McNair eventually joined a sit down plea that led to him being moved to Florence High Security Prison in Minneapolis. After serving time, he joined another plea that led to him being moved to a high security prison in Denver. After serving time in there, he was moved to a high security federal prison in Louisiana. There, his job was to fix damaged mail bags so they could be sent back to the post office. On April 5, 2006, McNair decided to create an escape pod and hide inside one of the mail bags in a pallet. The pallet was later shrink wrapped but McNair managed to use a tube that he could breathe through once he had secretly pushed through the packaging. When police took the mail bag outside, McNair escaped the prison.