All the attempts to escape from Alcatraz: could you escape from the most famous maximum security prison?

Total escape attempts from Alcatrazmaximum security federal prison located on an island off the coast of San Francisco, were 14. They tried to escape from the island 36 mentwo of which try to escape twice: 23 were captured, 6 killed during the escape, 2 drowned, 5 were considered dispersed and alleged drowned. Officially, and according to what is also reported by Federal Bureau of Prisonsnobody ever managed to escape from Alcatraz: there are those who managed to escape from your cellsbut not to reach the mainland conquering freedom. The history ofEvasion of 1962who inspired Clint Eastwood’s film “Escape from Alcatraz, he lent himself to many conjectures as the fugitives have never been found. But who are these criminals so determined to try the escape one prison perched on an island In the middle of the sea?

Escape from Alcatraz prison is practically impossible

On the island of Alcatraz they started to bring prisoners since the mid -1800sbut it is only in 1934 that the Federal prison of maximum security. The intent of the Federal Government of the United States, with the concept of “Maximum security and minimum privileges”, It was to prove that he is ready to manage the more incorrigable criminals already detained In federal prisons, to take a position against rampant crime exploded between the 1920s and 1930s.

It was said that from Alcatraz it could not escape why Sharks swim in the surrounding watersbut these are sharks that do not eat humans, they only feed on fish on the seabed. The real problem of escaping swimming was thevery cold water – on 10 ° C, maximum 13 ° C – le strong currents which made it very difficult to swim and the distance from the shore of about 2.5 km, a passable distance, but not in adverse conditions. The prisoners were certainly not trained: they often eaten little and badly, and their physical shape was tried by imprisonment. Still, some of them managed to elaborate ingenious strategies who, at least for the first part of the escape, worked.

The 14 attempts to escape from Alcatraz

From the 1934 al 1963period of prison activity, 36 prisoners they tried to escape. The first fugitive sought freedom in ’36, the last in 1962. Here is the complete list:

1. Joe Bowers, April 27, 1936: Bowers worked as a burner of waste to the prison incinerator, and attempted the escape by climbing the metal network surrounding the island. He refused the order to go down and a penitentiary agent fired him. The prisoner died from the injuries sustained.
2. Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe, 16 December 1937: The two worked in the rug laboratory and, right from here, they managed to pass through the bars of the window. They venture to the sea during a storm. The research was sudden, but the two were never found: they are considered alleged drowned.
3. James Limerick, Jimmy Lucas and Rufus Franklin, 23 May 1938: They worked on carpentry, and attempted to escape by attacking an unarmed agent with a hammer, who will then die. The three fled on the roof: Limerick, hit by gunshots, died, while Lucas and Franklin served the life sentence for the murder of the agent.
4. Arthur “DOC” Barker, Dale Princhill, William Martin, Henry Young and Rufus McCain, 13 January 1939: The group fled by sawing the iron bars of the cell and bending those of a window, then heading on the shore, towards the sea. Martin, Young and McCain stopped, Barker and Princhill were reached by the shots. Barker died.
5. Joe Cretzer, Sam Shockley, Arnold Kyle and Lloyd Barkdoll, 21 May 1941: The four took a group of penitentiary agents hostage: among these there was also Paul Madigan, who will then become director of the prison. The agents managed to convince the prisoners that they would not be able to escape by convincing them to surrender.
6. John Bayless, September 15, 1941: Bayless tried to escape while he was collecting the waste, but then gave up because the water was too cold. When he was tried, he also tried to escape from the classroom.
7. James Boarman, Harold Brest, Floyd Hamilton and Fred Hunter, April 14, 1943: The group worked in the industrial area and took two agents hostage: they managed to go out and walking along the shore but one of the hostages managed to warn colleagues, and fugitives were stopped. Boarman was hit by gunshots and drowned, Hamilton initially managed to escape and hid in a cave on the coast, then returned to the industrial area and was arrested.
8. Huron “Ted” Walters, 7 August 1943: Huron was in the laundry when he tried the escape but was captured on the shore.
9. John Giles, July 31, 1945: Giles’ attempt was more ingenious by the previous ones. He worked on the load pier where he unloaded military linen and uniforms: he therefore decided to dress in uniform and embark with a group of officers. The fugitive hoped to arrive in San Francisco, but the boat was directed to Angel Island: the alarm was given and Giles was brought back.
10. Bernard Coy, Joe Cretzer, Marvin Hubbard, Sam Shockley, Miran Thompson and Clarence Carnes, 2-4 May 1946: This attempt to escape passes to history as a “battle of Alcatraz” because, while the six prisoners tried to escape, all the internees present in the prison decided to rebel. Thus began a bloody clash, during which agents died. The Marines were called to the rescue and, after two days, the order was restored. Coy, Cretzer and Hubbard died, Shockley and Thompson were sentenced to death and Carnes, who was only nineteen years old, to life imprisonment.
11. Floyd Wilson, 23 July 1956: Wilson, while working on the pier, moved away and hidden himself for several hours among the rocks of the island, was then discovered and brought back to the cell.
12. Aaron Burgett and Clyde Johnson, 29 September 1958: The two during a round of waste collection managed to escape swimming. Johnson was captured, but Burgett no. His body was found two weeks later, who died drowned.
13. Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin, 11 June 1962: This is the most ingenious and refined attempt to escape that could have been successful. The episode, also told in the Clint Eastwood film “Escape from Alcatraz”, saw three prisoners protagonists who, one evening, disappeared from their cells thanks to an intricate system of tunnels, forced conduits and with mannequins built to simulate their presence in the beds. Rudimental Trapani, puppets with real hair, wall segments and other tools were found, and in water also two rescue jackets, rowers, documents belonging to the Anglin, but no trace of the three men. Have they fled? Are they dead? A few weeks later, the body of a man dressed in blue clothes – perhaps similar to the uniform of the prison – was found along the coast. But the deteriorated clothing and the water made the unrecognizable corpse. Thus, Morris and the Anglin brothers were declared missing.
14. John Paul Scott and Darl Parker, 16 December 1962: The last attempt to escape from Alcatraz is not very preceding the closing of the prison in the 1960s. The two men forced the bars of a kitchen window, went out and threw themselves into the sea. Parker was recovered on a rock. Scott, on the other hand, began to swim towards the bay, but the current had the best: he was found under the Golden Gate, and brought back to Alcatraz.

In the 1963Alcatraz ceased his business: the maintenance costs were very high, as well as the operating and managerial ones daily. In the 1972 The Golden Gate National Recreation Areaand Alcatraz was included in the new unit of National Park Service. The following year he opened to the public, and today he has one million visitors a year. The president of the United States Donald Trump in a recent post on social media spoke of the possibility of a reopening of the maximum security prison, however, doubts remain on real feasibility.