Most Insane Plan To Escape The Death Row

20 feet away; then at 10,   the doors are still closed. Just before hitting them, the light turns from red to green. The doors open. The inmates open them and step out into the cool Virginia night air. When they look around, they can't believe what awaits them. The guards have brought a van. The sliding doors are open so that the bomb can be placed inside and removed from the prison grounds. The inmates can't believe their luck. They run to the truck, load the television covered with sheets into it, and then get into the vehicle themselves.   Linwood Briley puts the van in drive and floors the accelerator.   The six condemned to

death

speed away, leaving the maximum security prison behind.

As the prison fades in the rearview mirror, the six men give a cheer.   They have done. They

escape

d from

death

row and a facility that was supposed to be

escape

-proof.   But they are not out of the woods yet. At some point, the guards remaining at the facility will realize that they have been tricked. The six inmates know they must put as much distance between themselves and the prison as possible if they want to escape forever. They will also have to ditch the police van and change their clothes into something much less conspicuous. Tensions begin to rise in the getaway van and an argument breaks out.   The escaped prisoners can't decide what to do next. "If you don't like it, you can get out and go back to prison," shouts Linwood Briley.   "But my brother and I are headed to Pennsylvania, where we have family and can blend in." Clanton and Peterson do not believe this is the best course of action. "Stop," Clanton says.

The van stops in Warrenton, Virginia.  The escapees managed to get to within about 20 miles of the Mecklenburg Correctional Center. Clanton and Peterson exit. "I hope we don't see each other again," Clanton tells the other inmates still in the van. "You guys should abandon that trip before word gets out about our escape." Clanton and Peterson walk down the road toward town. The Briley brothers, Jones and Tuggle drive a little further, where they find the schoolyard and abandon the police van.  They can't be sure how long the prison guards remained confused, but the police are al

most

certainly already looking for them.

Escaped convicts find new clothing and transportation or will be captured and sent back to death row. The Briley brothers' crew disappears into the night as they

plan

their next move out of Virginia and further north. The sun rises in Warrenton early the next morning. Clanton and Peterson head to a market and buy cheese and wine with cash from one of the guards' wallets to celebrate their new freedom. They have torn the insignia and badges off their stolen uniforms to make them less visible. The two men walk to a laundromat with their celebratory meal in hopes that they can get some new clothes.

While they are in the laundry, a patrol passes by and sees the two men.   Their photographs and descriptions have been sent to police departments across the state.   The officer turns the corner and radios for backup. Clanton and Peterson chew cheese and take large gulps of wine, as they have not done since they were sentenced to death.   They scan the laundry room for clothes left unattended. Suddenly, a squad of police burst through the doors with guns raised. "Down on the floor, hands over your head!" shouts an office. Everyone in the laundry room comes down, including Clanton and Peterson.

The police officers run towards the two escaped prisoners. The wine from their bottles pools on the floor as Clanton and Peterson are handcuffed.  Your brief taste of freedom is over. The rest of the inmates managed to leave Virginia, but made a mistake in the process.   As the Briley brothers, Tuggle and Jones continue on foot; They keep their eyes open for a vehicle that could be stolen. They come across a van parked in a driveway.   The prisoners get on the truck and speed away without a second thought.   The only problem is that the stolen truck has an easy-to-remember personalized license plate, PEI-1.

The convicts head north and cross the border into Pennsylvania in their stolen truck.   They arrive in Philadelphia, where they leave the Briley brothers in their uncle's garage.  “Where are you headed now?” —Linwood asks. "I'm not sure exactly," Tuggle responds. "But we're going to try to cross the Canadian border." Linwood nods. "Good luck."  The Briley brothers disappear into the garage. Tuggle and Jones continue on their way to Canada. They drive through the tri-state area and arrive in Vermont. They know the Canadian government will not extradite fugitives facing the death penalty. If they get caught in Canada, they will go to jail, but at least they won't face the electric chair, which would be a terrible road to go down. "We're going to make it," Tuggle says as they drive through the Green Mountain State.   He runs his arm across his forehead to get rid of the sweat he's started to drip there.   Suddenly the engine starts sputtering.  "Damn!" Tuggle shouts.

We're out of gas.   He opens the guard's wallet that he stole. It is empty. They are in Jay, Vermont, the last town in the state before crossing the Canadian border.   “We can still do it,” Tuggle tells Jones.  "What's just another crime in the scheme of things?" Tuggle gets out of the truck and starts walking towards the city. Jones waits in the vehicle.   But as time goes by, he starts to worry.  Jones slumps into his seat and tries to take a nap, but the thought of being captured when he's so close to the Canadian border keeps him awake.

Tuggle enters a gift shop on the outskirts of town.  He pulls out a knife that he's held on to since they escaped death row. The store clerk hands him the $80 at the register and Tuggle quickly leaves. He knows that he only has a few minutes to get back to the car and refuel before the police catch him. He runs down the street, but there is a police officer nearby who recognizes him.   The police officer turns on his lights and siren and chases Tuggle down the street.   When the police officer catches up to him, he cuts Tuggle off and gets out of the car with his gun raised.   "Freeze!" the policeman shouts.

Tuggle throws her hands in the air as his head falls.   He knows that he will go back to prison and has no hope of getting out again. As time passes, Jones begins to assume the worst. Tuggle should have returned by now. They've been on the run for more than a week, and even though the Canadian border is close, Jones is tired. He is dehydrated, hungry and the flies have been relentless in the heat of the Vermont summer. Jones opens the door and enters the city. He finds a phone and calls his mother.   After a brief conversation, she convinces him to turn himself in.

He no longer wants to flee;   his escape from death row ends less than 10 miles from the Canadian border. Of all the men who escaped from Mecklenburg Correctional Facility, only two remain. The Briley brothers have been free for al

most

three weeks.   They work in a workshop with false identities that their uncle gave them.   The police visit the uncle's store, but he maintains that he has no idea where his nephews are.   The police don't believe him, so they tap his phone and wait for the brothers to get in touch.   Nineteen days after the Briley brothers escaped, they made the mistake of calling an old contact in New York City.

The FBI manages to trace the call to the workshop where they are working. Police and SWAT teams storm the garage.  Linwood and James Briley flee.   They jump over engine blocks and slide under cars raised on lifts.   "Stop or we will open fire!" the police shout. The brothers continue running, but all the exits have been covered. They are knocked to the ground and handcuffed. Like the rest of the escapees, the Birley brothers are arrested and returned to the prison from which they escaped several weeks earlier. Following the return of convicts, the Mecklenburg Correctional Center intensifies its security procedures.

It is now clear that prison is not inescapable, but all the prisoners have been returned and are locked in their cells.  The mistakes of the past will not happen again. A year and a half passes without incident.  Linwood Briley is handcuffed and in ankle shackles. They lead him down the catwalk of the cell block he once escaped from.   The other inmates watch as the infamous former fugitive walks past them.   They know it will be the last time they will see this Briley brother. The procession leaves death row and heads toward a room in another part of the facility.   A door opens and Linwood Briley enters the chamber.   He is strapped to an electric chair.

A priest reads the last rites to him before leaving the room.   Several people watch behind armored glass as a switch is flipped and the man finds the end of it. Each of the six men who escaped from Mecklenburg death row ultimately died at the hands of the state.   The Briley brothers were the first two to be executed. Linwood Briley, who is alleged to be the mastermind behind the escape plot, was executed in 1984. His brother was executed the following year. All escaped convicts were executed by electric chair except Lem Tuggle, who was executed by lethal injection on December 12, 1996.

He was the last of the Mecklenburg Six to be murdered. He now watches “50 Things No One Tells You About Being in Prison.”   Or check out “Last 60 Minutes of Being on Death Row.”