The story of Lawrence John Ripple stands out as a stark reminder of the lengths to which people will go to escape their circumstances. Last September, in Kansas City, a man embarked on a drastic course of action, driven not by greed or malice but by a profound desire to flee the confines of his own life. Lawrence’s decision to rob a bank was not motivated by financial desperation but by a personal crisis so severe that he saw incarceration as his only escape from the despair of his existence.