This episode appears to be based on two separate cases/incidents:
- The 2010-2013/2015 Kalief Browder case. Browder was an African American youth from The Bronx, New York, who was held at the Rikers Island jail complex, without trial, between 2010 and 2013 for allegedly stealing a backpack containing valuables. During his imprisonment, Browder was in solitary confinement for 700 days. Two years after his release, Browder hanged himself at his parents' home. His case has been cited by activists campaigning for reform of the New York City criminal justice system and has attracted widespread attention in the years following his death. In 2017, Jay-Z produced a television documentary mini-series titled tt6133034. In January 2019, New York City settled a civil lawsuit with the Browder family for $3.3 million.
- Partially based on the 2002 Casey White/Vicki White case. Casey White, was awaiting trial in a capital murder case, when he escaped the Lauderdale County Jail in Florence, Alabama, United States with help of Corrections officer Vicky White (no relation). Vicky White engineered and facilitated the escape by taking Casey to a car to what she claimed to her coworkers was a scheduled mental health evaluation at the courthouse. The manhunt for the pair was widely covered by American media. Law enforcement caught up with Casey and Vicky White on May 9 in Evansville, Indiana with the manhunt ending in Casey White crashing the car he was driving. Vicky White shot herself in the head, while Casey White was apprehended and returned to Alabama. She later died from her injuries and Casey was charged with her murder under Alabama's felony murder rule, but the charge was dropped when Casey pleaded guilty to prison escape on May 5, 2023.