Prison Break German Style
October 30, 2007
People dedicate whole scientific careers to it and millions in funding dollars are spent in pursuit of the answer. Whenever there is a controversial event which could be blamed on the idiot-box, the same question arises: how much influence does television have on our lives?
Violent shows are almost always cited in cases when kids run amok and teenage promiscuity is often blamed on too much sex on TV. It was only a matter of time before the ingenuity shown by a certain set of television criminals became the inspiration for a daring, real-life Prison Break.
While those involved in the incident at the juvenile detention center in Neustadt, northwest Germany, were not being framed for the murder of the vice president's brother as some part of an elaborate political conspiracy, it did take an ingenious effort of TV-land proportions to break one 19-year old inmate out of her cell.
Resourceful girls escape under guards' noses
Taking a lot less time than 22 episodes to get to the actual escape, the escapee's 18-year-old accomplice, another inmate who was released last Friday, managed to get the fleeing jailbird out of the detention center and away under the very noses of the prison guards.
The guards, none of whom may have been too bright, failed to follow up suspicions after the released girl left the correctional facility with a suitcase which the officials found to be "particularly heavy." The girl was allowed to leave the center with the suitcase, which contained her Prison Break co-star, without the luggage being searched.
In addition to that embarrassing oversight, the fact that the other young woman was missing was only noticed several hours later during the routine evening check of cells at the center.
The two young women are still at large while the prison officers have presumably gone back to watching The Weakest Link.