Research


Scope and Content Note

This series includes files for six Clinton Prison inmates who escaped incarceration during the period 1914-1927. The files document attempts by the prison administration to notify law enforcement agencies and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the escapes and to monitor attempts to apprehend the fugitives. For reasons unknown, the correspondence in these files commences in the mid-1930s, more than a decade after most of the escapes occurred.

Files include correspondence between prison administrators and law enforcement agencies at the local, state, federal, and international levels regarding efforts to locate escapees; inmate identification photographs; FBI criminal history reports; tear sheets from published circulars describing wanted fugitives; and multiple copies of 8" x 8" printed "wanted" cards featuring inmates' identification photographs, fingerprints, physical description, and description of prominent scars or marks.