I think the craziest thing to happen in prison was that a known child trafficker with ties to powerful government officials on suicide watch was left alone in a cell where all the cameras malfunctioned and both of the guards happened to fall asleep.

The 1962 Alcatraz escape attempt has always been one of my ALL-TIME favorite prison escape stories. I really wish Simple History will do one on the 1946 Battle of Alcatraz, which started as a desperate escape attempt that ended up turning into a bloody, 2-day standoff between the escapees and a coalition of guards, FBI, Coast Guard, and U.S. Marines.

Here in Germany, attempts of escaping prison are not indictable. The escapee is still accountable for things like damaging property, stealing a car, hurting people etc. during his escape, but _not_ for the escape attempt itself. The reasoning behind this is that every human being has a natural drive to be free and that trying to escape imprisonment would only be natural human behaviour that can't be seen as a crime.

A small note about the story of Shiratori. The original reason he was imprisoned was because off a murder he did not commit, the murder of a farmer. All the times he stole while on the run where items needed for survival, he never used violence. A later trial after japan surrendered to the US found him innocent of this murder, but did give him prison time for the other crimes during the escape attempts. He accept his verdict and stopped attempts at escaping after his 2nd trail and became a role model for other prisoners. Source: Kento Bento on yt

Wow, what a fascinating story! Yoshie Shiratori's escape from Abashiri prison using miso soup certainly shows how resourceful and determined a person can be when faced with extreme conditions. It's heartbreaking to hear about the harsh treatment prisoners endured in Japanese prisons during that time, but Shiratori's persistence in escaping multiple times truly shows his strong spirit. Thank you for sharing this piece of history with us, it's important to remember these stories and learn from the past.

People swim from San Francisco to Alcatraz and back all of the time. There are groups dedicated to doing this, with rescue boats close by. There is really no reason to doubt that the Alcatraz escapees were able to swim to the shore, especially with an inflated raft. If they had drowned, their bodies would have washed ashore. Personally, I believe they made it, then left the country.

I didn’t expect a video that’s 1 hour long from simple history

I’m not sure why, but the thought of that man’s disgust after his captive farted in front of him had me laughing hysterically

This is the surprise I needed! I could watch a full length film with this animation/narration style.

Prisoner: *Makes crossbow* Guard: Damn. Actually, this is kinda cool. We'll put it in a museum

Bronson had his appeal hearing just the other day. He started by telling the panel that he "had done more porridge than Goldilocks and the three bears". When asked about his confrontations with prison officers he replied “A rumble clears the air, I love a rumble … what man doesn’t?”

I know there's a lot of wise Japanese people, but to go back to a guard that works at the prison you escaped from is far from an intelligent thing to do.

Imagine you’re minding your own business when behind you you hear “I likes ya and I wants ya”.

How can someone be that good at escaping from high security prisons but be so terrible at avoiding being captured??

Prison is a place I can never imagine myself in. If I was in prison I wouldn't survive a week in there..

New Mexico Prison Riot and Attica Riot really deserve their own video

Bronson was just playing Prison Architect in prisoner mode. We've all been there.

Charles was also rumoured to butter himself up after lunch to be ready when fighting the guards 😂 he's quirky for sure.

Every country: *bans items to avoid mischief Canada: *puts it in museums *

Simple History you have outdone yourself again, thank you so much for the great videos!

Crazy how people are much more dedicated in escaping prison rather than staying out of it.

It's a well-known fact in my community that El Chapo's tunnels are all over the desert behind our homes. In some places you can see where they come out due to the fact the openings are now exposed. It is truly a (groundbreaking) experience seeing one of these deep tunnel openings, knowing they're leading somewhere to Mexico.

Simple History working overtime for us. Salute

47:44 - There was a dirtbike _in_ the tunnel, modified to run on the rails built into the floor of the passage. It's shown in the animation, but not mentioned by the narrator - followed by the narration talking about the motorbike that, ironically, isn't animated, but was waiting for him by the tunnel exit.

8:25 Music in British Crime: Symphony no.9 Ode to Joy by ludwig Van Beethoven, Habanera by Georges Bizet, William Tell Overture By Gioacchino Rossini, 1812 Overture By Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and The Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss II.

You know you’ve done something right when a guy that’s taken dozens of people hostage writes a strongly worded letter instead of take more people hostage 17:15

I was a CO in the most dangerous prison in my state. I always said that instead of incarcerating the inmates, they should put them in the space program. Because you will not find better engineers on earth. I had one who made a weapon out of pieces of steel that he cut from the grate that covered his light fixture. I also learned that, with a lot of time and patience, you can seriously cut through steel with dental floss. It was crazy, but I had to respect their creativity.

Theres a great one with Statesville in Illinois. They had a guy disappear. Had no idea how he got out. Turned out there was some remodeling going on in the prison. A few decades later, when they were remodeling again he was found underneath when they dug up the concrete floor of a bathroom and shower.

Did a 8 year bid.... one thing I'll never ever forget is the screams from the cell next to mine... every night... dude was getting rapxd for one month straight till they transfered his celly

The Miso Magician. An opportunity was missed in the branding department.

The fact that in the first story they added 3 years onto his life sentence 💀

imagine escaping from prison 4 times and your punishment is being given a shortened sentence in the prison of your choice

Awesome as always, keep it up!

Thank you Simple History for uploading these videos!

I don't know if these animators are trying to be funny or not. But some of the facial expressions and spins effects are hilarious

Best prison escape ever in my opinion is the Maze H blocks 1983, Belfast. When 38 IRA prisoners escaped dressed up as prison officers and smuggled in guns, then literally walk out. Then the madness unfolded.

I love that the Bronson video had Caarmen's "Habenera" playing, a nice added touch.

If prisons were still like this there would be less criminals

1 hour of pure content. Amazing

Well I got to say you definitely started the video with probably the best prison story ever. I've heard all about him and that man was an escape artist

Your video is so captivating, I can't stop watching it 😍

All fantastic stories. Thank you. My favorite one was watching Charles Bronson punch people. Love the animation

You should do one on Epstein. Cuz we all know he didn’t kill himself.

Charles Bronson was a legend. I totally thought the actor changed his name to Bronson after the criminal because he was such a badass. Had no idea it was the other way around, which is pretty rad.

Shirotori's final escape was also really cool because he spent his days staring at the skylight in his cell and whenever the guards got suspicious they checked to make sure he wasn't scaling up again and never once thought of looking at the floor

In army cadets we would throw coffee creamer on our hexi cookers to get an impressive burst of flame. They also routinely asked us to hand in the Tabasco sauce we got in our ration packs, just in case we decided to swirt the bottles into someone's eye.

Didn’t expect Charles Bronson to be on the list, the movie Bronson is definitely worth a watch. He’s still alive and due to be released soon.

I spoke to a POW that was in the hilton. He said the first thing that happened they had a big guy jump on his shoulders till they were dislocated, then his arms were tied behind his back. He was asked what unit, etc... he was with and mission plans. He refused. He also said they would take small pieces of bamboo and ram in under prisoners finger nails as torture.

The animation you have for your second story had me rolling😂

This is a masterly crafted Documentary, worth every minute.

*This is one amazing project, thanks much for it!*

I LOVE these long videos

I was in Army Aviation for 12 years. After basic training you go to AIT to learn your MOS. Sometimes classes can get backed up and you could spend a week or THREE waiting for a class to open up. Naturally I waited THREE weeks sitting around watching the news (the only TV allowed during the day) or volunteering for anything and everything to stay more bussy rather than more crazy. One of the 3 "unique" experiences I had volunteering was escorting someone to the hospital only this time it was off base. Something new. SWEET. We rolled up to a military prison. ( I gotta say I uncontrollably spent 10 seconds thinking about anything and everything I might have done to be picked for this duty as it was one of a handful of times our 1SG asked (YELLED FROM THE HALL) for me by name since I was always the first to stand up before those looking for volunteers could even finish asking what they needed) I had never seen a prison before in person. DO NOT GO TO PRISON. It's WORSE than you think. There we met up with another 1SG who had the female equivalent as me. (Volunteer for everything to stay busy) We were escorts for a male and female soldier who were awaiting a trial for some don't F with these people they will cut ya or worse and they were on the worse side. AND THE POINT IS HERE AT LAST.. Sorry about that. Both were chained up with their hands locked at their side to a belt and their feet chained together so they could barely take a full step. The hoods (WTF) were a nice touch. Apparently they were biters and spitters and came down having already chambered some spit into the mask. Then they clipped a leash to their belts and handed it to me. (WTFx2) YEP... I walked a human and I kid you not had to say stop, sit, stand, walk and come just like you would order a dog. To the hospital when went. They were in cages in the van. They somewhat bounced around and talked excitedly non stop on they way there. Just like a dog going to the park. It was one of my top 10 strangest things I have ever experienced. To this day whenever I see a dog on a leash I think of that one time when I went to prison.....

Imagine a prison riot and out of nowhere some inmates start to pull out crossbows, guns and anime weapons. That's like a Prison free card😂

What a precious movie! I stumbled on it & was going to change it but I was distracted (at work) boy am I glad I didn't change it! They really made you care about each & every character, even the grouchy old woman. 😊 Really good

I work for CDCR. Craziest thing I’ve ever heard has to do with an inmate by the name of Jaime Osuna. He was in a segregation unit where inmates are supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes. He was just given a new cellmate, something Jaime warned staff not to do. He was left unchecked for about an hour and a half, in this time he had decapitated his cellmate, disemboweled him, and decorated the cell with the entrails. He is also known for “gassing” people, which is a term used in prison meaning inmates throw a cup or bowl filled with their bodily fluids at staff. Most people use urine, spit, or feces if they are gassing staff. Jaime uses his blood. He also likes to get overfamiliar with the psychiatric staff, asking for their hand in marriage then will gas them for refusing. His backstory is quite sad and tragic, and it explains how he turned out the way he did. I do not work in the institution that he is housed at, but I work with people who have been there. He is a well-known inmate and a google search of his name will tell you what he did.

Lol he took a librarian hostage for a helicopter, a blowup doll and a cup of tea ☕😂 Yep his is definitely from Britain 🇬🇧

The crossbow is not the most crazy. In the same museum is a hand cannon.

The first guy was good at escaping, but EXCELLENT at getting caught.

Best prison story ever is pablo Escobar being allowed to build his own for himself and his friends and when he got bored of it he let himself out!!

Timothy Leary was another one. When he was psychologically assessed, no one noticed he'd DESIGNED most of the tests. He used his inside knowledge to get minimum security; then walked right out the door.

I’m from Canada and I have seen that cross bow! It’s on display in the warden house of the Kingston pen

What software do they use for animation? It reminds me a bit of South Park.

Death penalties keeps the crime rate low.

craziest thing we did in prison is we would make candles with bedsheet and a+d ointment and burn them under the metal table then make quesadillas like it was a stovetop

27:14 buddy minding his business on the far left lol😂😂

Imagine being so dangerous, prison doesn't even want you

"Only one man has ever been able to escape Abashiri prison and it was during a snow storm." Me: Taiga Saejima.

2:25 I like how he is animated as a poor old man getting beaten…but in reality he was a 35 year old professional criminal who escaped his court administered legal detention many times. They should have sent him to defend Okinawa by himself.

I love how in Europe, prisons treat there prisoners with so much respect. That the scene in Spiderman: Far from home where in a jail the cell door opened up and the inmates closed it themselse is realistic

As young children me and my brothers made clubs out of rolled up newspaper duct taped super tight. they were flexible and soft but heavy and hard at the same time. they were meant to be padded training weapons but we hurt ourselves and each other badly enough for even the kids to say "no, this is NOT a toy"

How did the court recognize he didn't hurt anyone during his escapes? Didn't he literally murder someone over a potato? 😂

always love seeing your hometown top a best of ingenious murderer list. gotta earn the claim of "One Great City" one way or another.

Can you imagine being a prison guard and walking around a corner at night just to see a thin mangled creature contourt out of a food slot in the middle of the night.

Do “The Battle of Alcatraz”! That deserves honor and respect to the officers killed! And the desperate escape of 46’

this is the only channel i watch instantly when they upload

Thanks for all the helpful information, maybe a little too much 🤔 Had seen a episode of myth busters were they found a common household product that was extremely dangerous and they weren't going to air the episode and never disclose it. I'm thinking it just was... 😛

Bronson was disgusted with the prisoner after he farted in front of him , had me in stitches 😂

Escape is the one part of prison I've always found fascinating; I watched escape from Alcatraz when I was around seven and then watched it over and over for weeks. I've always thought that if I ever ended out in prison, I would spend every waking hour trying to find a way out.

In Germany, there is no punishment for breaking out of jail because of Art 2 GG (The freedom of a person is inviolable).

43:47 Where the tenor horn 📯 come from? 😂

I'm a Final Fantasy expert. It's a video game, not an Anime. There was a Halo movie and I highly doubt that anyone would call Halo a motion picture franchise.

Using a storm to cover the noises of his escape, ala Andy Dufresne in Shawshank....excellent. Wow This guy was mega-rescourceful. Also, I always kinda assumed the actor Charles Bronson might have taken his name from the real-life wildman

"This prison housed some of the nations most notorious and dangerous criminals" me:What they do? "Stole stuff at night... might have had a toy gun or something"

Great video

Shirotori Iishi's story is kind of inspirational lol. Perseverance! Iron will

I do feel for Bronson. I had someone very early in my development who helped me face my anger issues, and taught me the mental discipline of Martial Arts not just the arts themselves. Today I believe that violence belongs in the ring (or the octagon, etc.) where it can be channeled more or less safely. I doubt Bronson had anyone like that. 20:57 Why would it "result in blindness"? Unless you mean temporary blindness? Capsaicin in pepper spray is pretty much the same thing, and it does not permanently impair vision, which is exactly why it ought to be hailed as great non-lethal defense, and why governments like the Canadian one ought to legalise carrying it for self-defense. It's ludicrous how in Canada - a small, lightweight woman is somehow expected to defend herself against multiple male attackers with her bare hands, as it's illegal to carry ANYTHING for self-defense other than your own hands. Technically yes, you can carry a knife and even a sword in Canada, but not for the purposes of defending yourself against another human.

im seriously reconsidering my salt intake now

Loved the music choice for Charles Bronson

Remember the story the two stories you've shown so far the one with the Japanese prisoner who is kept escaping that was just too much fun to watch I've seen pictures and everything is just too much fun, then there's the Alcatraz one who hasn't heard of that.

Bronson's story was not because of his toughness but a demonstration of how weak the British prison system is against criminals. Pull a stunt like that in North Korea or many African prisons and he'd wish he'd been Goody-Goody Boy.

I'm amazed by the amount of things prisoners have access to.

The bit about creamer is a half truth. It can be used that way but it isn't fats that burn, it's the cornstarch and it goes up for the same reason grain silos explode sometimes. It burns really fast, it won't stick, the flame isn't that hot. You might singe someone's eyebrows but not much more. I did nearly four years and the goons that run the place are just always trying to take anything that makes your life easier. I can tell you now, if I want a weapon I'll make one and you won't stop me no matter what you ban. I'll bust the tile up in the bathroom and put the sharp ends in a sock if I want. That's worse than about anything he listed here. I'll break the leg off a table. I've seen parts of wheelchairs taken apart and used as hatchets. If you want safer prisons, focus on making quality of life better for the prisoners. If we aren't stressed out we don't fight as much. Truth is the cops love to watch fights though.

29:09 Neat, I used to engineer "wire bows" in Middle School and give them to students who asked for them. Crazy simple design, I'd get some wires from Tech class and bend either end of the wire so it hooks at the ends, then I'd put a rubber band on the hooks; ammo can be anything long, usually pens, and especially sharpened-down pencils. The bows never shot straight - the rockets were longer than the launcher, so it usually spun, but you could easily flick a sharp pencil across the classroom with a 2" long bow, and with thicker wires and thicker rubber bands, could easily launch pens ~30'. A lot of these weapons remind me of tools used in hazing rituals, since the name of the game was usually improvised weapons that could be disassembled into their everyday tools. I remember hearing how some people would soak socks in salt water then leave them outside overnight so they would freeze; the result was a weapon about as hard as concrete, and could be tossed in a washing machine to remove the evidence.

Can you guys cover the history of guerrilla warfare?

Man escapes using only a bowl of Miso Soup. *2 Minutes later* Oh and a wire from a water bucket, And some floorboards.

great videos

When u said PK I just picture a guy in like 1920 saying parkour! Escaping from prison😂

Story 1 Do you have any IDEA how strong (mentally) a person has to be to survive Even more shocking as how "normal" he was after the ordeal my hat is off to him

I remember doing a clinical rotation in a jail while in nursing school & how surprising it was to be 10 yards away from a violent inmate who was pepper sprayed. My eyes started burning within a minute of the inmate's arrival even though I wear glasses. It's a small reminder that crime hurts many.