Alcatraz Island was a former military base before it was opened as a maximum security prison in 1934. The prison had a reputation for being inescapable, however, that changed on the night of June 11th, 1962.
To fully understand this article, we must first examine the escape crew who performed this haunting prison break. Starting with John William and Clarence Anglin, the two brothers were both in their late 30s and were serving time for robbing a bank together. Next is Frank Morris, who was in his mid-30s during the time of the prison break. It’s worth mentioning that Frank was abandoned as a child and taken into foster care, which got him in and out of prison since he was 13 years old and was serving time for a different bank robbery. Finally, we have Allen West who began bouncing between multiple federal prisons ever since he was 14 and was 33 at the time of the escape.
This issue will first take us to early 1960, when Allen West reportedly approached Frank Morris to talk about the escape plan. Allen seemed to know about a ventilator cover above Cell Block B that might have not been sealed over with concrete, which could have provided them with a perfect way to get onto the roof of the prison from the inside of the building. Working with the cell house maintenance crew also gave West insight on the weaknesses, layout and structure of the building. By 1961, all four of the escapees had requested to move to cells that were close to each other in Cell Block B, which were directly under that vent cover.
The Plan
Phase one: Deception
For most prison breaks, the escapees only had to think about leaving behind the prison walls, but because Alcatraz was an island surrounded by water, the four men also had to think about going back to the mainland of San Francisco without getting caught. This ultimately made them realize that they needed a head start; therefore, the men created painted dummy heads made from a plaster-like mixture of concrete, soap and other materials, completed with human hair. They then lay the heads in each others beds to fool the guards, and surely enough, on the morning of June 12th, the guards discovered the disappearance of the four escapees. While it is unclear who had made the dummies, its should be noted that Clarence worked as a barber, which would explain where they got the human hair trimmings.
Phase two: Breakout
The four escapees proceeded to work on the second phase of their plan: breaking out of the prison. All the four men’s cells had five inch by nine-and-a-half inch ventilation grates at the back of their cells. While it is still unclear, some sources say that West might have known about the fact that the wall surrounding the grate was less than six inches thick. This would have made it possible for each of the four men to expand the hole in their cell so that they can fit through. It lead guards to notice how, months before the escape, each escapee had drilled small, closely spaced holes around the covers of the ventilation grates. The men used crude, handmade tools such as a spoon (stolen from the kitchen) and a drill made from a vacuum cleaner motor. They managed to cover up the holes with all their musical instruments and fake covers made from cardboard.
This plan allowed them to crawl to a utility corridor located directly behind their cells that was left unguarded. They then were able to climb up to a hidden landing area directly above their cell block, where they had been working in secret for several months. Some/all the escapees had, at some point, been given permission to do maintenance work on this landing area. Allen West had also convinced the guards working to allow him to hang blankets that protected his work from dust, when in reality, he was using the blanket to hide the landing area that became the escapees’ secret workshop. This is where they were able to build the dummies and tools they used to escape. With all of this being said, I have to point out that Allen West was unable to make it to the landing spot on the night of the escape as he couldn’t make it through the last portion of the wall around his ventilation grate. This lead to West being left behind.
The other three men then climbed to the ceiling with the pipes and reach an air vent that they previously pried off. They later climbed down the roof using another pipe to the back of their cell block and climbed the 15-foot fence to make their way to the north shore of the island.
Phase three : Escaping the Island
During the time the men spent planning in the workshop, the inmates managed to build life-preservers and a 6-by-14 foot rubber raft made from 50 prison raincoats sewed together. They also managed to vulcanize the rubber raincoats by holding the seams up to the heat from the stream pipes. The raft was later inflated using a concertina (musical instrument) ordered by Morris back in April of that year.
The original plan was to sail across San Francisco Bay in the raft to Angel Island, which was two miles north of Alcatraz Island. They would later sail again from there across Raccoon Strait and, finally, to the mainland. This is where they would steal a car and some clothing. This information all came from West, who later told a great deal of the plan to the FBI.
Alcatraz soon went into lockdown as a search began, which is when guards quickly discovered the secret workshop and the footprints on the roof as well as at the bottom of the pipe climbed down. The Coastguard, the FBI and the Bureau of Prison Authorities joined the case of what would be a wide scale search.
But the escapees and the raft were never seen again.
