Written by: Manaswi Sapkota - 26004, Grade VIII
Posted on: 07 February, 2022
Escaping from prisons isn’t something easy to do. It also isn’t something you can do unless you have a thorough plan. Even with a thorough and prepared plan there’s no guarantee you’d be able to escape and not get caught.
Yoshie Shiratori, an Aomori resident, was falsely accused of robbery and murder and put in Aomori Prison. In Aomori Prison he was mistreated and beaten with no mercy whatsoever. He decided to escape from this prison after all the abuse. Shiratori studied the guards' routine for a long time. The guards’ let him out of their sight for fifteen minutes everyday to take a break. Having studied the guards’ for so long Shiratori finally decided to put his plan into action. Shiratori had taken the metal wire that was wrapped around the bucket he was provided for bathing. By bending the wire he picked his cell’s wall and escaped through the skylight. The guards’ didn’t realize that Shiratori was gone until the next morning. Why? Well, Shiratori had placed the floorboards onto his futon which made it seem like Shiratori was asleep to the guards’. This was his first prison escape.
Shiratori was caught 3 days later trying to steal supplies from a hospital. After being recaptured he was transferred to Akita Prison in 1942. The guards here treated him so much worse than the guards at Aomori Prison. In this prison he was kept in a cell where the ceilings were so high and the walls were way too smooth to climb. Regardless of the wall being smooth and impossible for a normal person to climb, Shiratori managed to do it. Every night after the guards left he would climb the walls and loosen the wood that was holding the bars of the skylight window. Shiratori waited until a stormy night to escape as he knew the guards would hear his footsteps on the rooftop otherwise. This was his second prison break. Three months after escaping, Shiratori went to Guard Kobayashi’s house to ask for help against injustice in the Japanese prison system, as he was one of the only people who had shown kindness and respect to Shiratori in Akita prison. However, while Shiratori was in the bathroom, the guard called the police, and Shiratori was arrested and sent back to prison.
During the winter of 1943, Shiratori was transferred to Abashiri Prison in the northern part of Japan. He was kept in a cold cell where he couldn’t move at all due to the cold. The guards would beat him down whenever he stood up. Angry, Shiratori told the guards he would escape this prison again and broke his handcuffs in front of them. After that Shiratori was placed in a special cell where the skylight was so small his body wouldn't fit through and the food slot was also made smaller than his body. Not just that, Shiratori's handcuffs were also replaced with metal rods and he now had additional leg cuffs. These cuffs would take two hours to open by two special metalists. The cuffs were only removed when he took a bath causing Shiratori’s hands to be infested by maggots. Even though the guards thought Shiratori wouldn't be able to break free, they were surprised when Shiratori disappeared from his cell suddenly. How did Shiratori escape though? Every night when food was delivered to him, Shiratori would put aside some miso soup and drip it on his cuffs and the food slot. The saltiness of the miso soup caused the metals and the screws on his cuffs and food slot to rust and come out. After all of the screws came undone, Shiratori , who had the ability to dislocate his joints, escaped by dislocating his shoulders and going through the food slot. He lived in an abandoned mine for the next two years. However, he was captured yet again after stabbing a farmer who attacked him after he was caught stealing a tomato from his farm. Shiratori claimed it to be self-defense. After his escape from Abashiri Prison he became the first person to escape prison 3 times and above all the first person to escape Abashiri prison.
Shiratori was now sentenced to death for the farmer’s murder. He was put in Sapporo Prison. He was put in a cell where his head wouldn’t be able to fit through any of the openings like the skylight and the food slot. The guards here were so confident that they didn't even bother to handcuff Shiratori. But because they paid so close attention to the ceiling they neglected the floor. Shiratori escaped the prison once again by digging his way out through the floor using miso bowls. The guards were surprised when they saw floorboards in his futon the next morning.
After a year of freedom, Shiratori, who was in his 40s, was sitting on a bench exhausted when a police officer who didn't recognize him offered Shiratori a cigarette. Cigarettes were quite a luxury item in Japan at the time. Moved by the kindness of the officer, Shiratori confessed who he was. His case was reviewed by the court and the death of the farmer was declared as self-defense. Shiratori’s death sentence was reduced to 20 years in prison. After leaving the prison he reunited with his daughter.
This was the story of an innocent person who escaped prison 4 times, Yoishe Shoratori.
Source: https://youtu.be/oI8trlbCbU8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshie_Shiratori
