The following is a list of historically famous prison escapes, and of people who escaped multiple times:
John Dillinger was a notorious bank robber who operated throughout the Midwest during the Great Depression. He broke out of the Allen County Jail in Lima, Ohio by having his gang pose as officers and infiltrate the prison. Only a few months later, the gang was re-captured when the hotel they were staying in caught fire. He was incarcerated while waiting to stand trial for the murder of a police officer in a bank robbery.
On April 29, 2022, Alabama murder suspect Casey White managed to escape Lauderdale County Jail aided by correctional officer Vicky White (no relation). The two were captured in Evansville, Indiana on May 9, 2022. Vicky died hours later that day from a self-inflicted gunshot wound suffered just prior to capture.
On 10 June 1977, the convicted murderer of Martin Luther King Jr., James Earl Ray, escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Tennessee, along with six others. Ray was recaptured after two days. He had been running and hiding in the mountainous forest surrounding the prison.
On 30 December 1977, serial killer Ted Bundy escaped from prison while most of the guards were off for Christmas. He did so by sawing through the vent of his cell with a hacksaw blade, ending up in the chief jailer's apartment (who was away on Christmas break). He then stole some clothes from a closet and left the building. Earlier in June he escaped from a courthouse by jumping out a window in the court's law library.In 1244, whilst imprisoned in the Tower of London, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Fawr crafted a makeshift rope made of bed sheets and cloths, lowered it, and climbed down. However, because he was heavy, the rope broke and he fell to his death.[Japanese prisoner Yoshie Shiratori broke out of prison four times, first from Aomori Prison (1936), Akita Prison (1942), Abashiri Prison (1944), and Sapporo Prison (1947). A novel and TV-drama Hagoku was based on his true story.In the Alcatraz escape on June 11, 1962, American criminals brothers John and Clarence Anglin, and Frank Morris escaped Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island using an inflatable raft, never to be seen again. It was never determined by the FBI whether they succeeded in their escape or died in the attempt.