On this day fifty-one years ago James Earl Ray made his first attempt to escape from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros, Tennessee.
On May 3, 1971, Ray managed to remove a concrete block in his cell, wriggle his way through it then climb through an air vent and eventually make it to a concrete tunnel that led to freedom outside the tunnel.
That tunnel was the undoing of his plan.
It led to the prison steam plant and inside was steam heated to upwards of 400 degrees. He was captured soon after.
He made another escape attempt in February, 1972, but guards caught him with a makeshift handsaw.
His third and most successful escape attempt was in June 1977 when he and six other inmates made it over the stone wall of the prison with a makeshift ladder. A manhunt was launched and he was captured in the mountains of Morgan County just a few miles from the prison a few days later. You can hear our podcast episode about that escape at this link.
In all James Earl Ray made four attempts to escape Brushy Mountain State Prison, all unsuccessful.
(Picture of Brushy Mountain prison by Michael Hodge from Wartburg, Tennessee, USA – Brushy Mountain State Prison, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29145243)
