Zoe Progl

1. HMP Aylesbury
   Dates unknown
2. HM Prison Usk
   Dates unknown
3. HM Prison Holloway
   Dates unknown

Zoe Progl (28 March 1928 – before 2021) was a British criminal. Born into a poor family and with a father who was often drunk and in trouble with the police, Progl began stealing to feed herself from the age of six. She later progressed to shoplifting and worked in nightclubs where she fraternised with criminals. Progl married an American soldier at the age of 18, but soon left him and began carrying out burglaries with a new partner. Whilst three months pregnant, she was sentenced to three years detention at Aylesbury Borstal. After her release, she had an affair with Tommy "Scarface" Smithson, a London gangster whose gang included the Kray twins. She had a second child with Smithson before he left her. Progl specialised in burglaries, shoplifting, and "jump ups", thefts of loaded lorries from the dockside. On one occasion, she stole £250,000 of fur clothing. She received a 3-month prison sentence for the robbery of an American soldier, and a 15-month sentence for the theft of a safe from a solicitor. In the mid 1950s, she became involved with drugs, and on one occasion attempted suicide. In Clapham, Progl operated a shop selling stolen goods from a garage and acted as getaway driver in a prison break from Wormwood Scrubs. Progl received another prison sentence for burglary, and was sent to HM Prison Holloway in 1960. Before entering she had planned her escape and, on 24 July, became the first person to escape over the wall from the prison. She was recaptured 40 days later, and sentenced to an additional 18 months inside. During this period of imprisonment, she determined to reform and wrote an autobiography Woman of the Underworld. After her release, she married again, but left her husband after suffering domestic abuse. She later returned to crime, and received a further prison sentence.