people in captivity: 60 percent of time spent plotting

What if one of the largest engineering projects in human history was never officially recorded? For thousands of years, people held in captivity have studied walls, guards, routines, locks, and weaknesses—each searching for a path back to freedom. This article explores the timeless phenomenon of escape planning, the immense amount of human thought devoted to it across history, and why the desire to be free may be one of the most persistent forces ever to shape human civilization.