Prison Escapes on the Decline

Feb. 1 -- With so many high-profile prison escapes recently it might seem that inmates are fleeing like never before.

First the "Texas Seven" broke out of a maximum security prison, and now six of them — one has since committed suicide — are charged with killing a police officer while robbing a sporting goods store.

Then last month, two Oklahoma inmates escaped from another maximum security prison, pulling toilets from cell walls and escaping through a hidden maintenance tunnel and a vent.

This week, six inmates in Alabama, using a broom to sneak under a fence, managed to bypass correctional officers and high-tech security systems to make their way out of the medium security St. Clair Correctional Facility.

Despite these three highly publicized escapes, experts say prison breakouts are less common today than they were 10 years ago.

"Escapes are going down," said Camille G. Camp, co-president of the Criminal Justice Institute, which has been publishing the Corrections Yearbook on criminal statistics since 1981. "The reason we've heard about all these recent outbreaks lately is that you'll have something dramatic, sensational."

In 1990, 2,583 inmates nationwide escaped from minimum, medium and maximum security prisons, according to CJI. That number does not includes "walkaways," inmates who leave work programs or don't return after furlough programs.

Escapes hit a 10-year-high in 1991, with 2,660, and hit a recent low in 1998 at 660. In 1999, 1,047 walked away from incarceration.

Escapes from high-security prisons included within the survey declined, as did the larger figure. In 1990, 292 prisoners escaped from high-security facilities, like the ones in Texas and Oklahoma, and 115 escaped in 1999, according to CJI. The high year for escapes was 1992, with 318.

Architecture, Technology Help

Corrections experts say the main reason fewer inmates are escaping is that the nation has recently built so many new facilities to house the nation's booming prison population.