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Chapter 11 Prison, Jailbreaks, and Escapees in Two Popular TV Series: The Prisoner and Prison Break

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Prison Breaks

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology ((PSIPP))

Abstract

Although prison-escape movies can be considered a prominent subgenre of prison movies, prison-escape TV series are rare. Yet, in the space of four decades, two TV series, The Prisoner (1967–1968) and Prison Break (2005–2009), that both elaborate on a (failed) escape artist, have met with popular success. Having situated The Prisoner and Prison Break, among the popular escape prison film production, this chapter captures the conflicting representations of prison escape in the two TV series through the exploration of three questions: What does escape expose about the outside/inside and guards/guarded frontiers? How are escape and revolt intertwined? How do the two TV series shape an iconic figure of the escapee?

I am grateful to the editors for their encouraging remarks and suggestions. I also thank Jorge Antonio Renaud for his reviewing of an earlier version of this chapter.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a discussion on the “prison movies genre ” and its periodization, see Wilson and O’Sullivan 2004, pp. 60–87.

  2. 2.

    Among the more noticeable: White and Ali 1988; Carrazé and Oswald 1990; Davies 2002; Ducher and Philibert 2003; Sérisier 2013.

  3. 3.

    The Six of One (URL: http://www.sixofone.org.uk), established in 1977, is the most famous one, but there are numerous others, like Le Rôdeur in France (URL: http://www.leprisonnier.net).

  4. 4.

    It has also raised academic attention; see Knaggs 2011; Kelly 2012.

  5. 5.

    Season 2, which is mostly about the manhunt for Michael and his loved ones, is excluded. In addition, since the sequel fifth season was released at the time of editing this chapter, it was unfortunately not incorporated in the analysis.

  6. 6.

    When Prison Break was released, there was a moratorium on executions in Illinois from 2000 that makes the execution of Lincoln rather unlikely.

  7. 7.

    On November 24, 1974, a man who pretended to be “Dan Cooper” hijacked a plane, extorted a huge amount of money, and then parachuted out of the plane. He has never been positively identified.

  8. 8.

    For example, Fortress 1 (Gordon, 1993) and Fortress 2: Re-Entry (Gordon, 2000).

  9. 9.

    For example, Escape from New York (Carpenter, 1981) and its sequels.

  10. 10.

    For example, the Cube series (Cube, Natali, 1997; Cube 2: Hypercube; Sekula, 2002, Cube Zero, Barbarash, 2004), The Island (Bay, 2005), and The Maze Runner (Ball, 2014).

  11. 11.

    They may show various places of custody , such as a boat (The Poseidon Adventure, Neame, 1972), a country (Night Crossing, Mann, 1982), or a farm, like Chicken Run (Park, Lord, 2000), which is loosely based on The Great Escape (Sturges, 1963).

  12. 12.

    Due to the debatable order of the episodes, I refer to their full title.

  13. 13.

    For example, Lincoln facing execution, the numerous times that the heroes are given the choice to sacrifice one loved one to save another one…

  14. 14.

    For example, Orange Is the New Black and Bad Girls both include escape as plot twists.

  15. 15.

    For example, Women in Cages (de Leon, 1971) or The Big Bird Cage (Hill, 1972).

  16. 16.

    For example, Cathy in episode 14 (“Living in Harmony”).

  17. 17.

    The first two episodes (“Arrival” and “The Chimes of Big Ben”) stage female traitors: The woman (Virginia Maskell) and Nadia (Nadia Gray).

  18. 18.

    Interestingly, it shows a helicopter escape before the first one was operated on August 19, 1971 from Santa Martha Acatitla prison, Mexico .

  19. 19.

    Like Franz von Werra (Hardy Krüger) in The One That Got Away (Baker, 1957), Michael (Season 1, episode “By the Skin and the Teeth”) is not returned to his cell when an inspection happens.

  20. 20.

    This singularity can even be illustrated by Michael’s beauty that makes him stand out from the rest of the prisoners.

  21. 21.

    See Chauvenet (2006).

  22. 22.

    It can also be considered in the roles played by McGoohan (Number Six) throughout his filmography. He plays, just a few years later, the role of a prison director in an iconic prison escape film, Escape from Alcatraz (Siegel, 1979), that also stages a similar subtle fight between a prisoner and the prison administration. It may also be noted that, in The Quare Fellow (Dreifuss, 1962), Patrick McGoohan plays Crimmins, a guard who is romantically involved with a prisoner’s wife and will “cross borders”.

  23. 23.

    Prisoners disguising their identity (either with guards’ uniforms or civilian clothes) is common in prison escape movies. As an example, Midnight Express (Parker, 1978).

  24. 24.

    For example, Frank Leone (Sylvester Stallone) in Lock Up (Flynn, 1989).

  25. 25.

    For example, Brute Force (Dassin, 1947). Unbearable life conditions are typical for escape from foreign prisons; see Midnight Express (Parker, 1978). About I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (Leroy, 1933), see Rodimtseva 2010, p. 136.

  26. 26.

    For example, You Only Live Once (Lang, 1937).

  27. 27.

    The dying relative is a banal trope that is found in Lock Up (Flynn, 1989), for example.

  28. 28.

    Because prisoner of war films aimed to show heroic nationals and because officers held prisoner were requested to try to escape, most prisoner of war movies are also escape movies—like The Great Escape (Sturges, 1963)—or stage escape, like The Bridge on the River Kwai (Lean, 1957).

  29. 29.

    Apart from prison escapees in movies outside of the prison movie genre . See Bennett, Chap. 10, in this volume.

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  1. Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice, California State University, Chico, CA, USA

    Gwenola Ricordeau

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  1. DIGNITY—Danish institute Against Torture, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark

    Tomas Max Martin

  2. Centre Lillois d’Etudes et de Recherches Sociologiques et Economiques, CNRS / Université de Lille, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France

    Gilles Chantraine

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Ricordeau, G. (2018). Chapter 11 Prison, Jailbreaks, and Escapees in Two Popular TV Series: The Prisoner and Prison Break . In: Martin, T., Chantraine, G. (eds) Prison Breaks. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64358-8_12

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