The robbery suspect who made a dramatic escape from the back of a cop car has been caught. According to the Times, Janine Power, 28, of Brooklyn, was recaptured Saturday afternoon at a gas station on Coney Island Avenue and Avenue P with alleged accomplice Anthony D'Angelo, 41, of Staten Island. She wasn't wearing her handcuffs anymore: “How can you escape wearing cuffs? Once they put you inside the car, how can you get out?” asked Abdul Rehman, the weekend attendant at the gas station where the suspects were caught. “She must be a genie or something.” more ›

The NYPD are searching for an escaped prisoner who jumped out of the back of a police car. Janine Power, 28, of Brooklyn, had been arrested on Thursday afternoon after allegedly robbing a cab driver of $30 and his cell phone. She had been processed, and was being transported to Brooklyn central booking when she jumped out of the moving vehicle. more ›

In 2003, 20-year-old Rodney Williams was doing time at Sing Sing for car theft. But just three weeks before getting out, he died after someone poisoned his coffee with Magic Shave hair powder. He had reportedly told guards that a fellow inmate put something in his drink, but Judge Terry Jane Ruderman said they were slow to get him help: "Had Williams received medical care in the morning hours of October 9, 2003, he would have had a significant chance of survival." more ›

A whiny doctor doing time at Rikers after being accused of sexually abusing his patients while they were under anesthesia was reportedly placed in solitary confinement for 40 days after "disrespecting" prison staff and committing some sort of "sex offense." And apparently, that punishment really sucks! Prisoner Mikhail Sorodsky is asking a judge to order corrections officers to never throw him in solitary confinement again, because he "cannot physically endure any additional time in solitary confinement." Unsurprisingly, they didn't care. more ›

The escaped prisoner who managed to flee from the NYPD yesterday was in a courtroom in Connecticut earlier today wearing an "Ed Hardy hoodie with a patch-eyed lady pirate on the back." He paired this up with some sneaks, loose-fitting Nike sweatpants, and ankle shackles to create the perfect Fugitive Casual look (pitch: with each Ed Hardy tee you get a mandatory gift of ankle shackles!). Anyway, this outfit is amazing, and now José Rodriguez will be brought back to New York in it to face charges. The judge in CT set bond at $100,000, which, incidentally, could get someone a lot of Ed Hardy t-shirts. [via the NY Post] more ›

The man who managed to escape from NYC's Finest yesterday has now been captured. PHEW. The NY Post reports that José Rodriguez stole an NYPD cruiser and drove it five miles only using his knees, as he was in handcuffs and leg irons. Throughout yesterday afternoon word was coming in that the escaped prisoner had been spotted on the George Washington Bridge, then in New Jersey, then on a bus to New York City... but he was finally found (around 3 a.m.) in Uncasville, Connecticut, where he was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshal's Service... again. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Not to be all scaremongery, but we've been following a story on the newswire that just started to resemble the plotline of Speed. Here's the recap so far (we'll update as we get more information): more ›

After being sentenced to life in prison in 1995, NYC native Lori Berenson has been freed in Peru. Her conditional parole (she must remain in the country for another five years) comes at the end of a long political and legal struggle, which transformed Berenson into a high profile left-wing symbol on par with Mumia Abu-Jamal. Berenson was arrested on a bus in Peru 15 years ago and convicted of collaborating with the Marxist rebel group MRTA in a foiled terrorist plot to take the Peruvian Congress hostage. Yesterday a judge in Lima ruled that she had "completed re-education, rehabilitation and re-socialization." more ›

A Corrections Department spokesman says that during Saturday's Rikers Island uprising prison guards applied "defense holds and used defense spray" to get brawling inmates back in line. Thirteen corrections officers and three inmates were inured in the conflict that began around 11 p.m., jailhouse bedtime. "A few inmates were encouraging others not to lock in," the spokesman Stephen Morello told the Post. Apparently they were also angered that earlier in the day, their cells had been searched. more ›

A Staten Island robbery suspect walked out of a courtroom a free man after he impersonated a detainee facing lesser charges. Freddie Thompson—who was supposed to be arraigned for five robberies—pretended to be a suspect held on marijuana possession charges and was sentenced to time served. Authorities apparently didn't realize the gaffe until 90 minutes later, when the other prisoner asked officials why his name hadn't been called. more ›

A man suspected of beating his girlfriend and assaulting a police officer escaped from a Bronx court yesterday when he pretended to be another prisoner facing lesser charges. Michael Bautista, 22, was mistakenly released after assuming the identity of man accused of driving with a suspended license and was allowed to walk out of the 44th Precinct on East 161st Street after his arraignment at around 10 am. more ›

Guess he wanted to catch up on the Forum Letters! A Florida prisoner filed a handwritten lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against Penthouse magazine for not fulfilling his subscription request. more ›

When career criminal and escape artist Ronald Tackman was able to walk out of a Manhattan courthouse Wednesday simply because he was wearing a nice suit, there must have been some part of him that wondered, "That's it?" For when Tackman was eventually picked up Washington Heights, police discovered on him an arsenal that rivaled a Carrot Top starter kit: a fake passport, wigs, phony beards, and four gun-shaped cigarette lighters. Does he do accents as well? more ›

Ronald Tackman, the prisoner who escaped from a Criminal Court holding cell yesterday and managed to blend in with the court crowds, thanks to his business suit, is still at large. He did manage to head to his mother's Upper East Side home; she told NY1, "He came home and he was all dressed up and I figured that he was discharged from prison. So I didn't say anything and he asked me to change his clothes and that was it." His new attire: Jeans and a black jacket. more ›

On the police scanners (now on Gothamist Newsmap), there have been multiple reports of an "escaped prisoner" from 100 Centre Street in lower Manhattan, which is the Criminal Court Building. Now it turns out that the prisoner escaped because he was dressed so well that he looked like a lawyer! more ›

The state District Attorneys Association, having failed to convince Albany that reforming the Rockefeller Drug Laws was a bad idea, is employing a novel tactic in their attempt to keep upstate prisons stocked with convicts: Let the real experts on incarceration speak! They've released an audio recording (below) of a prison inmate with "a 27 page long rap sheet" talking about the reforms on the phone. The DAs think the recording will prove that offering drug treatment instead of prison will be exploited by criminals like this unidentified man, who derides the new reforms as the "Drug Dealers Protection Law... They just gave me the free for all. You know what that means? I'm burning the streets when I go home." more ›