9781422270899

Introduction

O n December 13, 2000, a group of seven inmates enacted an intricate plan, often compared to the only known escape from Alcatraz, to break out of John B. Connally Unit in Kenedy, Texas. The seven men would evade justice for forty-three long days during the holiday season of 2000 and well past New Year’s Day in 2001. During that time, the entire state of Texas and the states surrounding it remained on high alert. The escapees ranged from robbers to rapists, child abusers to murderers. Because the courts had handed down to each of the men lengthy, near-lifetime or lifetime sentences, they had nothing to lose. Their escape gave them their only chance at freedom, one they desperately wanted to keep. That showed in the time and care they spent on planning and executing the prison break, which required building a false bottom for a pickup truck, costumes, overpowering guards, acquiring weapons, stealing a prison vehicle, hiding four of the prisoners under the truck’s

While the Texas Seven were on the run from the John B. Connally Unit in Kenedy, Texas, the whole state of Texas and the states surrounding it were on high alert.

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Introduction

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