DUMB CRIMINAL QUIZ NO. 53

How well do you know the dumb criminal mind?

A man was sentenced to ninety days in jail for disorderly conduct, a fairly minor offense that carried a fairly minor sentence. While he was in jail did he . . .

(a) take a matchbook correspondence course in VCR repair?

(b) whittle a replica of the White House to scale out of soap?

(c) invent a straw that you could eat chili with?

(d) plot and execute a difficult escape?

Answers (a), (b), or (c) could all be rationalized as a good use of his time, but a criminal in Rhode Island chose (d). For eighty-eight laborious days he toiled over his plans, and then he finally accomplished his feat. On the next-to-last day of his ninety-day sentence, he made good his escape—for about five minutes. He was then re-arrested and sentenced to eighteen months.