A
cogent, real-life demonstration of the perils of the “prisoner’s dilemma,” and
the pure buffoonery of a couple of private prison guards, played out in
Oklahoma the other day. ABC News reports
that eight prisoners were being transported and had stopped at a hospital. The guards
left the van running (to keep the guards air conditioned) and left the keys in the
ignition, with no guard left behind. Two
prisoners jacked the van and drove off.
They got a mile down the road and took off on foot.
 |
| Other prisoners on the lam |
There,
they faced a dilemma. If they went, they
had to trust the other prisoners not to turn them in. If the other prisoners did turn them in, they
might get lighter sentences. Or, they
might run themselves. This being such an odd situation – brought on by such
buffoonery by the guards leaving eight unsupervised prisoners (albeit shackled)
in a running van, there wasn’t likely much time to poll the other guys who
weren’t in on the jump.
Joshua
Silverman looked at what faced him, found a cell phone – probably left behind
by the buffoon guard, and called 911. He
was afraid that he’d get shot by police responding to a report of escapees. He
was right to be scared. Police tracked
down the two guys who had escaped.
The
irony here is that Silverman was up on serious charges: bail jumping, drug
manufacturing and disorderly conduct. The
guys who ran were in for relatively light stuff: assault (maybe not that light)
and nonpayment of child support. The
child support dodger can now expect lots more time on his sentence. The guards
can expect to find other jobs with less personal responsibility and
decision-making.
(Photo credit: "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou," Cohen Brothers)
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