Alcatraz. It was once a fort, a military prison, and a maximum security, minimum-privilege federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island, 1.25 miles off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States. This prison has housed many of the worst criminals to have ever existed, boasting notorious residents such as Al “Scarface” Capone, brutal and cold-hearted kingpin of the Chicago underworld during the Roaring Twenties; George “Machine Gun” Kelly, who kidnapped wealthy oil magnate Charles F. Urschel in July 1933 from which he and his gang collected a $200,000 ransom equivalent to $4.71 million in modern times; and Robert Stroud, also known as The Birdman of Alcatraz, a convicted murderer imprisoned at multiple  federal prisons from 1909 to 1963 who raised nearly 300 birds during his time at Leavenworth Penitentiary. 

A symbol of ultimate security and isolation, Alcatraz was designed to hold the worst prisoners of America who continuously caused trouble at other federal prisons. Situated on an island, it was naturally isolated by the frigid, treacherous waters of San Francisco Bay. The cellhouse was equipped with tool-proof bars and metal detectors to prevent breakouts, and prisoners were subject to a rigorous, regimented routine that minimized opportunities for rebellion or escape. Alcatraz kept its inmates under the tightest control. Inmates were housed one man to a cell, unlike two to four person cells commonly seen in other deferral prisons. They had to earn their way out of their cells through good behavior, and everything other than the basic necessities, legal representation, letters to family members and religious services was considered a privilege. In other prisons, inmates would spend most of their days out of their cells at activities of mandatory work programs. 

Only three men have ever escaped Alcatraz in history, and no conclusive evidence have ever surfaced regarding the fate of the three men. On the night of June 11, 1962, at approximately 10:30pm, inmates Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers Clarence and John escaped. Aboard improvised inflatable rafts, they departed from Alcatraz. Their intended destination? Angel Island.

Orphaned at the mere age of 11 and convicted of his first crime by the age of 13, Morris had spent most of his life in various correctional facilities and foster homes. He was a seasoned criminal, with a record ranging from narcotics possession to armed robbery in his teens, and grand larceny, car theft, and armed robbery as he grew up. Morris was considered highly intelligent, and reportedly ranked in the top 2% of the general population in intelligence. He had been sent to Alcatraz in January 1960 after his escape from Louisiana State Penitentiary.

John William Anglin and Clarence Anglin were inseparable brothers since young. They were born into a family of 14 children to farmworkers in Georgia. Talented swimmers in their youth even in frigid waters, Clarence was first caught breaking into a service station when he was 14. The brothers began robbing banks and other establishments together as a team in the early 1950s, and usually targeted closed businesses so as to ensure no one got injured. They had only used a weapon once – a toy gun. On January 17, 1958, the brothers received a 35-year sentence after robbing the Bank of Coloumbia, and served at Floride State Prison, Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, and lastly, Atlanta Penitentiary. Their repeated escape attempts from the Atlanta facility led to them being transferred to Alcatraz on October 24, 1960 for John, and January 16, 1961 for Clarence.

The three, including Allen West, an inmate on Alcatraz since 1957, knew each other from previous prison stints, and spoke to each other at night since they had adjoining jail cells. Together, they began to hatch a detailed and audacious plan to escape, one whose likes had never been seen before. Over a period of several months, using metal spoons purloined from the fining halls, a drill handmade from a vacuum cleaner motor and discarded saw blades, the men chiselled away at the salt damaged concrete around the air vents under their sinks. To mask any noise made, Morris would play his accordion during the daily hour when music was played to the prisoners. 

Once they had dug a hole large enough to crawl through to the corridor, they climbed up to the empty top-level of the cell block and set up a workshop discreetly. They fashioned fake paper mache grills from the prison library magazines to hide the cell-wall holes and set about constructing a makeshift rubber raft and live vests made from more than 50 stolen raincoats in their workshop. They used any materials they could scourge to their advantage, with hot steam pipes used to seal the rubber, and a concertina to make a tool to inflate the raft and paddles out of bits of plywood.

To conceal their absence from the guards who worked tirelessly around the hour to make periodic night checks, they sculpted paper mache versions of their heads from toothpaste, soap, toilet paper, real hair from the prison barbershop floor, and painted them in flesh tones using stolen art supplies. They would then place bundles of clothes and tunnels under their blankets in the shape of their bodies to make it seem to the guards that they were asleep. 

On the night of 11 June 1962, everything was in place. They were more than ready to put their ingenious plan into motion. Leaving the dummy heads in their beds, Morris and the two Anglin brothers crawled out through the holes. West was unable to get out of his cell in time, so the others left without him. Climbing, running and shimmying, they scrambled down to a steep embankment to the north-eastern shore of the island, inflated their boat, and disappeared into the night. The alarm wasn’t raised till the following morning, when the decoy heads were discovered.

The prison went into an immediate lockdown with an intensive search of all the buildings. A massive manhunt was launched, but the three fugitives were nowhere to be found, even after days of searching. On 14 June, the Coast Guard found one of the paddles, and workers found a packet of the Anglin’s personal effects sealed in rubber. A week later, some remnants of the raft was washed up near the Golden Gate Bridge and the following day, one of the life-vests was discovered. Yet the three, were never seen again. 

Authorities concluded that they had perished in the treacherous waters while attempting to leave the island, yet the case remains open. In 2018, San Francisco police revealed that they had been sent an anonymous letter five years earlier, from someone claiming to be John Anglin. The letter read “I escape from Alcatraz in June 1962. Yes, we all made it that night, but barely!” The letter stated that the men had lived on in secret, with Frank Morris dying in October 2005 and Clarence Anglin in 2008. The author claimed to be willing to negotiate his surrender in exchange for cancer treatment. The FBI were unable to verify the letter for its authenticity. Till now, the case is still open for the US Marshals Service, and recently, it released updated pictures of what the three missing Alcatraz prisoners might look up now, appealing for any information about them, in the hope that the mystery could finally be put to bed.

Alcatraz truly is a symbol of ultimate security, with so many escape attempts, yet only one was successful, and even then, we have no clue on their whereabouts, whether they survived, or perished in the treacherous waters of Alcatraz. Even so, it is a feat to behold, and a mystery that will forever be in the minds of many.