Assata Shakur escaped from prison on November 2, 1979, with the help of members of the Black Liberation Army (BLA) who posed as visitors. Three armed BLA members visited her at Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey, brought concealed weapons and a stick of dynamite, seized two correction officers as hostages, and commandeered a van to facilitate her escape. No one was injured during the prison break, and the hostages were released unharmed in a parking lot. After the escape, Shakur reportedly lived in Pittsburgh, then fled to the Bahamas before eventually finding asylum in Cuba in 1984, where she remained while evading U.S. authorities.