Most join voluntarily, many to escape a life of crushing poverty and misery.
The bars that remained, hidden away from public view, were dingy dens of sorrow frequented by hardcore drinkers eager to escape the troubles of everyday life with little care for their surroundings.
Yet the progressive economic policy-making coming out of Washington today rests on the futile attempt to escape the corporate cycle of life that lies at the heart of capitalism.
FORBES: Polaroid, Kodak, Apple: No One Escapes the Winds of Creative Destruction
Ethnic-Fijian aspirants living on the fringes of Suva, praying for an escape from the tedium of village life, saw in Mr Speight's putsch the promise of patronage and the chance to get rich in a state run by their own kind.
This was the India that Ashok Kumar served for nearly 70 years, providing for a few rupees some escape from the grind of life.
ECONOMIST: Ashok Kumar, a star of India, died on December 10th, aged 90
They wish to escape the pressures of real life.
FORBES: EA Plans on Putting Microtransactions in All of its Games
She was someone who found solace, who found an escape from the hardships of her life.
His theory is people need to rewire their brains to achieve the change necessary to escape the repetitive habits of slum life.
FORBES: For Favela Residents, Services Delivered With Tough Love
Investigators initially operated under the theory that the dean's list student was troubled and had decided to escape from the demands of her life for a while.
The teenager's week back in Kenya was also an escape from the pressures of her life in the UK. In London she has early morning training and late nights catching up with homework.
Delivering a travelogue mixed with flashbacks of his escape from Vietnam and then life in America, Pham, 32, delves into the intangible shades of living in "halves" - half East, half West, half in the past, half in the present.
Those needing a temporary escape from the pace of 21st-century life can stay at the abbey for a few days or a whole week, praying with the monks (some guests might decide to skip the first service of the day, at 3:20 in the morning), eating the same vegetarian fare as the monks, and observing the same strict silence at mealtimes.
The barracudas notwithstanding, it is a halcyon escape from the rigors of a sometime vicious social life.
WSJ: Ali Wentworth on a Solo Vacation to Turks and Caicos | Traveler's Tale
By escaping from the desktop, the Internet will both escape Microsoft and become a bigger part of everyday life.
Pirate cosplay allows people to escape the banality of work-a-day life, he said.
The Grynszpans were Ostjuden ("Eastern Jews"), having come to Germany in 1911 seeking opportunity and escape from the violent anti-Semitism of shtetl life.
WSJ: Book Review: The Short, Strange Life of Herschel Grynszpan
Basketball served as Reggie's escape, his refuge away from street life and his mess of a home life.
CNN: Ex-NBA star coaches middle school, transforms his 'hood
Its strong sense of community and laid-back pace of life also make it an ideal place to escape.
"Stair 10, the escape stair from the auditorium, has been the bane of my life since March 2011, " said Andy McGoldrick.
At that point, he couldn't see how he would ever escape his father's life, much less the world of North Beach.
Today the Hawkesbury River valley is home to those wanting to escape a busy, urban life, as well as legions of tourists.
After all, though there are deprived areas in the UK they can't be compared with the grinding poverty of Venezuela's slums where the incentive to escape to a better life is surely much greater.
CNN: Venezuela orchestra inspires fight against child poverty
The book's description of the texture of village life will also help people to understand the subtleties that usually escape Western headlines about Darfur.
ECONOMIST: A witness and victim of the conflict in Darfur finds a voice
Perhaps it is an escape from her daily life, or even daily persona, that lies behind the feminine mystery of Derby millinery.
Over the course of his deployment, Nick saved the life of a French soldier who was shot in the head and helped 42 people escape from a flooding river.
WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Announces Jobs Initiative for Post 9-11 Veterans | The White House
应用推荐