Australia Joseph Bolitho Johns spent most of his life in prison due to repeated arrest for stealing, but has successfully escaped prison four times.

Joseph Bolitho Johns, also known as Moondyne Joe, was born around 1826 in Wales, the third child of blacksmith Thomas Johns and Mary Bolitho. In the early years after his father died, he and his brothers made a living as a miner.

On November 15, 1848, Johns and his friend William Cross decided to break into a man's home in the town of Monmouth. They stole three loaves of bread, a piece of bacon, a few pieces of cheese and some other items in the house, then were patrolled by police and charged with theft.

Johns defended himself in court, declared innocence and slandered the judge. However, this action resulted in both him and his friend being sentenced to 10 years in prison in March 1849. After 4 years serving at various prisons in England, they were taken to Australia, then a British colony. While Cross was imprisoned at Hobart prison, Tasmania, Johns was transferred to the port city of Fremantle.

Well-behaved on his journey to Australia and "helping to pursue a wanted criminal," Johns was granted amnesty upon arrival. He lived in the Avon valley, then moved to what the Aboriginal people called Moondyne, living on horse and cattle herding.

By 1861, Johns was arrested a second time for stealing a judge's new thoroughbred horse and was immediately thrown into jail. However, he escaped in the middle of the night by removing the hinges of the cell door and fleeing on his own stolen horse, but was soon captured and brought back to Fremantle to serve a three-year sentence at a re-education camp. of the city.

Johns was once again fortunate to be released ahead of time thanks to his good conduct, provided that he did not continue to cause trouble and had to find a decent job. He went to Newcastle, Australia to rebuild his life, but still could not control the crime of killing and eating a cow of a neighbor in 1865.

Despite claiming to have paid for a cow and not the responsible, Johns was still sentenced to 10 years in Fremantle. However, this man continued to escape successfully with a fellow prisoner and conducted the same small burglaries in the area. This is around the time Johns began to use the nickname "Moondyne Joe".

A month later, Johns was arrested again and received another 12 months in prison on gun possession. This time the prison staff were forced to tie Johns, but he still did not give up his intention to escape. After a failed attempt, Johns found a way to escape with a few other criminals.

They formed a gang and carried out a series of robberies, and made big plans to rob the bank. However, before the group could take action, police tracked them down and captured them at Bodallin Soak, near the area of present-day Westonia town. Johns is taken to prison at Moondyne.

Determined to keep the man who successfully escaped prison three times, the government has taken strong measures to prevent the incident from recurring. Along with the 10-year sentence in force, they sentenced Johns to an additional 5 years of hard labor, even designing a special "anti-defection" cell for him. This room was made of concrete, lined with sturdy sleepers and comfortable enough to be "at home" so Johns had no reason to escape.

"If you escape again, I will pardon you," Swan River colonial governor John Hampton told Johns. However, Hampton did not expect that Johns had a plan for this challenge. On March 7, 1867, he crept through a secret hole in the wall and escaped from the prison through an unlocked side gate. The police conducted a search but could not find the robber.

Johns enjoyed freedom for the next two years, until he was arrested for stealing alcohol and received an additional 4 years in chains. However, Governor Frederick Weld decided to pardon Johns in 1871, presumably by hearing the promise of his predecessor. The condition is that Johns will not be guilty in the next 4 years.

Johns then went to the town of Karridale as a carpenter, but he still could not escape the trouble of committing some minor crimes and was sentenced to a month in prison. He was released on June 27, 1873 and married a widow in 1879. His wife is thought to have died in 1893 due to illness.

By early 1900, Johns re-appeared when many reported to the police about an insane old man wandering the streets at night. He was taken to a medical facility for treatment. Coincidentally, this was once part of the Fremantle correction camp, one of the prisons where Johns once fled. It seems that due to the effects of dementia, he does not realize that this is not a cell and continues to try to escape from this facility three times.

Johns died on 13 August 1900 due to dementia and was buried at the Fremantle cemetery, on the tombstone inscribed with the word "rhyddid", which in Welsh means "freedom".