A recent published report about Muradif Hasanbegovic's
clever escape from prison in Graz, Austria brings to mind some
of the escapes from Pennsylvania's cruel prisons. In the recent
Austrian incident, the convicted robber was part of a prison work
detail which made parts for lamp posts. Heaven knows what the
lamp posts were for.
Muradif's assignment was to package up the parts and mail them out. Seeing his duty, he mailed himself out! Good man! Every prisoner is bound to struggle for his/her own freedom. It's an obligation even America taught its prisoners of war. Muradif did his bit for freedom. Presumably, he made some stamp collector very happy. Some years ago, before the anti-escape hysteria of right-wing political extremism, Pennsylvania had some spectacular prison escapes. In one case, a burglar, "Hans," worked in the prison carpentry shop. Among his many talents, Hans was a skillful cabinetmaker. Guards compelled him to manufacture decorative cases in which to display their personal rifles and guns. He was paid about a dime an hour and the guards simply stole the supplies from the state shop. Hans painstakingly constructed a fine gun cabinet for one particularly obnoxious guard. The cabinet had a secret feature, a compartment in which an ingenious craftsman could conceal himself. After the tenth coat of gleaming varnish, the gun cabinet was shipped out with Hans tucked inside. In a much less successful and less happy incident, two young prisoners hid out in a truck carrying trash and garbage from a prison messhall. The truck was one of those that compresses its load with tons of hydraulic pressure. The men were compacted to death. It was messy and tragic, but it reflects the human need for freedom and to struggle for freedom. In a more gangster-style case, a prisoner at the Pittsburgh state prison smuggled a tiny two-shot pistol in the heel of his shoe. As he was being searched/dressed to be transferred, he whipped out his mini-gat. The alarm sounded and the escape was foiled without injury. There are dozens of other escapes worthy of mention. After that conservative crackpot, Tom "the Fuhrer" Ridge, reigned, prison escape was suddenly a personal insult to Pennsylvania's police state. It was severely dealt with as the major crime. Fuhrer Ridge and most of the extreme political right-wing, have no sympathy with freedom or the idealists who crave it. Suddenly, it was respectable to make a living by imprisoning other human beings. Enslavement is never respectable or decent.
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