Reply #11: I Went To College Near There...

[KharmaTrain]

This was before Menard was a Supermax, but still one of the most isolated prisons in the country. One evening, a group of us were at a nearby state park. Out of nowhere we saw a dozen heavily armed men come up to us...Federal Marshalls carrying some high-powered gear and told us we had to leave. We were at least 10 miles from the prison (surrounded by nothing but forest and swamps) and someone had made a break. The next day we read in the local paper that a murderer had snuck out but didn't make it more than a mile before he was recaptured...spending a very cold and wet night with the snakes and bugs.

They rebuilt Menard since then...it's where Manuel Noriega now calls home and John Ghotti did as well. I recall a local once saying that if the guards didn't get 'em and the animals or the posse didn't, the local farmers were more than capable of defending themselves.