feature | steven russell feature | great escapee

thW
great
escapee
During his reign as
America’s most prolific
conman Steven Russell
posed as a judge, FBI agent,
and CEO and escaped from
jail an incredible five times.
Alex Hannaford visited the
jail where he’s serving a
144-year sentence

Words by Alex Hannaford

Photographs by xxxxxxx

Steven russell loved to study people. To

watch their every move, remember habits
and observe individual quirks. It came in
handy in prison, particularly one day in
December 1996 — a Friday 13th — the day
he planned to escape. Again.
Russell had bought a handful of green
Magic Marker pens from the commissary
at the Estelle Unit, an imposing maximum
security prison about 10 miles north of the
Texas town of Huntsville. He didn’t tell
anyone what he planned to do — Russell
knew that in prison the less people knew
what you were doing, the better.
He dropped a white prison-issue shirt
in the sink and emptied the magic marker
refills into the water until a cloud of green
ink swirled round the bowl. It took him

™
88 | esquire | february 2010 february 2010 | esquire | 89
feature | great escapee feature | great escapee

hours of meticulous shaking and blowing scalp and he's wearing thick black glasses. untreatable, and he’d been given only a wasn’t so sympathetic, and in December
to dry the shirt the next day, but the ruse Only when he’s inside is he allowed to put couple of years to live. 1994 he was extradited to face felony
had worked: it now looked almost identical his cuffed wrists through the slot and have Inside the Harris County Jail, serving insurance fraud and escape charges.
to the medical scrubs the visiting doctors them removed. He smiles and laughs his six-month sentence for fraud, Russell
wore. On the night of 12 December, he throughout our interview, and he’ll fog up was missing Kemple and began looking for On July 21, 1989, Phillip Morris, a 5ft 2in,
slept with it under his mattress. Over the the bulletproof Perspex that separates us on an escape route. “I started watching how slim, blonde 20-year-old from Arkansas
past few weeks, Russell, a 6ft-tall man just more than one occasion as he animatedly the guards operated,” he says. “Every wound up on the wrong side of the law for
a year shy of 40, had observed the woman relays his astonishing story. Despite this, three hours the officers would go outside the first time in his life. He was moving
guarding the entrance to the unit where there’s a palpable air of sadness about him. to take a smoking break, and when they home from Houston to Atlanta, but was
inmates ate their breakfast, the one who One or two of the newer guards seem did, I’d go off exploring.” He discovered a late in returning his rental car and was
spent her time gossiping on the phone. to like Russell. But they are all paranoid room where female inmates would give up arrested. Years later, struggling to keep up
The next morning he slipped into the about getting too close. He’s a confidence their civilian clothes before being with restitution payments he was sent to a
toilet and changed into his green shirt. trickster and they know that’s how he’s processed. “I found these red sweat pants halfway house. He fled and was re-arrested
And then he simply walked out — past the managed to escape so many times. “It and set them aside,” he says. He also stole for breaking his bail conditions. Which is
guard at the entrance, her ear as usual won’t happen on my watch,” the man a tie-dyed t-shirt and walkie talkie. how he ended up in Houston’s Harris
glued to the phone, through the main guarding him today says. Perhaps that’s On Friday 13 May 1993, Russell put his County Jail library that December in 1994.
doors, across the prison courtyard and out what they all said. plan into action. While the guards were on “Phillip was trying to reach for this
through the security gates. The armed their break he put on the red tracksuit book that was bigger than he was,” Russell
officer standing in the guard tower called Steven jay russell was born in North bottoms and t-shirt and took the lift down tells Esquire. “He’s little — he only weighs
out, “Damn doc, those look like prison Carolina in 1957. His parents, David and to the 10th floor — a secure area where about 115lbs soaking wet — so I grabbed it
whites you’re wearing.” Georgia, were devoutly religious. But when inmates were forbidden. “There were for him and we started talking.” Russell
“Well, don’t shoot,” he laughed. he was nine years old he discovered they'd guards there, but I just walked through, told Morris he was a lawyer. “I told him all
As Russell disappeared out of sight, he adopted him. He found this hard to take took the other elevator to the first floor and kinds of bullshit,” he says. “You don’t expect
turned round and stuck his middle finger and began getting into trouble at school, walked out the front door,” Russell says. “I to meet someone cool in jail; you expect to
up at the concrete building that had he also became obsessed with setting fires. had a radio to give me a sense of authority meet the derelicts. And damn, was I wrong.”
contained him for the last four months. At the age of 12 he was sent to a boys’ home and nobody asked me for identification.” Russell was paroled in October 1995,
for therapy. He discovered two things Russell had just walked out of one of after serving just nine months of a
Throughout his incredible career as a while he was there: that he had an IQ of the busiest and most secure jails in Texas. three-year sentence, and Morris followed
conman, Steven Russell would escape from 163 (well above average) and that he But his mistake was heading back to two months later. The pair moved into an
jail five times in as many years. By the time enjoyed having homosexual experiences. Kemple, and he was arrested less than a apartment together in Clear Lake, just 30
of his last recapture in 1999, he had He left the boys’ home on 13 May 1971 — a week later in the car park of Miami airport minutes drive from the Harris County Jail.
become the most prolific prison escapee in Friday. From then on, Friday 13th would be as the pair were about to fly to Mexico. Free from the shackles of the Texas
US history. But he had never used violence, his lucky day. Incredibly, the judge ordered bail of just criminal justice system, the pair devoted
eum quat am volor sequamet at. Ut in vel eum quat am volor sequamet at. Ut in vel
each time he would make his attempt on a ulputet il ullum iuscilla feugait wissi bla After graduation, he become a police $20,000, which Russell was easily able to ulputet il ullum iuscilla feugait wissi bla themselves to a life of hedonism and
Friday 13th, and, each time, his love for adit, quamcoreet velit pratis nim volor dit officer — something he later said taught pay. Together with Kemple, Russell flew to adit, quamcoreet velit pratis nim volor dit excess. With the help of a friend, Russell
one man — Phillip Morris, the blond, him all he needed for a life of crime — and Mexico City where he called the Harris was able to cash another life insurance
delicately featured son of a preacher from in 1976 he married the police chief’s County Sheriff, telling him he was now in policy he’d taken out for Jimmy Kemple.
Arkansas — would be his undoing. secretary, Debbie Davis. Their daughter, the Dominican Republic. “I hope you don’t “We bought each other Mercedes Benzes,”
In February, I Love You Phillip Morris, Stephanie, was born two years later. But blame my escape on those guards who Russell says. “It was ostentatious; it was
the story of his incredible life, hits UK Russell eluded capture this law-abiding family man was about to were out there taking a smoke break,” he His food and mail are outrageous. We were out of control. But
cinemas. A clip of its stars, Jim Carrey (as
the effervescent Russell) and Ewan
by using 14 aliases, embrace the lifestyle he had so far kept
hidden from his family. In 1985, nine years
said. “You could fix the problem if you
allowed smoking back in the jail.”
pushed through a slot we were on parole and we were free, so we
had a good time.”
McGregor (as Morris) kissing is already all faking Aids and forging after they had wed, Russell told Davis he “Fuck you,” came the reply. in the cell door. He After faking his CV, Russell had walked
over YouTube.
Russell’s story is almost unbelievable.
his own death certificate was gay and the couple agreed to separate.
Forseeing a decline in funds, he faked a
Concerned about the lack of decent
health care for Kemple, they decided to
leaves only to shower into a job as the chief financial officer for
North American Medical Management
He eluded capture by operating under 14 “slip and fall” accident, claiming $45,000 move back to the US, but were caught and (NAMM), a company overseeing patient
different aliases, faking Aids, forging his on the insurance; he also made thousands charged with fraud after another care. NAMM’s founder Don Holmquist has
own death certificate and using anything of dollars selling fake Rolex watches, but insurance scam went wrong. described his employee as a “likeable guy,
he could lay his hands on: a magic marker, sentence. His food and mail are pushed it was his decision to apply for a drivers’ “The last time I saw Jimmy, he was in a The reality was that Russell was still in engaging and easier to work with than
a pay phone, a walkie-talkie, even a pair of through a large letterbox style slot in the licence and passport in the name of holding cell in front of me,” Russell says. prison and needed to get out. With the help most chief financial officers. The guy is the
women’s stretch pants. Twice he walked cell door, and the only time he leaves is to another Steven Russell — to help with his “They let him go home and they kept me for of a fellow inmate, a doctor, he began world’s best actor. He said all the right
out of prison and into jobs where he take his daily shower. According to the criminal activities — that would lead to his that six-month sentence. We spoke every learning about Aids. The doctor wrote a things”. But what Russell was saying and
became the CEO of the company; he guards he never bothers with recreation. arrest and indictment by a grand jury for day after that, but he was getting weaker. letter on smuggled medical stationery what he was doing were two very different
pretended to be a judge to reduce his bail At the prison gate there is little love for fraud. Amazingly, Russell was released on He went back to West Palm Beach and saying Russell would succumb to the final things. He began investing millions of
and arrange his own early release from the man who made an ass of the US penal bail. died with his dog lying in bed beside him.” stages of the illness within a few months. dollars in short-term accounts, siphoning
jail, and impersonated an FBI agent to system. “You here to see that guy that did The following year, he met James “I really liked Steven at first, but he Using a prison typewriter, Russell altered off 50 per cent of the revenue and
report himself no longer wanted. that shit?” the guard asks contemptuously “Jimmy” Kemple and it wasn’t long before conned Jimmy,” Kemple’s mother Helen his lab reports to support this. Inexplicably pocketing $800,000 in the process.
Today, he’s locked up in a 10ft by 7ft before waving my car through. Inside the the pair moved into an apartment together says during a brief phone conversation the authorities never tested him. To this day Morris insists he had no
concrete cell in a maximum security jail, Russell is handcuffed as he’s let into in Palm Beach. They loved going to the with Esquire. “He lied like a rug. He told Due largely to his “declining health”, idea Russell was embezzling money. He
segregation ward of the Michael Unit, a grey the tiny interview cell. He looks older, cinema, eating out at expensive restaurants one lie after another, and he deserves to be the federal authorities dropped the charges knew his partner had a fantastic job; they
prison building a couple of hours southeast more overweight than in the few pictures and going to concerts. But Kemple had where he is 100 per cent because he’ll do it against him. Russell had once again fooled had just bought a house with a pool, and
credit

credit

of Dallas where he’s serving a 144-year that exist of him. His hair is shaved to the Aids, which in the early Nineties was often all again. He should be in prison forever.” the system. However, the state of Texas the lifestyle of fast cars, jet skis and fancy

90 | esquire | february 2010 february 2010 | esquire | 91

feature | great escapee feature | great escapee

restaurants seemed to fit. “Hindsight is reduced from $900,000 to $45,000. And find him guilty. In addition to his 45-year
20/20,” he says. “I was like the housewife; at 8pm on 13 July 1996, a Friday, naturally, sentence for the NAMM embezzlement,
I had no mind for finance. Steve would call the bail bondsman came to the county jail Steven Russell was given a life sentence for
me up in the middle of the afternoon and and he was a free man again. Back in escape. A total of 144 years.
say, ‘Honey, get dressed and meet me at the Clearlake, he climbed over the wall of his
Moose Cafe at six o’clock; we’re going to house, ran round the back and started After being released early on parole,
celebrate — I made $90,000 today.’ I didn’t banging on the French doors. Morris had Morris now lives alone in Arkansas. He
think, ‘What illegal activity did you do?’ been asleep and their two daschunds were likes to go fishing for catfish and bass, and
We were great together and I enjoyed him. barking as he pulled back the curtains. “I he loves to travel. He also owns a lake house
I’d been lonely and miserable for so long. could see his eyes,” Russell says. But he a few hours away: it’s eight miles from the
I didn’t know how they implicated me in knew he couldn’t stay in Clearlake long nearest store and is a place where he can
the theft until I went to jail. Steve had — just long enough for a swim in the pool. disappear off the map. He still has days
been writing cheques in six variations of “Steve was getting ready to go to when he’s angry about what happened.
my name.” Florida,” Morris says. “But he told me there “It’s hard to describe my feelings because
As Russell was being arrested he told was a warrant out for my arrest too, which they change daily,” he says. “But it eats me
detectives he was diabetic and urgently I later discovered was a lie. But being the up sometimes. I wake up in the middle of
needed his insulin (actually prescribed for gullible fool that I am, I got scared and we the night, sweating, thinking I’m still in
Morris). Russell gave himself 40 injections ran. Big mistake.” Russell’s face was all prison. And when I think of those things it
on the journey to the station in what he over the papers, and it wasn’t long before makes me mad at Steve.”
now says was a failed suicide bid. (Morris, he was arrested in Florida again and flown He has never visited Russell in prison
however, says, “It’s easier for him to plan an back to Houston. This time there were 20 — he says he has no desire to set foot in one
escape when he’s not in law enforcement police offers waiting to meet him off the ever again. “But I’ve forgiven him and he’s
swingers: jim carrey and ewan macgregor
custody. It’s much easier from a hospital. recreate 80's highlife in I Love you phillip plane. In court, he pleaded guilty to paying for it now.” I ask whether, if Russell
He’s always thinking ahead. That’s why he morris, the film version of russell's life escape. The judge called his behaviour ever got out, he would see him again.
did that.”) Russell went into shock in the “reprehensible” and sentenced him to “I don’t anticipate him coming out anytime
booking room. At their arraignment, 45 years at the Estelle Unit. soon.” Morris says. “There are various
Morris was freed on bail of $40,000, but “see you on the outside” reasons why I’d love to sit down face-to-
unsurprisingly, considering his penchant 3 other daring jailbreaks On friday 13 december, after he’d donned face with him again — I’d like him to tell me
for slipping through the net, Russell’s was his spare prison-issue uniform and dyed it he’s truly sorry and mean it. But we’d never
set at $900,000 — a figure even he couldn’t Alfred Hines — While serving a green, Russell headed home — still in his be together again. I could never trust him.”
hope to meet. So he reduced it. 12-year sentence for robbery, “Houdini “doctor’s scrubs”. “Phillip was coming out Just before filming started on the
“When a lawyer makes a bond order, Hinds” broke out of three high-security of the back door of our house when I got movie, Ewan McGregor visited Morris for
he types it up himself and just gets the prisons. Caught after six months on the there,” he recalls. “I said, ‘Boo!’ He a few days in Arkansas, and Morris gave
judge to sign it,” Russell explains, lowering run, he launched a lawsuit charging screamed, ‘Asshole!’ and we hugged each him the restaurant tour of his town. “He
his voice a little as a guard hovers close by. prison authorities with illegal arrest. other. Now they were both wanted men really wanted to hear my side of the story.
“So I called a friend of mine in Florida, told He smuggled a padlock into court and — Morris for jumping bail and Russell for He’s a great guy,” he says. “We email now.
him how to type it, and he mailed it to me. while in the toilet bundled two guards escape and fraud. In addition, Russell’s He’s said we’ll go to the premiere together
Now I just had to get the record changed into a cubicle and snapped the lock photo had made it on to the front of the and wear matching tuxes.”
in the court’s computer system.” over some hooks an accomplice had Houston Chronicle. They fled to Biloxi, As the prison guard returns and
He had another hearing on 12 July, and earlier screwed to the door. Mississippi, and it was there, in the Grand motions to me to wind the interview up,
for the short walk to the courthouse he Casino hotel, that Morris’s frustration Above a sedentary existence of 23 hours in solitary confinement mixed with his refusal to Russell becomes insistent that his
knew he’d be shackled to other prisoners. Pascal Payet — The convicted killer finally came to a head. He swung a table partake in any recreation activities, has left russell pale and puffy. below caption to come jail-breaking days are over. He’s been in
He hid his typed letter under his jumpsuit escaped not once, but twice from high- across the room and attempted to push prison now for 10 years. And 17 Friday the
and hoped he’d find a way to get it in the security prisons in France, each time Russell out the window. “It was glass from Steve’s medical records where I could see 13ths have slipped by without so much as a
right hands. On the way, he noticed a woman using a highjacked helicopter. Once floor to ceiling and the window bowed. If them showing he was HIV positive. Of Magic Marker going missing. “I’m getting
carrying a huge bundle of paperwork, and outside, he managed to spring three of that thing had given way I’d be sitting on course, I knew he wasn’t but by this point old,” he says. “I’m 52 now. When you lose
as she passed the shackled inmates, his friends, again by helicopter. The death row,” he says. my mind wasn’t even on my trial, it was on He invested millions of the anger and the bitterness it makes a big
Russell dropped the letter on the floor.
“Sure enough somebody grabbed it and
men flew to the Mediterranean coast
where they released the pilot and fled.
Just a few years before, Morris had
been a law-abiding citizen with no
what was going on with him. And of
course he was laying down the
dollars in short term difference in your life. They say I’m still a
flight risk, but I’m not. If you’d asked me 10
handed it to the deputy who put it in the convictions, a hassle-free life, a good groundwork for his next escape.” accounts and pocketed years ago, I’d have said yes, in a heartbeat.
file folder in the court room,” Russell says.
“That night I called my friend in Florida
The Texas Seven — Each of the
seven escaped by subduing a prison
relationship with his family and hardly a
care in the world. Now he was implicated
Morris was convicted of helping
Russell steal $800,000 and sentenced to
a huge $800,000 I’ve been told I’ll have to serve about 25
years flat jail time. So I’d say I’d get parole
again and asked him to make a three-way worker during lunch and stealing their in the theft of almost a million dollars and, 20 years in prison. Russell, meanwhile, by the time I’m 65. I’ve never lost hope.”
call. I got through to the night clerk at the clothing and IDs. They eventually broke though he didn’t know it, was about to be was sent back to the Estelle Unit, but only Locked in his cell 23 hours a day,
magistrates’ court and told her I was a out in the back of a maintenance truck. arrested. After a call on a tapped phone temporarily. By October 1997, he was down Russell also studies the share prices listed
judge and that I’d had a bond hearing for They were picked up within a month of line, he and Morris were picked up a to 153 pounds, and by his own admission, Board of Pardons because he was “dying”. in the daily newspaper. I ask whether he’d
Steven Russell that day. I said I had filed their faces appearing on America’s quarter of a mile from their hotel. Morris “looked like hell”. He was soon transferred He was eventually freed on 13 March 1998 play the markets if he ever got out.
the hard copy, but that the clerk in the Most Wanted. One has since been wouldn’t see Russell again for seven to a prison nursing home near Beaumont, (a Friday) — Phillip Morris’s 39th birthday. “Absolutely. I play them now in my head,”
courtroom hadn’t entered it into the executed, another committed suicide months, and when his case finally came to Texas and five months later was sent to the And he almost got away with it. Until an he says. How much do you think you’d
computer, so my client was having trouble and the other five are currently on trial he barely recognised him. “I gasped Restful Acres Care Home just south of San eagle-eyed detective spotted him a year have made in the last 12 years if you were
getting out on bond.” death row. because he’d lost so much weight,” he Antonio: Russell had succeeded in getting a later. Russell was arrested and in August on the outside? “Oh God,” he says. “Way
credit

credit

Within hours Russell’s bail was recalls. “The District Attorney placed “special needs” parole from the Texas State 2000, a Texas jury took just 30 minutes to more than any money I ever stole.”

92 | esquire | february 2010 february 2010 | esquire | 93