Archives for November 2008

Turn On, Tune In, Jump Over the Fence

The details of Dr. Timothy Leary’s 1970 prison break are really quite remarkable. A Hollywood screenwriter couldn’t make this kind of thing up:

On 21 January 1970, Leary received a ten-year sentence for his 1968 offense, with a further ten added later while in custody, for a previous arrest in 1965, twenty years in total to be served consecutively for less than a half ounce of marijuana. When Leary arrived in prison, he was given psychological tests that were used to assign inmates to appropriate work details. Having designed many of the tests himself (including the “Leary Interpersonal Behavior Test”), Leary answered them in such a way that he seemed to be a very conforming, conventional person with a great interest in forestry and gardening. As a result, Leary was assigned to work as a gardener in a lower security prison, and in September 1970 he escaped. Leary claimed his non-violent escape was a humorous prank, and left a challenging note for the authorities to find after he was gone.

Posted by PJ on Nov 15, 2008 | Comment | | Tags: , ,

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