Barrow called Eastham "that hell hole," and for good reason. He saw prisoners beaten by guards, stuffed in tin sweat boxes under the blazing sun, and murdered, sometimes for the $25 reward for the capture of escaped prisoners, other times for revenge. It made Barrow so angry that he immediately began conspiring with another prisoner, 19-year-old Ralph Fults, to one day get out of prison, raise a gang, and return to Eastham. "I’d like to shoot all these damned guards and turn everybody loose," he told Fults. Along the way, the two men decided to break out buddies Palmer and Methvin, who were also housed in Eastham. Bybee, who arrived later at Eastham, was added to the conspiracy as a favor to Fults. Raymond Hamilton wasn’t even in the picture initially. But that would soon change.

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Due to prison overcrowding, Fults and Barrow received conditional pardons, in August 1931 and February 1932 respectively. They met up again in West Dallas and began recruiting a gang for the prison raid, first approaching a friend of Barrow’s, 18-year-old fugitive Raymond Hamilton. At first he agreed to take part, but after the men staged several successful robberies to finance the raid, Hamilton took his cut and backed out. "I don’t care about no cons on no prison farm," he said.

On April 19, 1932, Fults was shot and captured during a gun battle in Kaufman County, Texas. Bonnie Parker was captured too, but Barrow escaped. Fults pleaded guilty to auto theft and armed robbery in exchange for Bonnie’s release. Bonnie, still an unknown, was set free and quickly rejoined Clyde. Fults once again returned to prison.

That summer Raymond Hamilton briefly rejoined Barrow. He was arrested in December and began serving a lengthy prison term at Eastham. Barrow held a grudge against Hamilton for backing out of the proposed Eastham raid, and the irony of Hamilton’s incarceration there no doubt struck the sometimes laconic Clyde as funny.

Several others floated in and out of the so-called Barrow gang throughout 1933, most notably Clyde’s older brother Buck, Buck’s wife, Blanche, and another character named W.D. Jones. Between April and July the five outlaws were involved in a number of widely publicized incidents, including four gun battles that resulted in the deaths of three police officers. Then Buck and Blanche were captured in Iowa, and Buck died just a few days later from wounds received in a previous gunfight. Jones left the Barrow gang in August, and police arrested him a few weeks later near Houston.

As Christmas came and went, Barrow’s thoughts turned again to the idea of raiding Eastham. Someone else was thinking about the raid too–Eastham inmate Raymond Hamilton.

A 48-year-old eight-time loser named Jimmy Mullens, about to finish a three-year sentence for burglary, bunked next to Hamilton at Eastham. Raymond promised Mullens $1,000, payable after his escape, if he would find Barrow and arrange to have a number of weapons planted in the prison farm compound. Once released on January 10, 1934, Mullens went immediately to Floyd Hamilton’s West Dallas home to ask for help locating Barrow. Floyd had a clean record at the time, but he listened to the plan. Later that same day he took Mullens to meet with Bonnie and Clyde.

Barrow hesitated about getting involved. Something bothered him–Jimmy Mullens. Barrow had known Mullens in prison and remembered him as an unreliable and unpredictable drug addict and stool pigeon. Looking at Mullens, Barrow could think of only one thing–he was being led into a trap. Finally he agreed to help with the raid–but only if Mullens took part. "I’ll help you out, but I want Mullens to plant the guns himself," Barrow declared. Mullens stiffened. "I’m not doing it alone," he said. Turning to Floyd, he demanded, "You’re coming with me." Floyd reluctantly agreed.

Then late in the evening of January 13, 1934, Bonnie and Clyde dropped off Hamilton and a trembling Mullens less than a mile from the main prison compound of Eastham’s camp 1. Three days later Barrow and Mullens were waiting in the early morning fog for the prison break to begin.

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