Escape from maximum-security prison ‘unheard of,’ Ewing says

The average individual who attempts to escape from prison gets caught within a very short distance of the prison from which they escaped, according to UB law professor Charles Ewing.

The type of maximum-security escape of two inmates from an upstate New York prison last week? Unheard of, says Ewing, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the UB Law School who studies forensic psychology and violent behavior.

“They must be very intelligent because this sounds like the movies,” he says. “Escapees are usually caught within a very, very short distance. This obviously took intelligence, planning, foresight and luck. This is almost inconceivable to me.”

Most escape attempts take place outside of the prison — on the way to court, or for medical treatment, for example, Ewing says. These inmates not only escaped in the most dangerous way possible, but they clearly had intimate knowledge of the architecture and geology of the prison, which suggests they had someone assisting them, he says.

Ewing knows the Clinton Correctional Facility from which the inmates escaped quite well and says the facilities are extremely secure.

“Security just to visit to conduct interviews is incredibly tight, so I am surprised, very surprised,” he says. “It is very secure there. It just sounds so extraordinary to me that inmates could pull this off. It seems they must have had external assistance.”