims. The confused guards released the duo.

10.Just Walk Out

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In 1995, Keith Rose and Matthew Williams worked together to make a 25 foot steel ladder to scale the Parkhurst prison fence. They also designed a gun and a key from their memory.

During their gym hour, they unlocked the back door and simply walked out. They also cut a hole into the inner fence and scaled the outer fence with the ladder they made.

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