June 1962 Alcatraz escape attempt

June 1962 Alcatraz escape attempt

Alcatraz in 2005
Date	June 11, 1962 (1962-06-11)
Time	Approximately 11:00 PM (UTC-7)
Location	Alcatraz Island San Francisco, California, United States

The June 1962 Alcatraz escape was an attempt by American criminals Clarence Anglin, John Anglin, Frank Morris, and Allen West to escape Alcatraz Island, one of the United States' most famous prisons.

Previous attempts

Main article: List of Alcatraz escape attempts

There had been 14 separate previous escape attempts by 36 different inmates.

Inmates

Clarence Anglin

John Anglin

Clarence and John Anglin

Main articles: Clarence Anglin and John Anglin

Anglin brothers Alfred, Clarence (born May 11, 1931), and John William (born May 2, 1930) were born in Donalsonville, Georgia, and worked as farmers and laborers. Together they started to rob banks in Georgia and were arrested in 1956. Clarence and John were given 15-20 year sentences and sent to Atlanta Penitentiary (where they first met Frank Morris and Allen West), Florida State Prison, and Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary.

Clarence and John then made several failed attempts to escape the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, and were consequently sent to Alcatraz. John arrived on October 21, 1960, as Alcatraz inmate AZ1476, and Clarence arrived on January 10, 1961, as Alcatraz inmate AZ1485.

Frank Morris

Frank Morris

Main article: Frank Morris

Frank Lee Morris was born in Washington, D.C. on September 1, 1926, and spent most of his early years in foster homes. He was convicted of his first crime at the age of 13, and by his late teens had been arrested for crimes ranging from possession of narcotics to armed robbery.

Morris had a long criminal history prior to serving time in Alcatraz. He was sent to the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary following one of his arrests, where he first met the Anglin brothers.

Allen West

Main article: Allen West

Allen Clayton West was born around 1929. He was sent to the Atlanta Penitentiary (where he first met Morris and the Anglin brothers) and Florida State Prison for hijacking as a car thief. He was sent to Alcatraz in 1957, charged with attempting escape, and became prisoner AZ1335.

West was the only one of the four conspirators who did not participate in the actual escape, as he was unable to open the ventilator grill in his cell in time. By the time he opened his ventilator grill, the others were gone and had taken the life raft with them. With no means of leaving the island, West had no choice but to remain in his cell until the escape was discovered the next morning. After the escape was discovered he gave several interviews to the FBI and prison authorities, during which he provided full details of the escape plan, possibly as some plea bargaining strategy. West was never charged for trying to escape from Alcatraz.

Later life

West left Alcatraz on February 6, 1963, then was transferred to McNeil Island, Washington and later Atlanta, Georgia. After his release from federal prison on January 7, 1965, West was sent to serve prison sentences in Georgia and Florida. He was released in 1967, but was later arrested in Florida on charges of grand larceny, robbery and attempted escape. Receiving multiple sentences, including life imprisonment, West was sent to Florida state prison in January 1969. On October 30, 1972, he fatally stabbed another prisoner in what may have been a racially-motivated incident. In December 1978, suffering severe abdominal pains, West was sent to the Shands Teaching Hospital, where he died of acute peritonitis on December 21, 1978, at the age of 49.

Escape

Dummy head found in Morris' cell

Chiselled cell air vent

By September 1961, Morris, West, and the Anglin brothers were planning an elaborate escape attempt. By late May 1962, Morris, West, and the Anglins had finished cutting through the walls of their cells.

The escape was attempted on the night of June 11, 1962. Morris and the Anglins climbed up the ventilation shaft through one of the chimneys and reaching the top of the roof. The trio then climbed down the rooftop and paddled away on rubber rafts. The next morning police searched for the escapees on Alcatraz and Angel Island without success. In 1962 the three were put on the FBI's Most Wanted List. West did not make it out of his cell and no charges were pressed against him.

The acting warden said they put dummy heads - made of a mixture of soap, toilet paper and real hair - in their beds to fool prison officers making night-time inspections. Morris and the Anglin brothers subsequently disappeared without trace and are still wanted by the FBI, although they are believed to have drowned in San Francisco Bay.

Investigation

Following an investigation, it was revealed that the inmates escaped from the island by creating a hole in the building to get to the roof over a long period of time using common objects. They then climbed over the prison's fence and assembled a raft made of the prison's standard issue raincoats, launching it from the northeastern coast of the Island.

It is unknown what occurred after the inmates launched the raft, although all three suspects have been reported missing since the attempt occurred, a possible sign that they were somehow killed while rafting in San Francisco Bay. The escape was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, beginning on June 11, 1962. In theory, the three inmates could have gotten to Angel Island, but the FBI stated that the cold water temperature and direction of the ocean's current made the odds against them. The FBI also stated that the plans of the inmates were to steal clothes and a car once they reached land, although no car or clothing thefts were reported in the area following the escape. The case was closed by the FBI on December 31, 1979 after a 17 year investigation.

As late as September 2009, the case was still being investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service, according to a story broadcast on National Public Radio. U.S. Marshal Michael Dyke told NPR, "There's an active warrant and the Marshals Service doesn't give up looking for people," he said. "In this case, this would be like saying, 'Well, yeah, they probably are dead. We're going to quit looking.' Well, there's no proof they're dead, so we're not going to quit looking." Dyke said that he still receives leads, including one as recently as two weeks before the story aired.

It was suggested in Unsolved Mysteries that John Anglin might have survived the escape, because a day after the escape a man claiming to be John Anglin had called a lawyer in San Francisco and wanted the lawyer to arrange a meeting with the US Marshals Office. When the lawyer refused to do this, the person hung up.

In the 1st season of Mythbusters (8th episode, first aired 12 December 2003) the possibility of escaping Alcatraz on a makeshift raft was successfully tested and determined to be plausible.

In popular culture

Main articles: Escape from Alcatraz (book) and Escape from Alcatraz (film)

In 1963, J. Campbell Bruce published his book Escape from Alcatraz about escapes from Alcatraz Island, including that of Morris and the Anglin brothers.

The 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz starred Clint Eastwood, Fred Ward, and Jack Thibeau as Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin respectively. Allen West was played by Larry Hankin; his character's name was changed to Charlie Butts.

See also

• John Paul Scott
• Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe
• List of people who disappeared mysteriously

References

• "FBI Investigation File 76-26295". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 2008-12-07.

• Zimmerman, Keith (2005). Mythbusters: The Explosive Truth Behind 30 of the Most Perplexing Urban Legends of All Time. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781416909293. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)