Movies and television have made the prison break seem like the ultimate victory against a corrupt system, but the reality is far less heartwarming.

The details of the Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera’s escape from prison on July 11 are pure cinema. He fled through a two-foot by two-foot hole drilled in the shower area of his cell, climbing down a ladder to a mile-long tunnel, complete with lighting, ventilation, and a motorcycle on rails. Much like the June breakout of two inmates from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Upstate New York, the news of Loera’s escape was both frightening to nearby citizens and a political setback for local officials. But its vivid details—the tunnel dug just high enough for its subject to walk through, the surveillance camera that had just one blind spot, the whiffs of larger corruption—couldn’t help but conjure memories of one of Hollywood’s favorite subgenres: the escape caper.

Read the article “How Hollywood Made Prison Breaks Seem Heroic” on theatlantic.com.