The Man Who Broke Into Jail

In December 2019, security footage at Nashville's new Downtown Detention Center showed the same man entering the building again and again—sometimes dressed as a supervisor with a clipboard, other times as a labourer hauling buckets. Cameras caught him drilling into walls, grinding, painting. He occasionally covered cameras, but mostly let himself be recorded.

When two master keys went missing, investigators pulled thousands of hours of surveillance. The man had been coming since August. At least ten separate visits. Moving methodically through different sections of the facility.

On 4 January 2020, police arrested 50-year-old Alexander Friedmann outside the building. In his pocket was a hand-drawn schematic of the detention centre. He tried to eat it.

When investigators searched the walls, they found three loaded handguns, ammunition, handcuff keys, razor blades, and hacksaw blades—all easily accessible to inmates once the facility opened. At Friedmann's home, they found 23 more guns, body armour, grenade pouches, and a concrete bunker with grout work matching the jail.

But here's what made it disturbing: Alex Friedmann wasn't a criminal mastermind. He was one of Tennessee's most prominent prison reform advocates. He'd testified before Congress. Worked for Bernie Sanders' campaign. Spent 20 years fighting for inmates' rights—and worked closely with the very sheriff whose jail he'd just sabotaged.

Was this trauma or terrorism? The answer may never be known.

Become a Patreon or Apple + subscriber now for ealry and ad free access from as little as $1.69 a week. All the details here

Subscribe to Crime at Bedtimes Youtube channel HERE

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(273)

If It Doesn't Fit: The O.J. Simpson Case

At approximately 12 minutes past midnight on the morning of Monday the 13th of June 1994, in the leafy Los Angeles neighbourhood of Brentwood, a group of residents on South Bundy Drive were woken by t...

12 Elo 34min

The Thing on the Hill: The Mothman of Point Pleasant

Shortly after midnight on the morning of Tuesday the 15th of November 1966, in the small Ohio River town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in the county of Mason, two young married couples in a black ...

11 Elo 30min

Listen in app The Firing Squad: Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran

At approximately 12:35 in the morning on Wednesday the 29th of April 2015, in a small clearing in the jungle of a prison island called Nusa Kambangan, off the southern coast of Central Java in Indones...

9 Elo 33min

The Woman Who Took the Cartel's Mother: Yadira Guillermo García

On the morning of Tuesday the 13th of December 2016, a video began to circulate on Mexican social media that would, within 48 hours, be seen by millions of people around the world. It had been recorde...

5 Elo 29min

The Fishermen and the Craft: The Pascagoula Abduction

At approximately 11 o'clock on the evening of Thursday the 11th of October 1973, two men walked into the Jackson County Sheriff's Office in the small Gulf Coast city of Pascagoula, Mississippi, and to...

4 Elo 31min

The Elf Cleric: The Menhaz Zaman Murders

At approximately 10 o'clock on the evening of Saturday the 27th of July 2019, a 23-year-old man in the Toronto suburb of Markham, Ontario, logged in to a private chat server on the messaging app Disco...

2 Elo 31min

The Family Court Bomber: Leonard Warwick

On the morning of Wednesday the 29th of July 2015, New South Wales Police homicide detectives arrested a 68-year-old retired firefighter at his home in the south-western Sydney suburb of Campbelltown....

29 Heinä 31min

Wow!: The Signal from Sagittarius

On the evening of Monday the 15th of August 1977, in a field outside the small town of Delaware, Ohio, a radio telescope the size of three football fields was listening to the sky. There were no astro...

28 Heinä 25min