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There were a total of 14 escape attempts from the infamous high security prsion located on Alcatraz island throughout its years of service. many thought the pison to be inescapable, owing to its distance from the shore (1 1/4 miles), the deadly strong currents which surronded the island, and the year round low water temperature.
Despite this 36 prisoners attempted escape throughout the prisons lifetime. Two men tried twice; twenty-three were caught, six were shot and killed, two gave up and five are listed as “missing and presumed drowned.”
During its 29 years of operation, the penitentiary claimed that no prisoner successfully escaped
The most famous escape attempt occurred in 1962, when 4 men conspired to flee the island into freedom, with an intricate, intelligent and well executed plan.
These 4 men were:
Frank Morris
Orphaned at 11 years old and beginning his criminal career at 13, Morris jumped in and out of prisons for crimes such as armed robbery and car theft. After escaping Louisiana State Penitentiary and being apprehended a year later, he was sent to Alcatraz.
John and Clarence Anglin
The Anglin brothers were committing robberies as a team since the 50’s, always choosing institutions that were closed to ensure no-one was hurt. They claimed to have only used a ‘weapon’ once in a robbery – a toy gun. After attempted escapes in Atlanta, they were transferred to Alcatraz in 1960 and 1961 respectively.
Allen West
Imprisoned for car theft, and attempted escape from a Florida prison before being transferred to Alcatraz. He was arrested over 20 times throughout his lifetime.
All the men were in their 30s when they carried out this audacious escape attempt.
The four inmates were no sooner assigned adjacent cells in December 1961 than they began formulating the escape plan together, though always under the leadership of Morris.
They began by widening ventilation shafts on the back wall of their cells, using discarded saw blades, metal spoons and an improvised drill crafted using the motor of a vacuum cleaner. They covered the ever widening hole in the wall with painted cardboard.
When the holes were big enough for them to fit through, they could access the utility corridor that ran along the wall behind their cells. This corridor was unmanned and from there they could climb up to the top level of the cell block, which was entirely vacant. In this space they were able to cobble together life preservers and a raft made of stolen rain coats, stitching them together and sealing them using steam pipes. They also removed a fan grille from a ventilation shaft that would give them access to the roof.
When the holes were big enough for them to fit through, they could access the utility corridor that ran along the wall behind their cells. This corridor was unmanned and from there they could climb up to the top level of the cell block, which was entirely vacant. In this space they were able to cobble together life preservers and a raft made of stolen rain coats, stitching them together and sealing them using steam pipes. They also removed a fan grille from a ventilation shaft that would give them access to the roof.
They worked by night, filling their empty cots with pillows to fool the guards into thinking they were sleeping. Not only this, they also created a type of papier mache head, using soap, toothpaste, dust and toilet paper, painted to look realistic, and stuck on hair from the barbershop.
On June 11th, they enacted their escape. While their fellow inmates slept, 3 of the men crept through the holes in their back wall and made for the roof. Allen West however was unable to join them, as he had recently shored up his hole when it began to crumble, and unfortunately his make-shift cement had hardened. By the time he had loosened it enough to get through the other men had gone.
For Morris and the Anglin brothers however, they were able to sneak up onto the roof undetected. The loud crash made by breaking through the ventilation shaft was ignored by the guards. From here they climbed down 50 feet from the root using a vent pipe, and scaled 2 12 foot barbed wire fences. They climbed the fences at a blindspot on the northeast shoreline. Using a modified concertina they inflated the raft and departed toward Angel Island, two miles to the north, in the darkness of night.
At this point in the story, we can only guess what happened next.
Did they make it through the strong currents and blisteringly cold waters, in the San Francisco night?
The FBI certainly believed they did not. After discovering the missing inmates an extensive air, sea and land search was carried out over the following 10 days. Various items were discovered, including a makeshift paddle, a wallet containing photos of Anglins friends and family, and material believed to be remnants of the raft. But there was no sign of the men.
The FBI maintained the men must have drowned, claiming the difficult conditions and the discovery of personal items. Some showed their doubts however, concerned that no bodies were ever found. There were claims that boats were spotted in the area around 1am, which may have been there to assist the escape, but the claim was unsubstantiated.
A body was spotted floating 17 miles from the Golden Gate bridge a month after the escape, but not recovered, though it was doubted a body could remain afloat for that long, if it was one of the escapees. 8 months after the escape, human bones were also discovered, which belonged to a man of Morris’s age and height, but were otherwise inconclusive.
The official FBI position is that while it is theoretically possible the men survived, the odds of this were negligible, and that they would have expected to have received reports of theft of clothes or automobiles on the shore if the men had made it, which they denied there was.
In December of the same year, inmate John Paul Scott successfully swam a distance of 2.7 nautical miles from Alcatraz to Fort Point, where he was discovered suffering from hypothermia and exhaustion. This proved that the Alcatraz conditions, whilst very difficult, were surmountable, and Scott was swimming in December, not June, with less buoyancy than the life preservers the 3 escapees had crafted. Today the same distance is covered frequently by athletes as part of triathlon events.
There were a few reported sightings in the following years, an old school friend claimed to spot Morris in Maryland in 1967, and reports that John Anglin was living in Brazil were taken so seriously that agents were sent to investigate. The Anglin family also received a series of anonymous postcards over the years, sometimes signed “Jerry” or “Joe”. Their mother also received flowers anonymously every year on mothers day, until her death in 1973 were it was reported two very tall unusual women in heavy makeup had attended before disappearing. Similarly, two strangers appeared at the funeral of the Father in 1989, who stood in front of the casket for a moment, wept, and then left.
We will probably never know for sure if those men survived their daring escape attempt. The evidence is inconclusive either way. The FBI closed its file on December 31st 1979, but the US Marshals Service investigation remains open, Deputy US Marshal Michael Dyke stated in 2009: “There’s an active warrant, and the Marshals Service doesn’t give up looking for people.”
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