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Article: Examining prison escapes and the routine activities theory.
- Article from:
- Corrections Compendium
- Article date:
- May 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 American Correctional Association, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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On a late January evening in 2001, six inmates slipped out of the unlocked housing unit door of an 18-year-old, 1,300-bed maximum-security prison. Bright lights bathed the exterior grounds, but the nearest watch tower was unmanned and an intervening building blocked the view from the closest occupied tower. All six inmates were serving sentences of 25 years or more and three members of the group were serving life without parole for murder. Perimeter security included inner and outer 12-foot-high fences topped with razor wire, and a third, electrified fence between them. The electric fence was designed to deliver a 600-volt shock to anyone who touched it, followed by a ...