In For Life? Not Him

Read Richard Serrano's story: Richard Lee McNair's job in the prison factory was mending U.S. mailbags. Thousands of the leather pouches were routinely delivered to the shop at the federal maximum-security penitentiary here, and the middle-aged convict worked quietly each day, helping to stitch them back up.

Once the bags were refurbished, they were stacked on pallets, hundreds in a pile. McNair watched for four months as forklifts scooped up the pallets and hauled them to a warehouse just outside the prison walls.

One morning they carried off McNair — hidden under the bags.

And he was free again.