“The Texas Seven” is a term that describes one of the most notorious groups of prison escapees in recent United States history. Using elaborate plans, these seven inmates managed to overpower more than 15 people before they managed to escape from the John Connally Unit maximum security prison in December 2000. After spending more than a month on the loose, they were finally apprehended in one of the most high-profile police chases in U.S. history.
The Texas Seven consisted primarily of prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment. Group leader George Rivas (age 30 at the time of his escape) was serving 18 consecutive life sentences, Michael Anthony Rodriguez (age 39) and Donald Keith Newbury (age 38)-99 life sentences, Larry James Harper (age 37), Joseph Garcia (age 29), and Patrick Henry Murphy, Jr. (age 39) were serving 50 years, and Randy Halprin (age 27) was serving 30 years.
Using well thought out ruses and plans, they picked the perfect time (lunch, shift and counting time) to subdue one by one the prison guards, taking their clothes, IDs, credit cards and slowly expanding their presence throughout the prison. They made their way to the Back Gate of the prison (all dressed in prison or civilian clothing). There they managed to subdue four guards, take their weapons and the pickup truck they successfully drove out of the prison.
Near the end of their run, $500,000 was offered for their capture, which finally occurred on January 20, 2001 and was conducted with the help of the popular television program America's Most Wanted. A viewer of that show saw descriptions of the Texas Seven and concluded that they lived in a nearby RV park in Woodland Park, Colorado. The SWAT team moved to their location and captured five of them at a nearby gas station and the remaining two a few days later at a Holiday Inn in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Of the seven escaped inmates, five are currently on death row, Michael Anthony Rodriguez has already been executed, and Larry James Harper committed suicide at the time of capture.
