Briley Brothers - Escape

Escape

Linwood and J.B. Briley were the ringleaders in the six inmate escape from Virginia's death row at Mecklenburg Correctional Center on May 31, 1984. During the early moments of the escape, in which a coordinated effort resulted in inmates taking over the death row unit, both Brileys expressed strong interest in killing the officers that they had taken hostage. They went so far as to douse captive officers in lighter fluid and were prepared to toss in a lit match to complete the action.

Willie Lloyd Turner, another death row inmate, stepped in the way of James Briley and forbade him from doing so. Meanwhile, cop killer Wilbert Lee Evans prevented Linwood Briley from raping a female nurse who had been taken hostage while en route to delivering medication to inmates in the unit.

The group's initial plan was to escape into Canada. They almost succeeded, making it as far as Vermont before being captured at gunpoint by Vermont state troopers. The group was held at Marble Valley Correctional Facility in Rutland, pending their extradition back to Virginia. These events were featured on I.D. Channel in Escape from Death Row.

Splitting off from their two remaining free escapees at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Brileys went to live with their uncle in the north of the city. They were captured on June 19 by a heavily armed group of FBI agents and police. Returned to Richmond, Virginia, few sought to plead for their lives to be spared.