incarceration
Incarceration, rehabilitation, recidivism: The reality of prison life and what it's like to be an inmate locked up behind bars.
"The Teen Who Shook the CIA: The Biggest Cyberattack and an Unbelievable Ransom Demand"
You might think that the most dangerous weapon in the world today is nuclear power—but in reality, you’re mistaken. The weapon that is being used daily and whose impact could potentially wipe out entire countries from the map is cyber warfare, also known as hacking. Hackers today are some of the most dangerous individuals on the planet. You might be surprised to learn that a country as powerful as the United States might negotiate with them—trying to appease them just to stop or prevent a cyberattack. To understand how powerful these people are, let me tell you a true story about a 15-year-old boy who managed to hack the most powerful intelligence agency in the world: the CIA. And not only that—he demanded a ransom of 5 trillion dollars from the U.S. government in exchange for not leaking the data he obtained! Back in 1955, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the first hacking operation in history took place—ironically, supervised by the same institution. The operation was simple, intended to test the feasibility of hacking in the first place. As it succeeded, further experiments followed, and studies were published warning of the dangers, calling for regulation and laws to govern such acts. And so, the concept of hacking began to spread and evolve over the years. In the world of hacking, there are three main types of hackers: 1. White Hats – These are legal hackers who work with governments to protect systems from being hacked. They form what's known as cyber armies. Their tasks include building firewalls, developing anti-hacking software, and launching counterattacks on state enemies. 2. Gray Hats – Independent hackers who don’t belong to any political organization. They hack mainly for training or testing, and often collaborate with large corporations to identify security loopholes in exchange for large sums. For instance, JPMorgan Bank experiences around 600,000 hacking attempts daily! 3. Black Hats – The most dangerous of all. They launch attacks capable of paralyzing entire countries. One example is the 2021 Colonial Pipeline attack in the U.S., which disrupted fuel supply in 18 states and caused losses exceeding $75 million. And all of this is just the introduction to our main story—about the “Godfather of the Black Hats”, a child behind the largest cyberattack in U.S. history. The story began in 2008, with a young American boy known as "Default." He was addicted to the video game Counter-Strike, and his father worked in the tech industry. His dad taught him some basic programming, and from there, the boy’s genius began to unfold. "Default" started by breaking into nearby Wi-Fi networks. Through them, he accessed the personal computers of his neighbors. He later learned encryption techniques and developed complex protection systems—his computer once took 30 minutes just to unlock due to the intensity of its security! Despite his extraordinary talent, he was rejected by the famous hacking group Anonymous, so he continued teaching himself. One day, he accidentally hacked a Canadian university's system and discovered financial data for over 400 students. He decided to erase their debts—totaling 9.4 million dollars! In 2014, after the Danish government passed a law allowing humans to marry animals, a group called AnonSec launched a massive cyberattack on government websites. "Default," just 14 at the time, was the mastermind behind the attack, which eventually forced the government to reverse the decision. That same year, "Default" and his British friend "Kraka" decided to launch a cyberattack on the CIA after a new law permitted surveillance on U.S. citizens. They met in Hong Kong and planned the operation. Using a simple Google search, they found personal data for James Clapper, the Deputy Director of the CIA. With it, they hacked his email, changed the password, and accessed a vast trove of classified documents—including files about the Iraq War, Guantanamo Bay, and future American military strategies. These documents were leaked through WikiLeaks, and they even mocked CIA Director John Brennan. They went so far as to call him personally and demand 5 trillion dollars! The attack shook the United States. The military disconnected its nuclear missile control systems out of fear they’d be hacked next. Authorities had no idea who was behind it. Eventually, "Default" was exposed when he drunkenly confessed his secret to a friend, who reported him. He and "Kraka" were arrested in 2015. Because they were only 15, they received 5-year sentences and were fined $145,000. Authorities also confiscated Default’s hard drive—which contained 1,000 Bitcoins (worth over $60 million today). It’s said that the U.S. government recruited both boys after their release. Since then, no one knows their whereabouts. Even the widely circulated photo of "Default" is fake. People like them are considered walking digital treasures—recruiting them is a huge win for any country in the world.
By Ink pulse(different angle)about a year ago in Criminal
poison flavored candy (The criminal with 21 faces)
On March 18, 1984, a Japanese man named Kahatsu Izaki was enjoying an evening bath at his home when suddenly two masked and armed men broke in and kidnapped him while he was completely naked. Izaki was the owner of a famous Japanese confectionery factory called Glico. The next day, a ransom demand arrived at his factory. The kidnappers asked for 1 billion Japanese yen and 100 kilograms (equivalent to about 10 million U.S. dollars). They said the payment would be delivered to a public telephone booth in the street; they would specify the location later. However, before any payment was made, Izaki managed to escape from the kidnappers before dawn. No one was watching him, and he was able to untie the ropes binding him, break the door of the warehouse where he was held, and flee. Contrary to what some might think, he was not naked during the kidnapping because the kidnappers had given him clothes. After escaping, he ran far from the place until he found two railroad workers who helped him contact the police. The problem was that Izaki could not identify the kidnappers or describe any of their features. Although the kidnapping attempt failed, the kidnappers did not stop. They sent threatening messages to Izaki and his factory. One message demanded $480,000 and threatened to poison the factory's sweets with cyanide if the ransom was not paid. To prove their seriousness and make sure everyone believed them, the kidnappers broke into the factory and set parts of it on fire. This caused panic among the entire Japanese population and forced the police to deploy more than 130,000 officers to catch them. To those who are hearing this for the first time: this is a case that involved the entire Japanese nation, and the police could not catch the criminals. The criminals were smarter than everyone else. The police did not know who to accuse or suspect for a very long time. In the 1980s, the Japanese police were considered among the strongest worldwide, solving 97% of murder cases and 55% of thefts annually. So their failure to solve the Glico case was a black mark in their history and hurt their reputation. A famous Japanese newspaper, Yomiuri, published a large article on the front page saying they did not remember any case in Japan's history where criminals mocked the police like this. The criminals challenged the police worldwide, taunting them for over a year and a half, sending more than 100 messages with hints and information that could help capture them. The first message read: "To the police: Are you really this stupid? With all these officers, you can’t do your job and catch us? If you were really professionals, you would have caught us by now. But since you are incompetent, we will give you some hints." The hints included that the criminals might be insiders working in the factory or warehouse where Izaki was held. The person writing the messages gave more details, like the color of the car they used during the kidnapping (gray), and even the supermarket from which they bought food. At the end of the message, they wrote: "If you can’t catch us with all this information, then you are thieves stealing from the people who pay taxes to the government to provide them with security." The criminals humiliated the police in front of the entire country. After the first message, thousands more followed, full of taunts and challenges. The police worked intensively on the case, but the criminals were extraordinary. The only thing the police could identify was that the criminals' language resembled the dialect of Osaka city residents, so they suspected the criminals were from Osaka. The case remained unsolved until September 1984, when another candy factory called Morinaga started receiving threatening messages. The kidnappers demanded $410,000 and threatened to poison the autumn sweets of all mothers in Japan with a special bitter-tasting potassium substance. They put warning labels on 20 poisoned candy boxes spread from Hakata to Tokyo. On the same day, shop owners and supermarkets found 18 boxes with warning labels; one was found just 32 meters from Izaki's house. Although not all the boxes contained poison, the discovery caused panic. Another message warned that next time there would be 30 boxes without warning labels. Over the following two weeks, more than 40,000 police officers monitored supermarkets and stores across Japan but could not discover whether the criminals had poisoned more boxes or not. Surveillance cameras caught a man with curly hair, glasses, and a baseball cap placing something on a shelf at one of the stores where a poisoned box was found. The video quality was poor, and the police could not identify the man. The police also released recordings of threatening phone calls made to the factory. The criminal requested factory employees to wait for a call at a public telephone booth in a street station. Two officers disguised as factory employees waited there, but no call came. The criminals continued to mock the police, sending letters challenging their intelligence and ability to catch them. By August 12, 1985, more than a year and a half after Izaki’s kidnapping, the criminals sent their last letter and declared they would stop. During this time, the police received over 28,000 letters from the criminals, used more than 130,000 officers, but could not catch anyone. The police eventually suspected that the criminals were insiders at the Glico factory or involved in the warehouse where Izaki was held. Others believed the criminals sought revenge against food manufacturers because of a tragic poisoning incident 30 years earlier, when a milk factory accidentally contaminated powdered milk with arsenic, causing over 12,000 infants to fall ill and 183 deaths. Another theory focused on a man named Manabu Miyazaki, suspected by the police. A sketch based on police descriptions resembled him closely, and his mother confirmed the image. Miyazaki was the son of a Yakuza boss and had many previous charges, but no evidence could link him to the crimes. Despite all efforts, the criminals were never caught, and the mystery remains unsolved.
By Ink pulse(different angle)about a year ago in Criminal
Self Defense or Murder: A McDonalds Employee Stabs Her Manager Claims of Bullying . Content Warning.
A Detroit McDonald's employee stabs and kills her manager at their workplace. The manager was a single mother of six kids and had worked as a manager at McDonald’s for years. The employee claims on social media that her manager was a bully. Even though this whole story is tragic, everyone was debating believed she was a folk hero when th others believed she was a bloody murderer. Was this act of self-defense, or was it homicide?
By Gladys W. Muturiabout a year ago in Criminal
African American Serial Killers Part 5
Thorough investigations often lead to arrests. Such is what happened with Chester Turner. The power of DNA analysis has truly been a double-edged sword. In one instance, the process can free an individual from years of bondage. In cases like Turner’s, he would experience the flipside of this arrangement. His DNA linked him to a string of murders in the Figueroa section of Los Angeles. In fact, this activity took place while he stood in a prison cell.
By Skyler Saundersabout a year ago in Criminal
Where 9 Key Members of the Manson Family Are Today
On August 8, 1969, the Manson family, on orders from their leader, murdered pregnant actor Sharon Tate, who was married to director Roman Polanski, as well as four other people—Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, and Steven Parent—at 10050 Cielo Drive in Beverly Hills. A day later, they killed wealthy grocery store owners Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
By Kristen Orkoshneliabout a year ago in Criminal
Why Czar Nicholas II and the Romanovs Were Murdered
When Nicholas Romanov was crowned czar of Russia in 1894, he seemed bewildered. “What is going to happen to me…to all Russia?” he asked an advisor when he assumed the throne. “I am not prepared to be Czar. I never even wanted to become one.”
By Kristen Orkoshneliabout a year ago in Criminal
They tied him up and locked him in a tiny cell under the watchful eye of the worst guards, yet he managed to escape.
In 1936, in the city of Aomori, Japan, a man named Yoshie Shiratori was imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. He was forced to confess under severe duress, and the prosecution sought the death penalty. Meanwhile, guards regularly beat and tortured him every night. He’d had enough. With nothing left to lose, Shiratori decided to escape. Aomori Prison wasn’t known for being easy to break out of. But for someone like Shiratori, who had spent months studying the guards’ rotation schedule, a 15-minute gap during the shift change was all he needed. On a cold morning at 6:00 AM, he made his move. Using a wire he had secretly taken from a bucket in the bathroom, he attempted to pick the lock despite his hands being frozen from the cold. After a few tense minutes, the cell door opened. But escaping the cell was just the first challenge — multiple doors remained. Working quickly, he unlocked each one and eventually exited the building. But he wasn’t in the clear yet. The prison perimeter was closely monitored, and if the alarm went off, he would be caught. At 5:45 AM, the guards returned and saw what they thought was Shiratori sleeping in bed. In reality, it was just a bundle of rotting wood and a mattress — he had cleverly faked his presence. The truth wasn’t discovered until the next day. Only three days into his freedom, he was caught trying to steal supplies from a hospital. Authorities sent him back to prison and gave him a life sentence for the attempted escape. This meant he would never see his wife or daughter again. Months of planning had earned him just three days of freedom and a lifetime behind bars. But this was only the beginning. Yoshie Shiratori would go on to earn the nickname "The Prison Break Magician." --- Escape #2: Akita Prison, 1942 Six years later, in 1942 during World War II, Shiratori was transferred to Akita Prison. The guards there, aware of his previous escape, treated him even worse than before. He was forced into hard labor, made to sleep on the freezing ground without a mattress, and was kept in solitary confinement. This solitary cell was specially designed for escape artists — narrow, with high ceilings and copper-lined walls so smooth that no one could rest against them. There was no sunlight, just a small skylight. His hands were constantly shackled. However, one guard, the chief warden, felt pity for him. He never abused him and occasionally checked in to make sure he was okay. Perhaps it was this kindness that kept Shiratori’s will to live alive. On the stormy night of June 15th, the unimaginable happened. When the guards checked his cell, Shiratori was gone. Only his handcuffs remained. No one could believe it. Apparently, Shiratori had once again managed to unlock the cuffs — likely with a wire he acquired during his limited time out of solitary. He then pressed his body against the copper walls, climbed upward like a lizard, and reached the skylight. Though it was locked, he discovered that the wooden frame around it was rotting. Night after night, he loosened it little by little, always re-shackling himself afterward to avoid suspicion. Eventually, he managed to open the skylight, but he waited for a storm to mask his escape. That night, he fled the prison. --- The Unexpected Return Three months later, on September 18th, the chief guard, Kobayashi, heard a knock on his door at home. To his shock, it was Shiratori — cold, weak, and in poor shape. He welcomed him inside, fed him, and listened to his story. Shiratori told him, “I have no problem with prison. I only escaped to flee the abuse and injustice. Your kindness gave me the strength to come here. I want to turn myself in — not to run anymore, but to file a complaint and expose the corruption in Japan’s prison system. I want to be with my wife and daughter again.” Kobayashi listened silently. When Shiratori went to the bathroom, Kobayashi called the police. His trust was misplaced, and once again he was sent back to prison. This time, the court added three more years to his life sentence. He requested a transfer to a warmer prison in Tokyo, saying he could no longer withstand the harsh winters of northern Japan. The judge not only refused his request but instead sent him to the coldest prison in the country — Abashiri Prison in Hokkaido, where no one had ever escaped. --- Escape #3: Abashiri Prison, 1943 It was 1943. Temperatures in Abashiri fell below freezing even inside the cells. Food would freeze before it could be eaten. Shiratori was forced to wear only summer clothes and shackled in heavy, 20-kilogram cuffs, behind his back and on his legs. The shackles had no keyhole — only specialists could remove them every few weeks for a quick bath. Guards reduced his meals to half portions, forcing him to crawl like a dog to eat through the narrow food slot. Life was hell. But Shiratori endured. Over time, he began to quietly enact a plan. Using leftover soup, he would splash the salty liquid onto the metal frame of the window and his shackles. Salt would cause corrosion. Day by day, the iron weakened. After six months, the metal had rusted enough for him to act. Though the window opening was smaller than his body, Shiratori had an unusual gift — an extremely flexible body, like someone with no joints. He maneuvered his head through the hole, then squeezed his bones through one by one. He became the first person to escape from the inescapable Abashiri Prison. --- Survival in the Wild Hokkaido is a frigid, deadly wilderness. Guards assumed he’d die from exposure or be eaten by bears. Shiratori found shelter in an abandoned mine and survived for two years by foraging fruit and hunting small animals. Eventually, curiosity led him out. After years in isolation, he wandered into a village and was shocked by the change — English signs, American soldiers with Japanese women, and news of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan had surrendered a year earlier. His survival was pointless now. Hungry, he entered a tomato farm looking for food — a fatal mistake. A confrontation broke out, and he ended up fatally stabbing the farmer in self-defense. He was caught and charged with murder. --- Escape #4: The Final Break Once again, Shiratori was imprisoned. This time, the guards took no chances — constant surveillance, ultra-small cell, reinforced steel, and shackles that only professionals could remove during his rare baths. Still, he was planning. Every night, he would dig under the wooden floorboards with his food bowl. He returned everything to its place each morning. The guards believed he had given up — always lying motionless, silent, unresponsive. But under his bed, a hole was forming. One night, when they tried to wake him and pulled the blanket, he was gone. A pile of wood and clothes lay in his place. He had escaped again. --- The End of the Journey In 1948, now in his forties, tired of running, Shiratori sat one day on a bench in a neighborhood in Sapporo. A police officer sat beside him, unaware of who he was. The officer kindly offered him a cigarette — a rare luxury at the time. The gesture overwhelmed Shiratori, who had spent a lifetime being abused by the police. He was reminded of Kobayashi and his betrayal. Tears welled up. He turned to the officer and said, “My name is Yoshie Shiratori. I escaped from prison four times.” He was arrested, but this time, the system had changed. Post-war Japan was reforming. The courts believed his claim that the farmer’s death was in self-defense. They also acknowledged that he had never harmed a single guard during his escapes. His death sentence was overturned. Instead, he received 20 years in prison. This time, they sent him to a warm prison in Tokyo. The guards treated him with decency, and he no longer had the desire to escape. He served quietly and was released in 1961 after 14 years for good behavior. He returned to Aomori, reunited with his daughter, and lived out his days peacefully. Because of his extraordinary escapes, Shiratori became a legend in Japan — an unlikely hero.
By Ink pulse(different angle)about a year ago in Criminal
African American Serial Killers Part 4
In the late eighties early nineties, the Crack Era had police departments involved in bringing hustlers “to justice.” In fact, the War on Drugs, or battle from an inanimate object, sapped the resources of other departments dedicated to solving actual crimes.
By Skyler Saundersabout a year ago in Criminal
How did prisoners escape from the most powerful prison in human history (Alcatraz)?. Content Warning.
In 2013, a letter arrived at the San Francisco Police Department. The sender claimed to be the mastermind behind the infamous escape from Alcatraz prison and offered to turn himself in—on one condition: he would receive proper medical treatment, as he was now over 80 years old and seriously ill. Strangely, the police responded within just one hour, accepting his offer and stating that they were waiting for him, promising to provide the best care possible. However, the man never contacted them again. Whether it was just a game or he died, no one knows. The escape remains one of the most brilliant and daring in human history. Alcatraz Prison, often referred to as “Hell on Earth,” was established in 1934 and designed to be the most secure facility in the world—not only to prevent escape but also to break the spirits of inmates. Those sent there had committed additional crimes while already imprisoned in other U.S. facilities. Located on a desolate island about 2 kilometers off the coast of San Francisco, the prison was surrounded by freezing waters, strong currents, and, according to popular belief, sharks—rumors spread by authorities to discourage escape attempts. Life inside was pure torment: tiny cells, constant surveillance, one shower per week, limited meal and recreation time, and forced labor. Even the guards were among the worst—officers who had behaved badly elsewhere were sent to Alcatraz as punishment. This created a deeply hostile environment between prisoners and guards. Despite all this, the impossible happened. The story began in 1961, when an inmate named Allen West noticed a ventilation duct above his cell that seemed to lead to the prison’s roof. He realized he would need a team to pull off an escape, so he partnered with another inmate, Frank Morris, a man with an exceptional IQ of 133. They also brought in two brothers, John and Clarence Anglin, whose cell was nearby. The four began secretly digging through the back walls of their cells using smuggled spoons and forks. Behind their cells, they discovered an unused corridor filled with drainage pipes, which could lead them to the roof. They covered the holes in their walls with cardboard and plaster structures painted to match the wall color and hung clothes to conceal them further. Since guards never entered the cells, the ruse worked perfectly. They dug each night at 9 PM—during the daily hour when prisoners were allowed to sing and play music to lift their spirits. The noise masked the sound of digging. Over six months, they slowly widened the holes, disposing of the debris through the ventilation openings into the corridor. Meanwhile, Frank developed a plan for escape by sea. Using old prison magazines, he had memorized instructions on how to build a raft and life vests from household materials. They gathered 22 stolen raincoats from the prison’s storage during the summer months when such coats weren’t needed, stitched them together, and created a rubber raft and vests. They even built an air pump using parts from a discarded accordion. To cover their absence during nightly work on the roof, they crafted realistic dummy heads made from soap, paper, toothpaste, and real hair collected from the prison barber. Each night, they placed the heads on their pillows and climbed through the ventilation holes. After two months of preparing the raft and cutting the metal bars covering the final exit vent, they were ready. On the night of June 11, 1962, at exactly 10:00 PM, the lights went out and the prison fell silent. Frank, the Anglin brothers, and Allen West put their dummy heads in place and prepared to escape. However, Allen couldn't squeeze through his hole—he had sealed it the night before and had gained weight over the months. The others told him they couldn’t wait and left without him. The trio climbed to the roof, reached the outer fence, cut through it, and made their way to the shore. There, they inflated the raft using the homemade pump and launched into the freezing waters, heading toward freedom. The next morning at 7:30 AM, a guard discovered something was wrong when he tapped one of the Anglin brothers to wake him and the fake head rolled onto the floor. Panic spread as they realized three prisoners had escaped. The prison was put on high alert, but the escapees were never found. The authorities later claimed they had drowned, although evidence suggested otherwise—life vests were found on the opposite shore, and years later, a photograph surfaced in 1975 allegedly showing the Anglin brothers alive. Then in 2013, Frank Morris himself reportedly sent a letter saying he was ready to surrender—under the condition of medical care—but he vanished again and never followed up. The escape was so embarrassing to the authorities that they kept details of the plan secret for 20 years. A year after the escape, a film was released depicting the story, using surprisingly accurate details that had never been officially disclosed. In the same year, Alcatraz was shut down for good. The infamous slogan carved into the rock—“On the rock of Alcatraz, your dreams of freedom will be crushed”—was replaced with a new one: "Dreams of freedom were shattered on the rock of Alcatraz—forever." The prison was converted into a tourist attraction. Ultimately, the only one who didn’t make it was Allen West—the very man who discovered the ventilation shaft and helped plan the escape. Ironically, without him, the world might never have known the full details of the most ingenious prison escape in modern history.
By Ink pulse(different angle)about a year ago in Criminal
African American Serial Killers Part 3
Samuel Little was a puny man. Sure he may have had an imposing physical presence and a mean scowl, but in his mind, he lived as a weak child. As the serial killer with the most confirmed kills in United States history, he led an existence of terror.
By Skyler Saundersabout a year ago in Criminal
Top 6 MIND BLOWING Dark Web Stories
So guys, if I talk about the dark web, let me begin with a warning—never even think of visiting this horrifying place. After listening to these six disturbing real stories, you’ll realize that on the dark web, the line between right and wrong completely disappears.
By Chronicle of Powerabout a year ago in Criminal
Too Beautiful to Keep: The Crime of Cutting Noses in the Name of Honor
In some far-off tribal lands where mountains meet tradition, a dark chapter of history whispers through the silence. It is not written in textbooks. It is not shown in films. But it is real — and heartbreaking.
By Muhammad Adilabout a year ago in Criminal
