In ancient times, there were no cameras or DNA and other means of detecting criminals, but few prisoners escaped from prison, and even if they had the opportunity to run, they were mostly reluctant to escape, the main reason was the strict household registration system and efficient administrative pursuit methods in ancient times. These have led to the prisoners even if they want to escape from prison is also a very difficult thing, because you escaped, you have to decide where to escape, how to go along the way, the ancient city to go in is generally to check the identity, fugitives want to go through the city gate is very difficult, so you can only walk to a place with few people, from the barren mountains and wild mountains or rare mountain roads or paths, then such a place is easy to be alone, and finally even if you escape home after all the way through the wind, food and sleep, Neighbors near the home will definitely know whether they will report to the government, which is also a difficult thing to say, so in ancient times, it was basically difficult for prisoners to escape when they were convicted and imprisoned in prison. Unless someone from the outside picks up or tries to find a way to get the people in prison, it is possible to escape. I'll talk about a few things:
Ancient prison administration
Let's take the qing dynasty, the last dynasty of ancient times, as an example, in which there were basically prisons in government agencies at all levels from the central to the local level. Moreover, there is no distinction between the administration and the management of prisons in various localities, and they are all managed by the officials in charge of prison affairs; as for the subordinate officials who are specifically in charge of prison affairs, there is a prison department at the prefectural level, and there is a prison director in charge of judicial prison administration; at the level of directly subordinate to the prefecture or the state, there are officials who are set up to "be in charge of adultery and theft, inspect prison prisoners, and record books", that is, responsible for the names of the assistants in prison affairs; at the county level, a person is directly in charge of the prison and the inspection of prison prisoners. In addition, there will be a number of guards at all levels of prison to be responsible for some chores.
In addition, with regard to the treatment of prisoners in prisons, the Great Qing Laws stipulate:
Prisoners in prison are given one liter of rice (or grain) a day, one piece of cotton clothing each, and medicine. Beheading, hanging, and military, exile, and dispatched prisoners in prison and release are all wearing ochre clothes (purple prison clothes), shaved once a quarter, but must be kept as a marker. Relatives visits to prisoners who have not closed the case and are awaiting questioning are strictly prohibited; visits by each offender must also be strictly registered; the family members of the thief are not allowed to enter the prison for visits, and the offenders are shackled for two months, and forty boards are beaten, and the women are also required to accept ransom as usual.
Moreover, for fugitives, the punishment is stricter, and the captured fugitives are still sent to their original mating houses, locked with iron rods, and more severe labor.
The escape of the fugitive
It was difficult for fugitives in ancient times to escape, because prisons in various places were set up in the same way, except that the Kyoshi were different. It is difficult to escape alone, excluding special circumstances, if you want to escape in prison, you can only conspire with several people, so that the probability of escaping is greater, and you have to hide from the prison administrators, so most of them are several people who escape together.
After the fugitives have escaped, the places they most want to go are places they are familiar with or have connections to shelter themselves, and most of the fugitives flee to their hometowns or places where they have familiar relatives, because only when they go to these places can they be sheltered and thus escape the wanted work of the government. Because if the fugitive is caught and returned, the end will be very tragic, and the fugitive himself knows in his heart that the people who can basically escape are nine deaths.
Along the way, you can't take official roads and places with many people, you can't go to big towns and cities, if the prisoners escape, the government will issue hunting documents, will be issued to nearby places, and there are people at the city gate to check. Therefore, it is not easy to go to places with few people and solve their own eating problems.
To sum up, it is very difficult for fugitives in ancient times to escape, and it is difficult to succeed alone without external help, coupled with the wanted work of the government, so criminals rarely escape.