This past weekend, I answered the following question on Quora: “Is it really possible to run from a prison sentence?” Specifically, the questioner was wondering if it was possible for someone released on bail to successfully evade a life sentence in prison. Here’s my response (with some minor edits):
It would actually be very rare to be out of custody on bail after being sentenced to life in prison. There may be some examples where a judge allowed a convicted offender to remain out of custody on bail during an appeal, but I’m not aware of any myself.
A more likely scenario might be someone who escapes from custody, or avoids arrest in the first place, and then tries to avoid detection. Forever. It’s hard to do (just ask Kathleen Soliah), but it’s been done. Alcatraz is probably the first example that comes to mind, although the escapees may actually have drowned.
Documentary trailer of the Escape from Alcatraz
If you did manage to escape, it would be a real challenge to live off the grid in modern society. People do it for a variety of reasons, including the guy in the video below, but even he has a laptop computer in his van that he uses to stay in touch with people.
Unless you were very careful, using electronic communication would probably lead the police right to you at some point.
Living off the Grid
This last video has some tips about how to hide in plain sight, but I think they’re more for entertainment value than anything else. And some of this advice about How to Stay off the Government’s Grid might be of help, too, but again it all seems pretty speculative.
Funny advice on hiding from the system
The best advice, of course, is not to get yourself in trouble with the law in the first place. Or, if you do, just serve your time. It’ll be much easier to sleep at night.
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