Doc's escape

Doc had one other distinction during his stay in our jail, and that was his involvement in one of the two escapes from the facility over the years. He and two equally psychotic cohorts managed to wriggle out through an air vent in the ceiling of their cell one night during visitation and somehow managed to make it out through the roof of the jail to the world beyond. The problem was, none of them was from the area and they had no idea where they were or how to get away.
Since it was nighttime and thus very dark outside, the three amigos did not even know which direction was north and using the stars evidently was not in their realm of abilities. They ended up in a nearby housing development where they broke into the home of an elderly couple who proceeded to feed them bologna sandwiches, cookies and cola until the SWAT team arrived to bring them back to jail. When questioned later, the elderly couple went on and on about how polite and nice the three escapees were, just like their own grandsons. They couldn’t understand why such fine young boys were being held in jail. Surely they would not harm a single fly and wouldn’t we please check into the matter and see if a mistake hadn’t been made?

The whole episode lasted about four or five hours and Doc was slightly embarrassed at being so poorly prepared, but he spent the rest of his stay with us in the jail boasting about how he had escaped from our maximum-security facility. I suppose he had a right to boast about it, not that anyone cared very much. What seemed far more material to his peers was the fact that he and his amigos ended up right back where he started, with two more years for the crime of “escape” tacked on to whatever sentence he would eventually receive.

While I make lightly of this event, it could have turned out much differently. Of the three escapees all were in jail for homicide and one of them was even more extremely unbalanced than Doc, having committed his murder in a frenzied knife and pistol attack on a middle-aged lady who just happened to be home when he did not expect her to be there. For reasons no one really knew, Doc evidently stopped the other two from harming the elderly couple, or that’s how the story goes. It would have been easy for them to use a household knife or any other weapon and do real harm to the couple but they did not. They could have taken the couple’s car and made a dash for it, but they didn’t attempt that either.

Maybe, somewhere under the bravado and personality disorder, Doc did have one small spark of conscience. Or, more likely he just knew he wouldn’t get very far even if they did manage to evade the SWAT team because he still had no idea where they were or how to get to a highway and escape. The truth is more likely the latter. Doc was mean as a bent snake, but he was not stupid.

He finally ended up going to prison in Florence for twenty-five years to life. I heard a rumor he had been attacked in a knife fight shortly after arriving but had survived it. In the years since I’ve heard nothing more. I have no doubt, however, he is still communicating with a dozen or more love-struck women and charming his way into their souls. Doc was my first lesson on Sociopaths and just how unpredictable they can be. I can understand now why people, especially young women, fall prey to their charm and become their victims so easily.