--- title: Jail Break History: Why One Strange Prison Escape Was Legal description: Not every escape triggered the manhunt for the prisoners from the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York canonical: https://time.com/3912533/jail-break-kaplan-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-08T17:20:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:09.734Z article:section: History og:title: Jail Break History: Why One Strange Prison Escape Was Legal og:description: Not every escape leads to a manhunt og:url: https://time.com/3912533/jail-break-kaplan-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76b0865c5210dc7c/6988537335ba6f1be9c0d9f4/breakout.png?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: breakout og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jail Break History: Why One Strange Prison Escape Was Legal twitter:description: Not every escape leads to a manhunt twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76b0865c5210dc7c/6988537335ba6f1be9c0d9f4/breakout.png?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Strange Case of the Non-Criminal Jail Break ## Video: Watch: NYPD Top Official Explains When Body Cameras Will Be Recording [Watch (HLS stream): Watch: NYPD Top Official Explains When Body Cameras Will Be Recording](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/MCUbmDsX.m3u8) (2:44)  _Published 2015-06-02. Most police officers will have a body cameras in the future, says NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Information Technology_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 8, 2015 5:20 PM UTC  A scene from the 1975 film 'Breakout' A scene from the 1975 film 'Breakout'Columbia Pictures / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 8, 2015 5:20 PM UTC It would seem to go without saying that breaking out of jail is a criminal act. As [the manhunt in New York state](http://time.com/3912359/new-york-prison-escape/) continues, the two convicted killers whose escape from Clinton Correctional Facility was discovered on Saturday have joined a long list of truly dastardly break-outs–some of which retain a certain magician-like [mystique](http://time.com/vault/issue/1987-01-26/page/12/). The 20th century’s most prolific prison-breakers include some of its most infamous criminals, from [John Dillinger](http://time.com/vault/issue/1934-03-12/page/18/) to [James Earl Ray](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-06-20/page/21/), the latter of whom earned himself the nickname “the mole” for his many attempts to break out. But the history of jail breaks also reveals an odd counterexample. Not every single instance has actually been criminal. Case in point: the 1971 escape of Joel Kaplan from a Mexican prison. Here’s how TIME [described](http://time.com/vault/issue/1971-08-30/page/31/) the bravado breakout that August: --- > “” --- Kaplan, one of the two escapees, was a prominent New York businessman from a wealthy family. In 1962, Kaplan’s business partner Louis Vidal Jr. had been proclaimed dead in Mexico City; Kaplan had been charged with killing Vidal, even though there seemed to be doubts over whether the body in question was actually Vidal’s. (The other escapee was a Venezuelan named Carlos Antonio Contreras Castro, in jail for counterfeiting; his story was much less widely covered in the American press at the time.) After the escape, the prison noted that the Kaplan’s and Castro’s wives had visited the day before, accompanied by an American man who seemed to be surveying the prison yard. Following the flight to freedom, the helicopter delivered the two men to a private plane at a nearby airport, which in turn delivered them to an airport near the Texas border, where they split up. Castro went to Guatemala; Kaplan made his way to California. ### Life Inside Mexico's 'Infamous Cesspool,' the Black Palace Prison  Caption from LIFE. Striped assembly of prisoners wearing regulation uniforms, lines up on the prison athletic field. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Knifer Laureano Garcia is the toughest man in the Black Palace. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Like a huge roulette wheel, circular no. 1 fills corner of prison. Trotsky's assassin is kept in section with barred ceilings (left). Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Prisoner parade moves smartly around the prison athletic field to band music. Army-style marching is part of new warden's program to improve morale. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Inside the Black Palace prison in Mexico, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Inside the Black Palace prison in Mexico, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Mass calisthenics use up 4 1/2 hours in the daily routine of most male prisoners. On this same big field they also play softball, volleyball and basketball. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Calisthenics at the Black Palace prison, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Calisthenics at the Black Palace prison, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Soul of the Prison" is the inmates' friendly nickname for Secretary-General José Farah, who hears their complaints, expedites trials, keeps in touch with families. He is seen above in one of many daily interviews. A lawyer, now 48, Farah began his work in 1938 after serving as a state supreme court judge. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. American prisoner Mary Carter, 34, a shoplifter, holds fellow inmate's baby as she chats with matron. There are two other Americans in for smuggling. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Woman and child at the Black Palace prison in Mexico, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Prison athletes, led by women, parade around the athletic field. They play intramural games and also meet teams from a Mexico City normal school. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Inside the Black Palace prison in Mexico, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Prisoners relax with small children on a laundry-decked court. Prison stripes are not required and few of the women wear them. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  At work inside the Black Palace prison in Mexico, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Inside the Black Palace prison in Mexico, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Inside the Black Palace prison in Mexico, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Inside the Black Palace prison in Mexico, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Inside the Black Palace prison in Mexico, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Inside the Black Palace prison in Mexico, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Incorrigible killers peer from solitary cells. The man in cell 19 killed a man in prison. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Incorrigible killers peer from solitary cells. The man in cell 18 has killed two men while in prison. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Incorrigible killers peer from solitary cells. The man in cell 23 killed a man in prison. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Inside the Black Palace prison in Mexico, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Visita Conyugal" brings prisoners and wives or recognized mistresses together for two hours one day a week at the Black Palace. Women move on from here to their husband's cells. At right are gifts which wives have brought their husbands. In some of Mexico's other prisons conjugal visits may last all night. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Prisoner's friend Attorney José Menéndez, helps inmates win their freedom. Here he speaks with girl whose release he won after she had baby in prison. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Family visit brings wife and two children to this man's cell. On a busy day the prison corridors and patios are filled with scores of scampering youngsters. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Inside the Black Palace prison in Mexico, 1950. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. A family holds a reunion outside cell. Frank Scherschel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images The real twist, however, came later. After arriving in the U.S., Kaplan insisted that the entire process had been entirely legal. The prison in Mexico had not been damaged in any way. No one had been hurt. Both the helicopter and the private plane used within Mexico were purchased outright rather than rented, so it would be impossible to make any claim that they had been used improperly, and everything about the flight was done according to FAA standards. When crossing into the U.S. in Texas, Kaplan and the pilot both used their correct names when speaking with customs officials. “His escape, the lawyer claims, was perfectly legal since jail breaks are a crime in Mexico only if violence is used against prison personnel or property or if prison inmates or officials aid the escape,” TIME [reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1971-09-20/page/29/). “Mexican authorities disagree, insisting that the use of accomplices—the pilots, in Kaplan’s case—makes the escape illegal. However, Mexican officials have not yet initiated extradition proceedings against Kaplan or his partners, who seemed to have pulled off a practically noncriminal crime.” The jailbreak was the inspiration for the 1975 Charles Bronson/Robert Duvall movie _Breakout,_ and that coda proved to be in some ways more shocking than the real thing, as TIME [reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1974-09-02/page/54/): _“_\[T\]hough the actual 1971 jailbreak went uneventfully, not so the movie version. Appearing unexpectedly on the set, Kaplan and \[pilot Victor\] Stadter watched in amazement as two Jeeploads of movieland police blasted away at Actors Bronson and Duvall re-enacting the escape. Said Stadter afterward: ‘I was more scared watching all this than when we did the caper.'” As for the real-life Kaplan, though he was not actively pursued by authorities on either side of the border—and though the CIA and he both [denied](http://time.com/vault/issue/1971-09-20/page/29/) that he was involved with their espionage operations—he was [apparently](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/eliot-warren-hinckle-william-turner-asinof/the-10-second-jailbreak-the-helicopter-escape-o/) living incognito. And he was as good at that as he was at breaking out of jail: he been heard from publicly since. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3912533/jail-break-kaplan-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3912533/jail-break-kaplan-history/"},"headline":"The Strange Case of the Non-Criminal Jail Break","datePublished":"2015-06-08T17:20:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:09.734Z","description":"Not every escape leads to a manhunt","url":"https://time.com/3912533/jail-break-kaplan-history/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76b0865c5210dc7c/6988537335ba6f1be9c0d9f4/breakout.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt76b0865c5210dc7c/6988537335ba6f1be9c0d9f4/breakout.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"breakout","caption":"breakout","creditText":"Columbia Pictures / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3912533/jail-break-kaplan-history/","name":"The Strange Case of the Non-Criminal Jail Break"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: NYPD Top Official Explains When Body Cameras Will Be Recording","description":"Most police officers will have a body cameras in the future, says NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Information Technology","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/MCUbmDsX/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-02T12:58:33.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/MCUbmDsX.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3912533/jail-break-kaplan-history/","duration":"PT2M44S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3912533/jail-break-kaplan-history/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```