Althouse: "The governor marveled at the particulars of the escape, in which the two inmates had cut through a steel wall of their adjacent cells..."

June 7, 2015

"The governor marveled at the particulars of the escape, in which the two inmates had cut through a steel wall of their adjacent cells..."

"... shinnied down a series of internal catwalks, and burrowed their way more than a city block away before emerging from a manhole. Mr. Cuomo said that there had been a number of contractors working in the facility, and that the escapees’ work may have been safeguarded by the silence of other prisoners.... 'When you look at how the operation was done, it was extraordinary,' Mr. Cuomo said...."

From a NYT article titled "With Power Tools and a Ruse, 2 Killers Escape New York Prison."

57 comments:

Rob said...: How are things in Dannemora?
Is that willow tree still weeping there?
Does that turnscrew with the droopin' eye
Come whistlin' by
And does he walk away
Mad and steamy there not to see me there?; 6/7/15, 5:11 PM
YoungHegelian said...: It's power tools cutting through brick & metal! How in God's name do you cut through that stuff quietly?

Even if the other prisoners didn't squeal on them, I can't believe the guards never heard it. And how did the power tools get smuggled in? Up someone's ass? I'm sorry, that story wouldn't even pass muster in a Lazlo Spatula posting.

I strongly suspect some of the guards got some impressive bribes along the way.; 6/7/15, 5:12 PM
Humperdink said...: The beauty of zero capital punishment in NY state. And highly restrictive gun laws.

These two stellar citizens have nothing to lose.; 6/7/15, 5:15 PM
Humperdink said...: The only thing not mentioned in the story was a poster of Raquel Welch.; 6/7/15, 5:17 PM
MisterBuddwing said...: The Times describes the image on the note left behind as that of "a caricature of a man wearing a conical hat." OK, if that's all it was...; 6/7/15, 5:40 PM
Titus said...: Cuomo is hot and I love the NYTimes!; 6/7/15, 5:51 PM
jimbino said...: God, I hope these heroes get rich from selling the movie rights. Harbor Freight will no doubt also gain from the publicity. They offer a lifetime warranty on their power tools, after all, something reminiscent of Craftsman hand tools, ages ago. Does Amazon deliver on Sundays to prison cells?; 6/7/15, 6:23 PM
Michael K said...: The escape of the black terrorist Joanne Chesimard and the FALN bomb maker who shinnied down a homemade rope inspite of having no fingers were equally spectacular escapes. They had help and these guys probably did, too.; 6/7/15, 6:32 PM
jimbino said...: What are the simple geometrical shapes appropriate for manholes and their covers, and why?; 6/7/15, 6:41 PM
MisterBuddwing said...: What are the simple geometrical shapes appropriate for manholes and their covers, and why?

My understanding is, a round manhole with a round cover is the only way to go, because that way, you can't accidentally drop the manhole cover through the manhole opening (unlike, say, a square, a triangle, etc.).; 6/7/15, 6:45 PM
Hagar said...: And the shaft is round because that way the walls are equally in compression all the way around.; 6/7/15, 6:55 PM
David Begley said...: One of the escapees is an illegal alien and has the words "Mexico Forever" tattooed on his body. He had escape once before and returned to Mexico. In his home country he was arrested and returned to the US to face murder charges.

Glad the border is secure.

I say both get away for good.; 6/7/15, 7:16 PM
JCC said...: So one of these guys has already been convicted of two separate murders, and the other shot a deputy sheriff 22 times when the deputy discovered three men who had just committed another crime. Both had extensive criminal records at the time they committed the murders that put them in prison.

What's that argument about capital punishment? Let's just give them life with no parole, so they can't hurt anyone ever again.

Smart.

The note they left pictured a cartoon character, obviously Oriental, in a conical straw hat, that said "Have a nice day".; 6/7/15, 7:22 PM
JCC said...: By the way, since New York - in effect - has no capital punishment, these guys have a free pass to kill anyone as they feel the need or the urge, at least in NY or any other state with no DP. So, with nothing in the balance but the life sentence they both (in effect) already have hanging over them, why shouldn't they feel they can kill with impunity, especially if killing makes their escape more likely or their time outside more...exciting or something. It's like a road trip. They can kill cops, rape women, whatever they feel like, as long as they stay out of Texas, or Florida, those backwards states...it won't affect their future time inside.; 6/7/15, 7:34 PM
David Begley said...: JJC,

Right you are.

And that's another reason why NE made a terrible mistake in repealing the death penalty.; 6/7/15, 7:38 PM
madAsHell said...: The Clinton Correctional Facility!!!

I see that we are now including unobtainium on the periodic chart.

Over to you Lazlo.; 6/7/15, 7:43 PM
mezzrow said...: I bought my legal representation at Harbor Freight. When I break the law, it's so cheap to replace, I just buy another whole set of lawyers.

Capitalism - you might know it would take the Chinese to teach us a real lesson on capitalism and the law.; 6/7/15, 8:05 PM
Scott said...: New York State gun laws are a little less restrictive than NYC. And I understand (lawyers can you confirm?) that New York has a very strong castle statute -- you can basically kill anyone breaking into your home, and the law is on your side.; 6/7/15, 8:06 PM
Scott said...: Information on New York castle doctrine (and other stuff) is here.; 6/7/15, 8:13 PM
Scott said...: (The article says that in New York, the law gives you the right to spank your kid, too.); 6/7/15, 8:16 PM
Barry Dauphin said...: The governor's reaction speaks to an admiration of their escape which is unbefitting the office of the governor. He comes across like a fan instead of a governor.; 6/7/15, 8:27 PM
Humperdink said...: @Scott. You left out how the good governor limited magazine capacity in firearms. Exempting his security detail of course.; 6/7/15, 8:30 PM
Scott said...: @humperdink: Okay, so a New York State resident has ten chances to kill an intruder with a handgun before loading another magazine and having another ten chances.; 6/7/15, 8:40 PM
Scott said...: And using "good governor" to refer to Cuomo is sarcasm, I can tell. I agree.; 6/7/15, 8:40 PM
Humperdink said...: @Scott. An intruder? Gee, I thought there was two.

My position: If I have an intruder(s), I will call 911 and simultaneously prepare to defend myself and my family. When the police arrive, they will have maximum capability. Why should I have less while waiting for their arrival?; 6/7/15, 8:47 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: ...a round manhole with a round cover is the only way to go...

A circle is the simplest solutions, but you can construct other shapes with a constant width. For example, start with an equilateral triangle, then replace each side with an arc centered on the opposite vertex. This can be done for any odd sided regular polygon.

Going even further, starting with your equilateral triangle, replace each vertex with the same size circle, radius < length of triangle side. Replace each side with an arc centered at the opposite vertex and tangent to the two close circles. Etc.; 6/7/15, 9:02 PM
rhhardin said...: Resourceful prisoners build a glider and fly over the wall.; 6/7/15, 9:08 PM
The Godfather said...: I'm torn. On the one hand, I'd like the escapees to be killed while resisting recapture. On the other hand, I'd like them to be water boarded until they reveal who helped them escape.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.; 6/7/15, 9:16 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: When I was a child, I was shocked to learn that prisoners who escaped or tried to escape got longer sentences. "Of course they try to escape! Who wouldn't try to escape?"; 6/7/15, 9:16 PM
Scott said...: @rhhardin: You mean the Colditz Cock!; 6/7/15, 9:20 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I had a teacher in high school who had to shoot someone. Sweetest, meekest, kindest lady you could meet. One day a kid says, "I heard you shot a guy once. Is that true?" She looks up from her desk and says matter of factly, "Yes, I did."

All of us stopped working except her. She was back to whatever she had been doing. We all looked at each other amazed. Another kid spoke up, "What happened?"

She looked up again, "Well, a strange man was coming through my yard to my house, and I told him, 'You'd better get out of here right now,' but he kept coming. So I said, 'You stop right there, or I'll shoot you.' And he didn't stop, so I had to shoot him."; 6/7/15, 9:22 PM
Quaestor said...: This puts me in mind of the 1962 Alcatraz prison break. Brothers Clarence and John Anglin with Frank Morris managed to tunnel out of their concrete cells using spoons. Then they launched themselves into San Francisco Bay in an inflatable raft made of raincoats. The official tale is the three men drowned in the frigid bay waters and were swept out to sea on the morning tide.

The subsequent FBI investigation revealed that concrete walls throughout the prison were degrading rapidly, which would encourage more escape attempts. It has been rumored that the contractor hired to supply the concrete used in the prison's original construction bilked the Justice Department by shortening the use of cement in the mixture by an small amount, which netted several thousand extra dollars to the contractor over the lifespan of the construction project. Rather than admit to the government being defrauded Attorney General Robert Kennedy ordered the prison closed.

Mythbusters Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman reenacted the famous escape attempt and discovered that the prisoners' homemade raft not only worked, it worked well enough for the Mythbusters to paddle their way from Alcatraz Island to a remote cove south of Sausalito. The Alcatraz escapees probably survived and remained free for the rest of their days.; 6/7/15, 9:25 PM
Quaestor said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/7/15, 9:47 PM
Quaestor said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/7/15, 9:49 PM
Quaestor said...: Resourceful prisoners build a glider and fly over the wall.

Several British inmates of the Germany's infamous Colditz Castle actually planned such an escape. They got so far as to complete, or nearly complete, the construction of a two-man glider made of wood and bedlinen. The prisoners even solved the problem of porosity by inventing a butyrate dope substitute made of oatmeal. The glider was built in an attic of the main prison block behind a false wall. The plan called for breaking through the outside wall of the attic on the night of the escape, and then launching the glider from the adjacent rooftop using a counterweight catapult. The counterweight was to be a bathtub filled with plaster. The United States 1st Army liberated Colditz before the plan could be executed, however.; 6/7/15, 9:49 PM
Quaestor said...: Here's a picture of the original glider built to fly from the roof of Offizierslager IV-C, aka Colditz Castle.; 6/7/15, 9:54 PM
Quaestor said...: And here's a vid of the replica "Colditz Cock" making the flight that the real glider never made. The glider landed safely more than half a mile from the castle.; 6/7/15, 9:59 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: To a kid, the prisoner who isn't trying to escape is just lazy.; 6/7/15, 10:20 PM
David said...: Well, they impressed Andy Cuomo.

Matt is apparently good with tools. The murder he's incarcerated for (not his only one) included a dismemberment of the victim.

Given the level of planning and the likely need for outside assistance with the tools (where are the tools now, by the way), there's a reasonable chance someone was there to pick them up after then got out.

These guys truly have nothing to lose. Impressive, isn't it Andy?; 6/7/15, 10:59 PM
Michael The Magnificent said...: Given the level of planning and the likely need for outside assistance with the tools (where are the tools now, by the way), there's a reasonable chance someone was there to pick them up after then got out.

I've been wondering, did an accomplice engineer a way in from the outside?

From the outside, you have the luxury of architectural plans, money, time, and access to power tools. It'd be far easier to cut & dig your way into the prison cells, than to dig and cut your way out.; 6/7/15, 11:19 PM
averagejoe said...: Freeman Hunt said...
I had a teacher in high school who had to shoot someone. Sweetest, meekest, kindest lady you could meet. One day a kid says, "I heard you shot a guy once. Is that true?" She looks up from her desk and says matter of factly, "Yes, I did."

All of us stopped working except her. She was back to whatever she had been doing. We all looked at each other amazed. Another kid spoke up, "What happened?"

She looked up again, "Well, a strange man was coming through my yard to my house, and I told him, 'You'd better get out of here right now,' but he kept coming. So I said, 'You stop right there, or I'll shoot you.' And he didn't stop, so I had to shoot him."

6/7/15, 9:22 PM

Hmmm... sounds like there's more to the story than the old lady's letting on. What was the sweet meek little old schoolteacher doing packing heat? Was she expecting trouble? Did she know the man she shot? Maybe a disgruntled student on his way over to settle a score? She describes him as a strange man I see, but that's a very evasive adjective. I mean, everyone who knows me knows that I'm a strange man...; 6/8/15, 12:45 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: I live in Arkansas. Who isn't packing heat at home here?; 6/8/15, 12:58 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: Ha! She should have told us it was a former student. The story could have lived on in school lore forever.; 6/8/15, 1:00 AM
Jason said...: A friend of mine shot and killed her husband. Never charged. The man had it coming for a long time.; 6/8/15, 3:50 AM
rcommal said...: Wait! No analysis of word choice involving "shinnied" and "shimmied." What?; 6/8/15, 4:31 AM
sinz52 said...: Yes, this illustrates at least one application of the death penalty for which opponents of the death penalty have never come up with an alternative:

What do you do when a convict sentenced to life imprisonment without parole commits crimes again?

In my own state of MA, it happened. A convict sentenced to life imprisonment without parole murdered another convict. Another such convict escaped from prison and raped and murdered a woman on the outside before the cops caught him. How can you punish him for that? Take away his Internet privileges?

When someone is sentenced to life imprisonment without parole as the highest possible punishment, he becomes a wild animal. He knows there's nothing more the state can do to him; hence, he will commit crimes with impunity and so must be basically caged up.; 6/8/15, 5:46 AM
Jaq said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/8/15, 5:51 AM
Jaq said...: There are plenty of privately owned guns in that area of New York State. It is home of the famous Gas, Guns, Guitars, and Groceries store that was the model of the store in the anti-fracking dishonest propaganda film "The Promised Land."; 6/8/15, 6:29 AM
campy said...: "A friend of mine shot and killed her husband. Never charged. The man had it coming for a long time."

Female Privilege.; 6/8/15, 6:46 AM
jeff said...: Now their in big trouble, think how many OSHA violation they committed. No safety glasses while working with power tools, no safety cones around the manhole. (Can we still call it a manhole?); 6/8/15, 6:48 AM
George M. Spencer said...: That's quite a racist cartoon they drew.

Mandatory counseling is in order.

Perhaps they should be expelled.; 6/8/15, 7:09 AM
Ann Althouse said...: @rcommal "shinny" looked like the right word. The OED says:

intr. To shin up a tree. Also with down, absol., and with advb. acc., as to shinny one's way .

1888 T. Stevens Around World on Bicycle 307 The trees..are..swarming with monkeys... Shinnying up the toddy-palms.
1936 J. Steinbeck In Dubious Battle vi. 86 Jim shinnied down the tree.
1937 Sun (Baltimore) 23 Oct. 12/7 It is difficult to imagine a man over 60 shinnying up a porch post.
1967 ‘E. Queen’ Face to Face xiii. 61 Somehow he's managed to shinny his way back into her good graces.
1976 Daily Tel. 29 Sept. 15/2 They must..shinny up ropes, and slide down vines.
1977 Time 4 Apr. 42/2 Coming on fast is Robert Shaw, Israeli counter~terrorist, who must shinny down a rope from a helicopter.; 6/8/15, 7:27 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Shimmy" is shaking:

"I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate."; 6/8/15, 7:53 AM
Skipper said...: Picture the NYT story were the Governor not a Democrat. "Governor marvels at the incompetency of his prisons department."; 6/8/15, 8:54 AM
paminwi said...: Re: the racist cartoon: it was blurred out on some channel yesterday when the story was presented.; 6/8/15, 9:04 AM
Swifty Quick said...: " 'A friend of mine shot and killed her husband. Never charged. The man had it coming for a long time.'

Female Privilege."

Beatnik William S. Burroughs shot and killed his wife playing "William Tell," and basically got away with it. So it evens out in the long run.; 6/8/15, 11:38 AM
averagejoe said...: paminwi said...
Re: the racist cartoon: it was blurred out on some channel yesterday when the story was presented.

6/8/15, 9:04 AM

Now that's kind of interesting in lieu of the fainting spell progressives had over the FOX affiliate that blurred the breasts on a Picasso painting. One man's blurred breasts are another man's blurred cartoons... Unless they are the same man, or television network affiliate.; 6/8/15, 2:59 PM