Somebody landed a drone Tuesday inside the prison walls of the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center, in Jackson. State prison officials say it was a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Heli Ball". According to the Free Press, the "Heli Ball" was too small to carry anything, even a camera, and it is a toy, but the incident has prison officials concerned about what might happen in the future. Already, there HAVE been four incidents, in this country, in the past two years, where drones have been stopped before they could deliver cell-phones or drugs into prisons.

But, what good does a cell-phone really do for you in prison? Do you miss playing Candy Crush Saga THAT much?

My thought is, as drones get bigger and more sophisticated, somebody will try to use one to break out of prison. They've done it before. In MICHIGAN! And it was at the Southern Michigan Prison. In 1975, Dale Remling actually made it out in a helicopter - but then the plan went south and he got caught a day and a half later in Leslie.

In 1978, Barbara Oswald tried to break her boyfriend (and his buddies) out of the maximum security prison in Marion, Illinois. (Where Dale Remling had just been sent...hmmm) Her plan was to hijack a charter helicopter, piloted by a guy named Allen Barklage, and then land it in the prison yard. It didn't work out so well. Here's the story of what happened.

By the way, after this happened, I worked with Allen (he flew the traffic helicopter for the radio station I worked for in St. Louis). An important detail always gets left out of this story. Allen told me that, after he was able to wrestle the gun away from Ms. Oswald, she announced, "That's OK, I have another one." And put her hand into her purse. And that's why Allen had to do what he did.

Crazy stories - but all true.

 

Banana Don and Stephanie McCoy amuse and thrill you every weekday morning from 5:30 –10AM on the radio at 100.7 WITL.

Banana Don can be reached via email at don.jefferson@townsquaremedia.com and on Twitter at @WITLBananaDon and @WITLFM. Also, Facebook friend Banana Don and Stephanie at Facebook.com/BananaStephanie and Facebook.com/WITLFM.

More From 100.7 WITL