Plot Synopsis

Hosted by Morgan Freeman, GREAT ESCAPES WITH MORGAN FREEMAN is an eight-episode documentary series that chronicles history's greatest escapes from some of the most notorious prisons in the world. Famous jailbreaks are the stuff of legend as their true stories are often untold. Now, with dramatic recreations, dynamic storytelling and cutting-edge visual effects, escapes from infamous prisons like Alcatraz will come to life in graphic detail. Hosted by Freeman, each episode will unearth every step of an inmate's meticulous plan, the escape route and the intense manhunt that immediately followed. Episodes feature escapes from prisons ranging from Alcatraz, Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY, the HM Maze Prison in Northern Ireland, to the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in Tennessee and more. Episodes include:

"Alcatraz" (Tuesday, November 9, 2021 at 10pm): Four men conspire to break out of one of the most notorious prisons in American history. Three make it to the water's edge... but what happened to them when they left the island remains a mystery to this day.

"North Country Breakout" (Tuesday, November 16, 2021 at 10pm): Stuck in prison on life sentences, two men used engineering smarts and psychological manipulation of several prison employees to escape Dannemora Prison.

"El Chapo" (Tuesday, November 23, 2021 at 10pm): El Chapo became one of the most notorious and murderous drug cartel kingpins in modern history. His audacious escapes from maximum-security prisons in Mexico became the stuff of legends. He is now in a US supermax prison in Colorado where he is remanded to this day.

"Conquering the Wall" (Tuesday, November 30, 2021 at 10pm): Six men, led by the mastermind, Nuno Pontes, escaped Pittsburgh State Penitentiary by tunneling to freedom under the massive wall of the prison. They made it as far as Texas before being caught and returned to prison.

"Escaping Hitler" (Tuesday, December 7, 2021 at 10pm): Allied prisoners used all kinds of forgery and engineering tactics to tunnel out of a German Prisoner of War camp. Almost all were caught, fifty were executed and three made their way to freedom.

"Belfast Breakout" (Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 10pm): Almost forty prisoners locked up in HM Maze prison for actions undertaken as members of the IRA, escaped in a food truck. Many were caught right away, some years later, and some were never seen again.

"Fleeing Hellmira" (Tuesday, December 21, 2021 at 10pm): Two desperate murderers made an audacious rooftop escape from the forty foot high Elmira State Prison.

"Assassin's Flight" (Tuesday, December 28, 2021 at 10pm): James Earl Ray, confessed killer of RFK, was a notorious escape artist. His most audacious escape involved manufacturing a ladder made of plumbing pipe and going over the wall of the Brushy Mountain State Prison.