Jailbreak that we hear generally are either organized in groups or by digging tunnels or many other techniques. But a prisoner in Australia broke out by forging the master key of the jail! This happened after the convicted killer along with a fellow inmate recreated the master key from the cover image of a booklet that was handed to all the prisoners.
The prisoner, Daniel Luther Heiss was arrested for murdering a man at an Australian cattle station. He was tried, found guilty and was given a life sentence. In a biography, his girlfriend Carolyn Wilkinson wrote that Heiss memorized the shape of the key after seeing it on a prison officer’s belt at Berrimah Jail, in Darwin. But the guards say that the handbook was the real source of details for the copy. A guard spoke to the press saying that, “a dead-set copy of the keys that we had.” He also added, “The key he copied was in the shape of figure E, which was the master key.”
The inmate that helped Heiss was apparently a jewelry maker and crafted the key with his set of skills. The Security guard said, “He used to give the key to Heiss and he would put it in the lock, then give it back and say ‘I think it needs a bit more off here or there’.”
After the incident that happened in 1995, where Heiss was on the run for 12 days, the handbooks were removed and all the locks were changed immediately. The fugitives before crossing the wall crossed three sets of razor wire perimeter fences.
Well, all in all, a grand strategy that fell flat after 12 days of jailbreak!
