About

William Banks Jail Escape, also known as the William Banks Prison Break or William Banks Prison Escape, refers to a series of posts and a viral video of internet comedian William Banks seemingly escaping from prison in February 2025. The video of Banks and other inmates appearing to escape was widely shared on Twitter / X and Instagram. Banks was arrested for stealing Zionist signs and pro-Israel flags and throwing them out in Connecticut in December 2023. He was purportedly convicted and incarcerated in November 2024. However, there was no inmate record for a William Banks in Connecticut, leading to major speculation that Banks' jail stint was an elaborate hoax. Regardless, the video of him supposedly escaping jail went viral online, inspiring reactions, memes and discourse.

Origin

On February 20th, 2025, William Banks posted a video to X^[1] in which he told his fellow "inmates" to meet him at the library. A few hours later, he posted a photo to X^[2] showing himself crawling underneath a fence, captioned, "got out of jail." The tweet received over 8,400 likes in a day (shown below).

Soon after, on February 20th, Banks posted a video to X^[3] documenting his supposed escape, receiving over 8.8 million views and 107,000 likes in a day (shown below).

escape pic.twitter.com/5zMIRbm9fg

— William Banks (@williambanks_) February 20, 2025

Banks also posted the photo and escape video to Instagram^[12][13] on February 20th, 2025, receiving over 5,900 likes and 19,700 likes, respectively, over the same timeframe.

Hoax Speculation

William Banks was arrested for stealing and throwing away Zionist signs and pro-Israel flags in Connecticut in December 2023, per local reporting.^[8] However, an inmate record for a "William Banks" in the state of Connecticut does not exist, inferring that he was never sentenced.^[9] Also, some X^[10][11] users have claimed to have seen William Banks in New York City during his alleged jail stint.

Spread

In the following hours, internet users reacted to Banks' alleged escape video, like X^[4] user @TXCAfro on February 20th, 2025, who replied with a video of an angered man, captioned, "Your lawyer seeing this," gaining over 4,200 likes in a day (shown below).

Your lawyer seeing this pic.twitter.com/vJ1bgX7pXi

— My Reaction to That Information (@TXCAfro) February 20, 2025

Also on February 20th, X^[5] user @kirawontmiss quote tweeted the video, writing, "This is the greatest app ever I just witnessed a MF recording himself escaping prison," gaining over 137,000 likes in a day (shown below).

X accounts with larger followings, like the X^[6] page @BRICSinfo with 1.2 million followers, reposted and amplified Banks' video on February 20th, 2025. @BRICSinfo's tweet received over 6,200 likes in a few hours. A similar repost from X^[7] user @dom_lucre (1.5 million followers) received over 6,400 likes across a similar timeframe.

🔥🚨BREAKING: An inmate named William Banks uploaded a video of himself breaking out of a Connecticut jail and helping other inmates escape with him. It is worth noting that Banks only had 4 months left in his sentence. pic.twitter.com/rfzckjFm0K

— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) February 21, 2025

More reactions surfaced on X^[14][15] in the replies to the abovementioned reposts.

Various Examples

Plz tell me what other app u can see felons breaking out of jail https://t.co/jfZGuR2d8a

— 🇵🇸 (@JoeDaActivist) February 21, 2025

the guards and correction officers pic.twitter.com/yAFz2Jj0SC

— m ✶ (@fuckofftwann) February 21, 2025

Search Interest

External References