Desperate to raise his infant daughter, Quawntay ‘Bosco’ Adams escapes from prison in Peacock’s February 2024 film Bosco. Bosco’s success is short-lived, however, as authorities arrest him and Tammy, a woman who inadvertently aided his escape.
Bosco is based on the Quawntay Adams’s real life imprisonment and breakout from prison
Bosco is based on the real life story of Quawntay Adams, a Compton native who was sentenced to 35 years in prison on drug charges. Adams received a harsh sentence due to prior convictions that stretched back to his early teenage years. He told the Los Angeles Wave that he didn’t intend to serve his sentence. Adams explained:
“I was determined to escape prison because I had just had a newborn daughter. I never even got a chance to hold her in my arms. I never imagined that I would bring a child into the world and not be able to be a father to her. Just the mere idea of being a deadbeat daddy or loser was destroying me. I had to do something about it.”
Following his arrest, Adams was placed under 24-hour surveillance in Alton City Jail’s maximum security wing. Undeterred, he identified and exploited weak links in the jail’s security system, escaping on 2nd May 2006. “I paid attention to every little thing and started forming an escape plan as soon as I walked through the gates,” he said.
Adams was rearrested shortly after fleeing prison. He appealed his sentence in 2020 after dismissing his court-appointed attorney. Adams succeeded, slashing his sentence by more than half. Capitalizing on the publicity of his daring escape and successful appeal, Adams wrote the autobiography Chasin’ Freedum.
“I hope that my story will inspire other youths, especially the young people in Compton, to continue to pursue their dreams,” he said. “I don’t give up. I’ve always had an ambitious heart, and I’ve always been determined. When I want something, I go after it.” Adams is a motivational speaker.
He started contributing to the Bosco project while in prison. “We were doing calls 15 minutes at time ‘cause that’s all they allow. … We did that for about a couple years, two years of just like … 15 minutes here and there, just developing,” director Nicholas Manuel Pino told Oxygen True Crime.
Adams joined the film’s set after appealing his sentence. “He was on set with us every day [along with] his daughter, which was just an amazing experience,” Pino added.