If there’s any group of people you don’t think would be fit enough to escape from a rehabilitation facility, it’s Internet addicts. I mean, think about it. Heroin addicts are all slim and wiry, so they can sneak out of tight spaces. Crystal meth addicts are both wiry and full of energy thanks to their drug of choice. PCP users are practically superheroes. But Internet addicts (AKA nerds) are just portly, out-of-shape people with bad hygiene and a love of FarmVille. However, that didn’t stop 14 patients, ages 14-22, from binding an instructor to his bed and escaping an Internet rehab clinic in China.
Th 14 youngsters were found out almost immediately after they broke out, for two reasons. One, they were all wearing matching camoflage shirts. Two, they refused to pay the cab fare of the driver they hailed to help them escape from the facility in Huai’an, Jiangsu Province. The group’s escape wasn’t to feed their addiction and soothe their disconnect anxiety; it was to escape 2 hours of compulsory exercise, 5 AM wake-up calls, a 9:30 bed time, and the occasional disciplinary beating.
Yeah, I’d probably try to escape that, too. China has an estimated 24 million Internet addicts, and Internet rehab clinics are among the fastest-growing mental health facilities in the country.
Image: Federico Morando
Tags: Internet addicts break out of rehab, jailbreaks, internet addicts break out of rehab facility, unusual escapes, Huai’an, Jiangsu Province, China, 14 addicts escape from Internet rehab center, instructor tied to bed while patients escape
