The Briley Brothers' Escape From Death Row Involved A Bomb Threat And Three-Week Search

The prison was supposed to be escape-proof. When the Mecklenburg Correctional Center opened in the spring of 1977, Virginia Governor Mills E. Godwin was on hand to perform the ceremonial ribbon cutting. The event was a well-attended one. Throngs of reporters, local and state government officials, and area business leaders stood by and heard Godwin give a fiery speech on the importance this new facility held in being tough on crime. The governor referred to the prison that day as "a firm and lasting and unbreakable connection between crime and punishment" (per the Richmond Times-Dispatch). Little did he know that in seven years, the institution he hedged his bets on that day would become the location of the largest death row breakout in United States history.

On May 31, 1984, the Mecklenburg prison saw six of its detainees flee the grounds in a prison van. Earl Clanton Jr., Derick Peterson, Lem Tuggle Jr., Willie Leroy Jones, and Linwood and James Briley orchestrated an elaborate plan to make their way to freedom. The breakout sent shockwaves all up and down the east coast as six vicious killers were now on the loose. It took 19 days to round them all back up and required FBI and police officers from multiple jurisdictions as the escapees split up across different regions. 

The details behind the breakout are still a fascinating study nearly 40 years later. A massive attack on guards, homemade weapons, and a fake bomb were all part of what must have been one of the most chaotic days in prison history.

Any time another guard would enter the unit, the inmates would attack them. Eventually, the officer the Brileys were waiting for made his way into the chaos. With a blade to his throat, he was made to call in a false report to other prison officials. As instructed, the lieutenant radioed in and gave some dire news to dispatch — he told them that the inmates had assembled a bomb and he needed to get it out of the prison before it detonated (per the Richmond Times-Dispatch). He ordered a guard to have an older model prison van sent to the back of the unit so that the bomb could be carried safely away.

The inmates, meanwhile, had put the next phase of their escape plan into action. They raided a closet and discovered the perfect disguises to go with their bomb ruse: riot gear. Dressed in guard uniforms that they took from their captives, the six inmates put on riot gear that concealed their facial features from anyone they might encounter. Then, they placed a television from the unit onto a stretcher and covered it with a blanket. They also snapped up a fire extinguisher to aid their deception.

When the prison van was backed into place, the six inmates emerged from the unit with the stretcher. Two of them were frantically using the fire extinguisher on the "bomb" that was underneath the blanket. They put the stretcher into the back of the van, and all six inmates climbed aboard.

Thankfully, the prisoners on the lam wouldn't stay out of custody for long. Earl Clanton Jr. and Derick Peterson were both apprehended the day after the breakout. The pair were both picked up in the town of Warrenton, not far from where the escape van had been left. Clanton was spotted and followed into a laundromat, while Peterson was cuffed after going into a convenience store (per The Washington Post). Lem Tuggle Jr. and Willie Leroy Jones almost made their way to Canada. And Tuggle might have made it had he not been careless during a store robbery at knife-point. He fled from the Woodford, Vermont shop and was caught after a short police chase. Jones was reported and arrested only 120 miles from the Canadian border.

The Briley brothers stuck together during their time on the run. Their freedom might have lasted longer if Tuggle hadn't cooperated with officials after his capture. He let authorities know that both brothers were dropped off outside of Philadelphia. The FBI knew from the Briley's prison files that they had family in Philly and began observation. After the prison guard uniforms were located in a tree, police knew they were on the right track. The big break came when a tapped line on a Briley brothers' acquaintance in New York showed a phone call from a Philadelphia garage. An officer on reconnaissance reported back that two men fitting the Briley's description were there, prompting nearly two dozen agents to swarm the location within hours. The brothers were barbequing chicken in the alley when approached and were arrested peacefully (via the Richmond Times-Dispatch).