Elmira Correctional Facility prisoner Timothy Vail, stared down the guard at centre gate who’d just emerged with a hand held metal detector. He felt the straps of the bag he’d slung over his shoulder weigh down heavily on him. He felt the head of the sledgehammer he’d just stolen from the carpentry shop and stashed in the bag dig into his side. He felt panic as the line of prisoners moved through the gate and he was seconds away from being frisked and scanned. Timothy Vail took a deep breath, he needed to act fast. This was the moment that would make or break his escape.