Alcatraz is one of the most famous and impregnable prisons in the world. The stories of her prisoners and fruitless escape attempts have become the foundations of legends, films, and literary creations. But were the escapes really that bad? Maybe someone did succeed?
On March 21, 1963, Alcatraz, also known as "The Rock", was closed down, a famous American prison for especially dangerous criminals. Located on the island of the same name off the coast of California, it was once considered the most protected in the United States.
Presumably, in the 29 years of operation of the prison, not a single successful escape has been made. But it is impossible to say for sure, since the three prisoners who managed to escape from the island in 1962 were never found either alive or dead. A number of factors indirectly indicate that they survived crossing the bay.
First of all, imagine how unlikely the very idea of escaping from this prison was. Alcatraz Island is located more than one and a half kilometers from the coast, the icy water and strong currents provide its natural isolation.
Outside, the building was surrounded by a high fence with barbed wire and watchtowers. There was one warden for every three inmates, and each offender was held in solitary confinement.
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However, in June 1962, three men managed to get around all these obstacles. A sophisticated escape was carried out by Frank Morris, convicted of robbing a bank, and brothers John and Clarence Anglin, repeatedly convicted of theft and car theft.
Alan West was also in the case, but he did not manage to get out of the cell in time. All of them had previously attempted to escape, for which they were transferred to Alcatraz.
The accomplices occupied the neighboring cells. Having learned that the old ventilation system above their block, unlike the others, is not filled with concrete, the prisoners decided to make their way through it to the roof of the prison.
A narrow service tunnel led to the ventilation, passing just behind the wall of their cells. And in each cell there was a ventilation hole measuring ten by twenty centimeters. Morris became the developer of the project, and the other three were engaged in the first phase of manufacturing the necessary equipment.
They soldered a sharpened metal spoon to a stolen motor from a vacuum cleaner, using silver from a dime instead of rosin. The result was an impromptu drill, with which the conspirators took turns drilling the wall around the ventilation hatch for almost a year.
The noise was drowned out by the music that played in the block every day for an hour. They covered the damage to the wall with a fake lattice, skillfully made from sheets of cardboard.
At the same time, the criminals exchanged windbreakers and rubberized raincoats from other prisoners, from which they built a raft measuring two by four meters and life jackets. The oars were cut from plywood.
In addition, in order to prevent their disappearance from being prematurely noticed by the guards who made night rounds of the cells, the men made dolls from papier-mâché and dummies of human heads with real hair collected in a hairdresser.
On June 11, 1962, after lights out, the accomplices covered the dolls with blankets and climbed into the tunnel through the holes in the wall. Only West, as it turned out, did not make a hole of sufficient size, and they decided to flee without him.
Unbending the grate that covered the idle fan, the three climbed onto the roof and descended to the water through a drainpipe. There they inflated the raft with a small harmonica prepared. At about ten o'clock in the evening, the fugitives sailed from the coast.
On this, the traces of Morris and the Anglin are lost. Officially, they are still missing. Two days after the escape, a waterproof bag was found containing a phone book, money and family photographs belonging to one of the Anglin brothers.
A homemade life jacket was also found with visible teeth marks on the valve: the clamp was probably not airtight, and the swimmer had difficulty staying on the surface (the water temperature in those days was no more than ten degrees Celsius).
Until 1978, the FBI was looking for the fugitives, and then the warrant for their arrest was handed over to the US Marshals Service. Since 2003, the investigation has been conducted by an employee of this department, Michael Dick. He believes that the criminals managed to escape, as evidenced by nearly 250 circumstantial evidence.
In particular, the mother of the Englins has received flowers from mysterious anonymous authors for several years. It is also believed that John and Clarence attended her funeral in 1973, disguised as women. And historian Frank Heiney learned from the Anglin relatives that they allegedly received a postcard from South America signed by two brothers. Absolutely nothing is known about the fate of Morris.
Arrest warrants for criminals will only be canceled after they turn 100. In the meantime, the search for fugitive prisoners of Alcatraz continues.