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Steven Jay Russell
Steven Jay Russell (born December 31, 1957) is an American con artist, known for escaping from prison multiple times.
I Love You Phillip Morris, a film about his life and crimes, was produced in 2009.
Russell was adopted in 1957 after his birth parents divorced by Georgia and David Russell, whose family owned a produce business. At the age of 18, he began working for the family business, and he also volunteered as a reserve sheriff's deputy and played organ for his church. In 1976, he married Debbie Davis, daughter of the police chief's secretary, and their daughter, Stephanie, was born two years later. Russell and his wife divorced after he revealed to her that he was gay.
Russell began to support himself through a variety of scams including faking slip and fall accidents and selling counterfeit Rolex watches, leading him to be arrested for fraud. In 1995 he began a relationship with fellow inmate Phillip Morris.
On March 20, 1998, Russell posed as a millionaire from Virginia in an attempt to legitimize a $75,000 loan from NationsBank in Dallas; when bank officials became suspicious and alerted the police, Russell feigned a heart attack and was transported to the hospital. Russell was placed on security watch, but he impersonated an FBI agent and called the hospital on his mobile telephone to tell them he could be released.
U.S. Marshals later tracked Russell to Florida, where they arrested him on April 5, 1998, when he went to retrieve a fax. Russell was sentenced to a total of 144 years in prison (99 years for the escapes and 45 years for subsequent scams).
As of 2010, Russell was in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit on a 23-hour lockup, only having one free hour a day to shower and exercise. He was previously held in the Mark W. Michael Unit and the W.J. Estelle Unit. His maximum sentence date was March 13, 2113, and he became eligible for parole on December 15, 2020.
Russell was released from prison on July 16, 2024 after 26 years of incarceration, 16 of which were in solitary confinement. He spent his first day of freedom with Laurence Watts, co-author of the book Life After Philip Morris written in collaboration with Russell himself.
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Steven Jay Russell
Steven Jay Russell (born December 31, 1957) is an American con artist, known for escaping from prison multiple times.
I Love You Phillip Morris, a film about his life and crimes, was produced in 2009.
Russell was adopted in 1957 after his birth parents divorced by Georgia and David Russell, whose family owned a produce business. At the age of 18, he began working for the family business, and he also volunteered as a reserve sheriff's deputy and played organ for his church. In 1976, he married Debbie Davis, daughter of the police chief's secretary, and their daughter, Stephanie, was born two years later. Russell and his wife divorced after he revealed to her that he was gay.
Russell began to support himself through a variety of scams including faking slip and fall accidents and selling counterfeit Rolex watches, leading him to be arrested for fraud. In 1995 he began a relationship with fellow inmate Phillip Morris.
On March 20, 1998, Russell posed as a millionaire from Virginia in an attempt to legitimize a $75,000 loan from NationsBank in Dallas; when bank officials became suspicious and alerted the police, Russell feigned a heart attack and was transported to the hospital. Russell was placed on security watch, but he impersonated an FBI agent and called the hospital on his mobile telephone to tell them he could be released.
U.S. Marshals later tracked Russell to Florida, where they arrested him on April 5, 1998, when he went to retrieve a fax. Russell was sentenced to a total of 144 years in prison (99 years for the escapes and 45 years for subsequent scams).
As of 2010, Russell was in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit on a 23-hour lockup, only having one free hour a day to shower and exercise. He was previously held in the Mark W. Michael Unit and the W.J. Estelle Unit. His maximum sentence date was March 13, 2113, and he became eligible for parole on December 15, 2020.
Russell was released from prison on July 16, 2024 after 26 years of incarceration, 16 of which were in solitary confinement. He spent his first day of freedom with Laurence Watts, co-author of the book Life After Philip Morris written in collaboration with Russell himself.