Casefile True Crime - Case 67: The Battle of Alcatraz

Episode Date: November 18, 2017

In the 1940s, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in the San Francisco Bay was a state-of-the-art facility. Deemed to be completely escape-proof, convicts from all over the United States who were regarded as dangerous and incapable of rehabilitation were often transferred to the gloomy island prison. --- Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Researched and written by Milly Raso For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-67-battle-alcatraz

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. From the residue of the Great Depression and proud mission, emerged the public enemy crime wave of 1930s America. Hype profile outlaws, racketeers and organised crime gangs terrorised American cities, fighting to control million dollar illegal industries.

Robberies, kidnappings, murders, gang wars, corruption, shootouts and smuggling were rampant. Notorious gangsters such as machine gun Kelly, killer couple Bonnie and Clyde, bank robber and prison escapee John Dillinger and real life scarface crime boss Al Capone reigned over America completely indifferent to the law. Traditional prison didn't intimidate rich and renowned career criminals who ruled regional prisons by bribing prison staff, intimidating other inmates and smuggling information in and out. In response, the United States Department of Justice sought to create the ultimate crime

deterrent, a revolutionary prison guarded by incorruptible staff, where all inmates were of equal low status and nothing could get in or out. In October 1933, the Department of Justice acquired ownership of Arquitra's Island, a 22 acre rock in the middle of the cold and treacherous waters of San Francisco Bay, California. At 1.2 miles from the northern shoreline of San Francisco City, the barren sandstone island featured decaying remnants of its 150 year history, including a lighthouse, fortified stone walls, a citadel and an old military prison. Upon the structural remains of the old military citadel, they constructed a looming fortification

of concrete and steel. Encompassed by guard towers, spotlights, chain link fences, coiled barbed wire and thick tool-proof steel bars, they designed a revolutionary maximum security federal penitentiary named Arquitra's Prison. The most expensive prison ever built at the time had featured a main cell house with four cell blocks known as A, B, C and D blocks that were three levels higher with a total of 336 prison cells. Arquitra's Prison was the solution to America's overwhelming crime problem.

It didn't aim to rehabilitate like other prisons. It aimed to punish. The worst of the worst inmates of all the other prisons across America were shipped to Arquitra's. Inmates who were deemed unmanageable for traditional penitentiaries. Those who attacked or killed guards, routinely fought other prisoners, bribed prison staff, had attempted escapes and those who required firmer handling and tougher discipline. If you broke the rules, you went to prison. If you broke the prison rules, you went to Arquitra's.

Hardened career criminals were dehumanized and broken physically and mentally using isolation, cramped cells, intense rules, rigid discipline and crushing punishment. Some prisoners reported being threatened and beaten by guards. Prisoners claimed to have been chained down in the old dungeons beneath the cell house as punishment. In the initial years of the prison, a strict rule of silence was enforced, meaning prisoners were not permitted to talk to one another except during meal and recreation periods. Prisoners who violated the silence rule were disciplined harshly.

The rule was eventually relaxed when prison operators realized that sent many prisoners insane after an inmate chopped off four of his fingers with a hatchet in a desperate attempt to get off the island. Inmates nicknamed the island Hellcatraz and marched about the cold island with hopeless and helpless despair, tortured daily by the cheerful sights and sounds of bustling San Francisco city across the bay. San Francisco residents were wary of having a prison crowded with the most dangerous criminals in America located in the heart of their harbor.

Alcatraz prison operators assured them that they're one of a kind, state of the art island prison was completely escape proof. The prison was fitted with an abundance of safeguards to keep prisoners in. But it didn't stop some inmates from trying to plot their escape. By 1946, there had been nine escape attempts from Alcatraz. Fences were climbed, iron bars were filed through, rafts were constructed. Desperate escapees viciously killed a guard using a hammer. Some inmates slipped away during momentary distractions.

Impressively, one inmate was able to assemble a US Army sergeant's uniform from bags of laundry and when wearing the uniform, snuck aboard a ferry off the island. Three inmates were shot dead, two drowned in the strong tides of San Francisco bay and those who were recaptured wound up in solitary confinement. Of the 22 inmates who had attempted to break out of Alcatraz, all so far had failed. 37-year-old Bernie Coy was sentenced in June 1937 to serve 25 years for armed robbery at a penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. A World War I veteran who struggled to find employment after the war, Coy took to robbing

banks to make quick cash. After his trial, Coy told the judge, there's no place you can send me that will hold me. Born into poverty and the target of his father's beatings, prison nurtured Coy's defensive and violent tendencies and he frequently got into confrontations with other inmates. When Coy attached a razor blade to a toothbrush handle and attacked another inmate with it, prison authorities decided that without stricter control and punishment, Bernie Coy could become a dangerous, high-risk inmate. In July 1937, only 28 days into his 25-year sentence, Coy was transferred to Alcatraz

prison, where it was believed the harsher environment would straighten him out. Bernie Coy became Alcatraz inmate AZ-415. Bernie Coy despised Alcatraz prison. He routinely fought other inmates, including one violent fight where he was stabbed with a butcher's knife multiple times. Coy spent seven days in the prison hospital recovering. The life-threatening experience should have taught him a valuable lesson. Only those who put their head down, shut up, and served their time would come out of Alcatraz

alive. But it was hard to break a man who was already broken. At the end of 1939, during his second year on Alcatraz, Bernie Coy attempted to escape by trying to cut through a steel window shield located in the prison's bake shop. His plan was thwarted, and to try and discourage any further escape attempts, he was given the worst and most feared punishment a prisoner could receive on Alcatraz. Time in the strip cell. The strip cell was located in D Block, known as the prison's treatment unit, a prison

within a prison. D Block was a self-contained section in the southern area of the main cellhouse, inaccessible and off-limits to general population inmates. D Block featured 42 cells, home to Alcatraz's most problematic and dangerous rule breakers. 36 were solitary confinement cells. Prisoners in solitary were kept in their cells at all times except for one visit to the recreation yard and two trips to the shower facilities per week. Five were isolation cells.

They had dual doors, a traditional bar door and a heavy steel door in front to completely entomb the inmate inside. These cells were nicknamed the hole and only contained a sink, toilet and a low wattage light bulb. After his attempted bake shop break out, Bernie Coy was put in the strip cell, the final cell at the end of the isolation cells. Prior to entry, inmates were stripped naked and pushed into the cold, steel encased cell with no clothing or blankets.

There was nothing inside but a hole in the floor used as a toilet. The strip cell also featured dual doors except its solid door remained closed at all times, keeping the cell in complete darkness. A flimsy mattress was slid in at night but taken away during the day. Inmates in the strip cell were also given a restricted diet of bread and water. The extreme coldness, isolation, hunger and sensory deprivation had a profound effect on prisoners kept inside. The strip cell broke the most disobedient prisoners into a weakened state of obedience

and in the case of Bernie Coy, it appeared to have worked. After his time in the strip cell, Bernie Coy emerged a changed man. He was far less antagonistic and appeared to have given up any plans to escape. Over the following seven years, Bernie Coy earned a new reputation as a mature, easy-going, respectful inmate who got on well with everyone. He was well liked and trusted by fellow inmates and prison guards alike. Coy's positive reputation earned him the coveted job as the prison's library orderly. The Akatras Library was in the main cell house in the southeast corner of the building, adjacent

to C Block and an extorted D Block. A job given to trusted prisoners, the library orderly was permitted to move freely around the prison cell house to deliver reading material to guards and inmates. This job granted Bernie Coy access to the off-limits and sealed off D Block. Through his book deliveries to D Block, Coy was able to have unsupervised interactions with the prisoners kept there. Viewed as a model inmate, Coy was also given the additional work role of prison orderly, performing general janitorial duties throughout the cell house.

In the Akatras, being given more work was seen as a privilege as it meant spending less time alone in your cell. By 1946, Coy was dying to lose excess weight and spending spare time performing strength exercises to build muscle. In total, he lost 20 pounds and became noticeably lean and physically fit. Coy read extensively and painted pictures from memory of the hills and valleys from his childhood home of Kentucky. Coy's art was even admired by the prison warden who was pleased to put his work in

an exhibition in Washington D.C. where it was positively received. It appeared Coy was the shining example of the positive effect the strictness of Akatras could have on a difficult and disobedient man. Reshaping his reputation, body and mind, Coy went through a multitude of changes. But one thing never changed with Bernie Coy. He was determined more than ever to successfully break out of Akatras. For seven years, he had behaved himself and earned everyone's trust, patiently and discreetly studying the prison and its guards, memorizing their schedules, interactions, work duties

and habits. He called in favours from other inmates, procured and smuggled items, built makeshift tools and selected trusted accomplices. And by May 2nd, 1946, Bernie Coy was ready to break out from Akatras once and for all. At approximately 1pm on May 2nd, Bernie Coy collected a broom and started his janitorial duties in the main cell house. As he swept the concrete floors, the cell house was quiet. The cells were empty as the majority of the general prison population were out working

in other areas of the island. By 1.30pm, the guard presence in the main cell house was at its lowest level. The only guards on watch at the time were correctional officers Burt Birch and William Miller. Birch paced the West End gun gallery with rifle in hand. The gallery was an elevated barred catwalk that ran the length of the western wall above the ground floor. Its high vented point enabled the guard a top down view of the entire cell house.

Officer Miller sat at the guards desk by the dining hall entrance underneath the gallery. Coy continued sweeping the floor steadily by the desk, keeping his head down. Once he turned to the corner of C Block and was out of Birch and Miller's sights, Coy rushed to the library. At the back of the library was a door that led to D Block which he tapped on several times. The prisoners in D Block were having their after lunch naps, so the sound of Coy's tapping carried down the length of the quiet cell corridor and reached the ears of Alcatraz inmate AZ462.

39 year old Sam Shockley. Shockley was serving a life sentence for bank robbery and kidnapping. Shockley had the mental development equivalent of a child aged 8 to 10 years old and he suffered from schizophrenia and hallucinations. He spoke of hearing radio voices that stayed on all night, frightening him as they spoke evil words. He believed his food was drugged to make him crazy, that he had stomach cancer, which he didn't, and he said he saw flashing beams of light in his cell at night that he thought

controlled him. His psychosis resulted in violent and uncontrollable rages that earned him the nickname Crazy Sam and it was considered far too dangerous for regular prison, so he was quickly transferred to Alcatraz. However, Alcatraz didn't fix Shockley. He continued to have psychotic meltdowns where he would scream threats, throw things from his cell, break plumbing fixtures, start fires, and attack officers. As a result, he spent most of his time in D Block solitary and he was often put in the

strip cell. When Shockley heard Coy's tapping on the library door, he knew exactly what to do. Crazy Sam suddenly erupted into a pre-planned and staged violent rage that mimicked his previous meltdowns. He screamed, rattled his cell door, yelled threats, and trashed his cell. To office a sizzle call on guard in D Block, it wasn't an unusual sight to see Shockley having a random angry outburst. Before Coy went to investigate, he called Officer Birch in the main cell house gallery

to step into the D Block gallery and oversee the situation as backup. Back in the main cell house, Bernie Coy continued sweeping the corridors, pretending to be oblivious to the commotion he had just caused in D Block. With his eyes set on Officer Birch up in the gallery, Coy watched as he took a telephone call and quickly headed to the door leading to the D Block gallery. Everything was going exactly the plan. Once the door closed behind Officer Birch, Coy swept his broom towards the entrance of the dining hall, ready for the next part of his elaborate plan.

Alcatraz inmate Az645 was 34-year-old Marvin Hubbard, a convicted armed robber imprisoned in 1942 for kidnapping and transporting firearms across state lines. Hubbard was sent to Alcatraz after instigating riots and attempting several escapes at his previous prison. On the afternoon of May 2nd, 1946, Hubbard was on cleanup duty in the prison's kitchen located at the back of the dining hall. Intentionally working slower than usual, Hubbard had been waiting for a signal from Bernie Coy to let him know the escape was on.

Hubbard caught sight of Coy in the main cell house and got the signal. He discreetly slipped the large butcher's knife up his shirt sleeve. Keeping the handle in his palm, he moved towards the guard supervising the kitchen cleaning crew, Officer Joseph Burdette. At 1.40pm, Hubbard asked Burdette if he could go to the recreation yard and get some fresh air. Burdette agreed, and Hubbard walked down the long dining hall to the barred gate leading into the main cell house.

Officer Miller was now the only guard in the main cell house. He was by the entrance to the dining hall when Hubbard appeared. Miller opened the gate to let Hubbard in to the main cell house. Hubbard lifted his arms in preparation to be pat down by Miller to check if he had smuggled any contraband from the kitchen. Hubbard eyed Bernie Coy. Now was his chance. Bernie Coy silently placed the broom down, lowered himself into a crouch, and crept up

behind Miller as the guard was patting Hubbard down. Miller had no idea Coy had snuck up behind him until he was punched in the back of the head. Coy then pinned Miller's arms from behind, allowing Hubbard to attack him with a flurry of violent punches. Officer Miller, battered and bleeding, slumped back against Coy, unconscious. Coy searched Miller's body and stole a large ring of keys clipped to his belt. Over the years of spying on the prison, Coy had the knowledge to access and use the control

panel that opened and closed the prison cells. He pulled a lever and racked open an empty cell on the corner of Seablock, cell number 404. Coy and Hubbard dragged Miller inside the cell, stripped him of his uniformed jacket and pants, and then tied him down to the cell bunk. Coy ran back to the control box and opened three more specific cells. From the first cell emerged Alcatraz inmate AZ-548, 35-year-old Joseph Kretzer, a bank robber sentenced to serve 25 years in February 1940.

During outdoor work at McNeil Island Corrections Center in Washington, Kretzer and another inmate armed themselves with axes, stole a prison truck, and drove to a remote area where they were on the run for three days before being recaptured. The two were put on trial for unlawful escape. When the court took a recess at noon, Kretzer and his co-accused were led to a detention cell. When court recommenced, two court marshals entered the cell to retrieve the two accused. Kretzer stood and charged at the marshals in an attempt to escape, and a violent altercation

followed. After the scuffle, one of the marshals fell to the floor and suffered a fatal heart attack. In the trial that followed, the court accepted the death was accidental, so Joseph Kretzer avoided the electric chair, but was handed a life sentence. Due to his history, it was determined that greater measures were needed to contain Joseph Kretzer, and he was sent to live out his life sentence at Alcatraz. From the next cell emerged Alcatraz inmate Az-729, 30-year-old Mirren Thompson. Thompson had a long and varied criminal history, and in March 1945, he committed the act that

would see him sealed away for good. Thompson was being apprehended for his involvement in a burglary. He had not yet been handcuffed, so when the opportunity arose, Thompson pulled out a concealed revolver, pointed it at his arresting officer, and fired. The officer died instantly. Thompson fled to New Mexico and was captured attempting to cross the border. Alcatraz was the best incarceration option for Thompson. Its thick concrete walls and tool-resistant bars would hold this slick criminal, who had

eight successful prison escapes noted on his record. Thompson had only been in Alcatraz for just over six months when his cell door rattled open, and he stepped out to play his part in Bernie Koy's escape plan. From the third and final cell emerged Alcatraz inmate Az-714, 18-year-old Clarence Karnes. Karnes was sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of 16 for the murder of a garage attendant during an attempted holdup. He escaped in 1945 but was recaptured and had 99 years added to his life sentence. After making another escape attempt shortly after, Karnes was transferred to a scape-proof

Alcatraz in June 1945, where he earned the record of being the youngest inmate to ever be incarcerated there. At this stage, prison staff were completely unaware that a group of prisoners were orchestrating a breakout. As his accomplices kept looking out at the cell house entrances, Bernie Koy squeezed into the narrow utility corridor in the center of Seablock. In the narrow hallway of pipes, Koy collected the cotton pouch he had hidden there long before.

Inside the pouch were several items Koy had smuggled and prepared earlier, a bar-spreading device constructed out of toilet fixtures, a wrench, and axle grease. Koy stripped to his underwear and smeared the grease all over his body. Holding the pouch between clenched teeth, Koy hoisted himself up until cold of the bar surrounding the cell house observation point, the West End gun gallery. Hand over hand he scaled the bars until he was on top, looking down into the gallery's catwalk. Koy needed to move quickly.

Officer Birch was still distracted in D-Block overseeing Shockley's staged meltdown, but he could return at any moment. Koy manoeuvred the bar-spreading tool into the 5-inch gap between the bars. Using a tight grip on the wrench, he rotated the bar-spreader, causing enough tension for the bars to slowly bend. With several strained turns of the wrench, Koy forced the 5-inch gap between the bars into a sizeable 10-inch gap. Having already lost 20 pounds of body weight in preparation for this moment, Koy inhaled

a deep breath and squeezed his lean frame into the opening. The grease helped slide his body through, and within seconds, Koy dropped down into the gallery. Excitedly ramming through the weapons cabinet, Koy armed himself with a riot club and ducked by the door that led to the D-Block gallery. When Officer Birch re-entered the main cell house gallery after helping deal with Shockley, Koy pounced. He violently thumped the officer with the riot club, throwing the guard off balance

and causing him to drop his rifle. Koy leapt on top of him and began to strangle him. Officer Birch's eyes rolled back and his body went limp. Koy released the unconscious guard and took more items from the gallery's weapon cabinet. He lowered a Colt 45 pistol with 21 rounds of ammunition and several riot clubs to Kretzer and the others on the ground floor. Koy took ownership of Officer Birch's rifle and 50 rounds of ammunition. With rifle in hand, Koy opened the door to the D-Block gallery and snuck in.

Officer Corwin heard movement in the gallery above, assuming Officer Birch had come back. But when he looked up, he saw Bernie Koy pointing a rifle down at him. Koy told Officer Corwin to follow his orders, stay away from the telephone, walk over to the door and open it. Koy kept the rifle trained on Officer Corwin as he unlocked the ground floor door to the main cell house. The door swung open and Kretzer was waiting, immediately pressing the cold barrel of his pistol against Corwin's forehead.

Kretzer ordered him to hand over his uniform jacket, hat and keys. Corwin was then forced into cell 404 where Officer Miller was imprisoned. Bernie Koy returned to Officer Birch, stripped the unconscious officer of his uniform, stole his keys and tied him against some electrical piping. Koy then squeezed through the bent bars above and climbed back down to the ground floor. When Officer Birch regained consciousness, he struggled with his restraints and eyed the telephone nearby. I'll kill you if you try to reach that phone, Kretzer warned, pointing his pistol up at the

guard. At the control box, Koy racked open all the cells to the top two levels of D-Block. Some inmates emerged, curious to see what was going on. Others remained in their cells, not wanting to get involved. See him shockly, bounded from his trash cell, ready to escape. Koy and Kretzer hurriedly inspected the collection of keys they had confiscated from the guards, looking for key number 107. From his observations, Koy knew key 107 opened the door to the recreation yard.

Once in the yard, the escapees planned to shoot out surrounding guard towers. They would then make their way to the island docks, taking hostages along the way, possibly the family members of prison staff who lived on the island. Then they'd hijack a boat and set sail to the mainland, to freedom. However, progress immediately came to a halt when Koy hit the first major hurdle in his meticulous escape plan. He didn't have key 107. Koy expected to be out of the cell house and into the yard by now, but without key 107,

that was impossible, and he didn't have a backup plan. Impatient and frustrated, he began shoving the keys he did have into the lock in a fruitless attempt to open the door. But as to be expected, the door wouldn't open without the correct key. Then suddenly, the entry door to the main cell house swung open. Chief Steward Bob Bristow entered the cell house and moved briskly towards the dining hall at the end of the room. He noticed Officer Miller was not at his post.

Then he saw that the dining hall gate had been left open. Bristow felt something wasn't right, and made phony motions till it appeared as though he had forgotten something. He turned around and walked quickly back towards the cell house entrance where he had just come from. But Clarence Karnes, armed with a sharp pair of artist dividers, intercepted Bristow before he could raise the alarm, and led him to cell 404 that was holding the other captured guards. Koy and Kretzer then approached cell 404.

Officer Miller had regained consciousness, and the inmates demanded key 107 from him. Miller told them that after he was done with the key earlier in his shift, he had followed protocol and returned it to Officer Birch in the gallery. He could only assume it was still there. Having already taken Officer Birch's keys, Koy considered the possibility he did in fact have key 107, but failed to notice it in his hasty search. Laying out all the keys he had collected on the guards desk, Koy carefully inspected each one, but stopped when the cell house entry door opened once more.

Officer Ernest Largeson had finished his lunch break, and he was returning to the cell house. He heard footsteps behind him and turned around. A figure walked towards him, and as it got closer, Largeson made out it was a shirtless man wearing a pair of officer's uniform pants. He recognized the figure as inmate Bernie Koy. Koy raised his rifle as the other stripped Largeson of his keys and valuables, and shoved him into the now overcrowded cell 404 with the other captured guards.

None of the captured guards could work out how Koy managed to infiltrate the gallery and obtain the firearms housed there. There were no weapons carried in the main section of the cell house, only up in the gallery as it was considered the most secure area. Bernie Koy was the first inmate in the history of Alcatraz to get his hands on guns from the gallery. Minutes later, Officer Birch Debt, who was still supervising the cleanup in the kitchen, left to inspect the cleanliness of the dining hall.

He thought it was odd that the dining hall gate was open and there were no guards in sight. As Birch Debt went to investigate, he glimpsed Bernie Koy's rush past. Birch Debt thought Koy was about to fight another inmate, so he yelled out. Within seconds, Birch Debt was captured by the escapees and shoved into cell 404. Time was running out. With each new, unexpected hostage, the possibility that someone would come looking for the missing guards increased.

But without Key 107, the inmates were stuck in the cell house. There was no other way of getting out. As a frustrated Koy paced back and forth, trying to determine the whereabouts of Key 107, the imprisoned guards asked if they could untie Officer Miller from the cellcourt. Clarence Carnes agreed. As Officer Miller was untied, he covertly handed Key 107 to Officer Birch Debt. The inmates saw nothing. The cell was too crowded for them to notice the quick exchange.

In what was nothing more than a random coincidence, Officer Miller didn't follow correct prison protocol earlier that day like he said he had. He had not yet returned Key 107 to the gallery, and instead slipped the key into his shirt pocket with the intention to return it later. He took a risk and lied to the escaping inmates. He knew they would hurt more people if they got out of the cell house, and Miller didn't want that to happen. Kretzer and Koy had missed the key during their hasty search of Miller when he was unconscious.

After having Key 107 pass to him, Officer Birch Debt snuck to the back of the cell. As the other guards blocked him from view, he dipped the key into the cell toilet and slid it down the pipe until it was out of sight. Furious and flustered, Bernie Koy now suspected he was being lied to, and believed Officer Miller still had Key 107. He opened to cell 404 and roughly grabbed Miller, pulling the injured guard out of the cell. Kretzer aggressively searched him again, but found nothing. They demanded all of the guards in cell 404 out and transferred them into cell 403.

The tearing apart cell 404 in a frantic search and finding nothing, Koy glanced at the toilet. He got on his hands and knees and reached into the toilet bowl. He felt something metallic and heavy. He grabbed the object and lifted his hand out. Tied in his grasp was Key 107. In the prison's basement, Officer Ed Stucker patrolled the sharing facility, barbershop, and clothing room directly underneath the main cell house. He didn't engage the 21 prisoners under his watch in idle chit chat.

Instead, Officer Stucker's authoritative nature kept the prisoners' heads down and mouths shut as they went about their work. For Stucker and the prisoners alike, May 2, 1946 was just another uneventful routine day in Alcatraz Prison. Shortly after 1.30pm, two inmates who finished their duties early approached Officer Stucker, asking if they could spend the remainder of their scheduled time in the prison recreation yard. Stucker agreed and allowed the inmates to go.

The two inmates marched up the basement stairs towards the main cell house from where they could gain access to the recreation yard. At the top of the stairs was a locked, steel-graded door. Unable to open the locked door, the inmates called out to get the attention of guards in the cell house. When they got no response, they started rattling and hitting the caged door. Their racket echoed down the long corridors between the cell blocks, but no guards appeared. The two inmates returned to the basement to tell Officer Stucker.

Stucker immediately sensed something was off. It was very unusual for there to be no guards in the cell house, and he went upstairs to investigate. Using his own key, Stucker opened the caged door at the top of the stairs. Remaining at the doorway, he noticed something strange. Several inmates were out of their cells and moving freely and quickly about the ground floor of the cell house, with no supervising guards inside. The strain-mates caught sight of Officer Stucker and yelled out.

He backed into the stairwell, secured the door with a padlock, and moved quickly back down into the basement. He went straight to the basement telephone and dialed the prison's armory. The armory was the main communications centre of Alcatraz. The secure room had a switchboard to all of the telephones in the prison, and it housed all of the keys to the prison. It also featured a weapons vault filled with rifles, pistols, submachine guns, gas grenades, and ammunition.

Officer Cliff Fish took the call from Officer Stucker, who said quietly, trouble in the cell house, before hanging up. Confused, Officer Fish called several telephones located throughout the main cell house, but each phone rang out. Fish felt uneasy. This was highly unusual. Fish informed Captain Henry Winehold of his concerns. Captain Winehold interpreted the unanswered phones to mean a prison fight must be occurring,

so he went to sort it out. When he didn't return, Officer Fish contacted Lieutenant of the Watch, Joseph Simpson, and explained something suspicious was going on in the cell house. Within minutes, Simpson arrived at the armory with officers Robert Baker and Carl Sundstrom. They decided they should enter the cell house to find out what was going on. Officer Fish believed the cell house wasn't safe, and advised Simpson and the other officers not to enter. But Simpson ignored the warning.

Arming themselves with battens from the weapons vault, Simpson's group left the armory and moved into the cell house, leaving Officer Fish behind. Officer Fish watched the minutes tick by. When the officers didn't return to the armory, he believed that something had gone terribly wrong. And he was right. Although he didn't know it yet, the escaping inmates had captured Winehold, Simpson, and the others the moment they entered the cell house.

The hostage cell had become so overcrowded, the captured guards were forced to split up between cells 403 and 404. Once again, Fish called each of the telephones throughout the cell house. And again, the telephones went unanswered. It was time to call the warden. Alcatraz prison warden James Johnston was taking a nap in his home located at the northeastern end of Alcatraz Island. He didn't want to be disturbed, so when the telephone rang loudly around 2pm, Mrs. Johnston

was quick to answer. Fish asked to speak to the warden, and Mrs. Johnston denied the request, but Fish was insistent and clearly nervous. Johnston took the call, and Fish told him, there's some trouble in the cell house. I don't know what it is, but I think it's bad. The warden immediately made his way. In the meantime, Officer Fish was left with a difficult decision, whether or not he should set off the prison alarm.

If the siren was engaged, it would ring out for three minutes. The warden only alerted everyone on Alcatraz Island that the prison had been compromised, but the sound would travel across to the city and let the world know too. Fish made his decision, and at 2.07pm, a blaring siren echoed across the bay to San Francisco. Confused and concerned residents lined to the docks around the northern wharf, drawn to the sound emanating from Alcatraz. Back in the main cell house, the escapees had captured ten officers. Officers Miller, Corwin, Burdett, Bristo, Largesson, Winehold, Simpson, Baker and Sundstrom were

being held in the cells, and Officer Birch was still tied to the electrical piping up in the gallery. The escapees froze when the pitched ring of the telephones echoed throughout the cell house. When one stopped ringing, another would flare up from elsewhere. Ten minutes later, the prison alarm went off. The sound of the alarm sank Koi into panic mode. There was no time to punish the guards for hiding Key 107 in the toilet.

The main thing was that he had found it. He rushed to the recreation yard door and shoved Key 107 into the slot and turned. When he heard a click, Koi slammed his body against the heavy door. This was his defining moment. He was about to burst out from the cell house that had held him for seven years and fight his way to freedom. But the door didn't budge. Koi checked the key.

It was definitely 107. He tried it again. It still didn't budge. Over and over he inserted the key, turned it and pushed against the door, each time more desperate than the last. But the door didn't move. All his years of studying Alcatraz only gave Bernie Koi a surface level understanding of how the prison operated.

He had no idea about the inner workings of the prison. When an incorrect key was tried in a lock, it would displace some of the tumblers in the lock mechanism, rendering it completely inoperable. It was a hidden failsafe for exact moments like this. The inmates weren't to know that the recreation yard door jammed the moment they slid in the wrong key. Even when the correct key was used afterwards, the door had already shut down. The correct key no longer functioned.

As the prison siren echoed through the cell house, the inmates stood in silent defeat. Soon, the island would be swarming with armed officers ready to take back the cell house. Bernie Koi realized his grand escape had now turned into a possible suicide mission. Koi, Kretzer and Hubbard discussed their predicament. The three inmates made it clear to each other that they didn't intend to be taken alive. They made a pact. They wouldn't surrender. They would try to stay alive for as long as possible, and if an opportunity allowed one

of them to escape, they would take it. Eighteen-year-old Clarence Karnes was surprised at how casually the other escapees talked about the possibility of dying. He didn't feel as enthused. Hubbard instructed the uninvolved prisoners wandering around the cell house to return to their cells and take cover. War had been declared on Alcatraz, and the battle was about to begin. Koi sprinted into the prison kitchen and smashed out its windows.

All guards patrolling the towers had walked out into the open upon hearing the siren and were surveying the landscape. Koi aimed his rifle at the nearest guard tower and fired. He hit a guard who fell and cradled a bullet wound to his leg. Aiming at another tower, Koi shattered its windows. As the guard attempted to determine the source of the shooting, Koi fired at him. The bullet whizzed past the guard's shoulder, but he fell to the ground anyway, playing dead.

As Koi shot at the guard towers, the crack of his gunfire could be heard as far away as the Golden Gate Bridge. Joseph Kretzer paced the front of cells 403 and 404. The revolver stolen from the gallery held tightly in his hand. He openly contemplated the idea of killing his captives to leave no witnesses. Fellow escapee Myron Thompson agreed with killing the witnesses. Sam Shockley also encouraged Kretzer and yelled hysterically, shoot him all dead, go ahead and kill him.

Kretzer stood before cell 404, the barrel of his pistol pointed through the bars. Then Onehold pleaded with Kretzer to be sensible and not to hurt anyone. At near point blank range, Kretzer pulled the trigger. The bullet penetrated Onehold's chest. The cell's other occupants pressed themselves against the back wall as Onehold fell to the floor. Shockley cheered, shoot the fuck is dead. Kretzer leveled the barrel again and pulled the trigger.

The second bullet struck Officer Miller in the chest. The third struck Officer Corwin in the face. The remaining officers dived to the floor as Kretzer took aim at each one, pressing the trigger over and over as the bullets burrowed into the pile of bodies. The officers next door in cell 403 listened in horror as their colleagues were being slaughtered. When the firing stopped, they heard the familiar sound of bullets sliding into a revolver's chamber, followed by the click of the loaded mechanism being snapped back into place. Kretzer then appeared in front of cell 403.

With Callis in difference, he performed the same methodical slaughter of the occupants in the second cell. Lieutenant Simpson was shot in the stomach. Officer Baker fell to the floor, a bullet shattering his femur. Bleeding bodies fell on top of each other as Kretzer cleared the cell of standing men. Shockley yelled out that he saw a screw move back in cell 404. Kretzer returned to the cell, where Officer Largeson emerged from the pile of bodies and attempted to calm the killer.

Kretzer remarked that he had gotten along well with Largeson and wanted to spare the officer he considered a friend. But Shockley was a ratic and screamed Kretzer to finish the job. Kretzer looked at Shockley yelling at him, then looked back at Largeson. As he pointed the revolver at the guard's head, he said, I'm sorry Mr Largeson, then called the trigger. Seablock was hazy from the gunfire smoke, its concrete floors stained with blood. Kretzer kept his eyes on the cells and when he saw movement or heard moans, he fired more

shots until the bodies were still and a deathly silence fell over the cell house. Kretzer approached 18 year old Clarence Karnes, handed the shock young inmate the butcher's knife from the kitchen and ordered him to watch the cells and go in and slit the throat of anyone still breathing. Karnes peered intently into the cell and something caught his eye, the slight movements of chests rising and falling, shallow breathing. When Kretzer returned and asked if the officers were all dead, Karnes confirmed they were. In an act that put the young man at great risk, he lied.

He kept the breathing he had witnessed the secret. With no possible way to get out, the escape had now turned into a siege, but Mirren Thompson and Clarence Karnes didn't want any part of it. They used their lack of firearms as an excuse and said they had no weapons to fight back and therefore didn't stand a chance. They couldn't take on the armed guards with battens. The other escapees agreed and told Thompson and Karnes to return to their cells and take cover.

When Thompson and Karnes got to their cells, they cleaned the officers blood off their clothes, hoping they wouldn't be blamed for the slaughter of the guards. Kretzer looked at crazy Sam Shockley who seemed to be lost in his own mind, unaware of what was going on around him. Perhaps feeling guilty for involving the unstable child like Mirren in their violence, Kretzer told Shockley to return to his cell. They turned and walked away without a word. Several prison officers staged multiple rescue attempts, hoping to get their colleagues out

of the cell house. They were unaware that Kretzer had already taken them out. Each rescue attempt was met with a peppering of bullets from the armed escapees inside. Escapes and officers exchanged bullets, both sides firing with complete disregard and intent to kill. Officer Birch, who had been restrained in the gallery since the start of the breakout, tied to the electrical piping, was eventually able to be rescued. The answer to the question, how did Bernie Koy infiltrate the gun gallery, was finally

answered when the rescuing officers looked up to see the impressive side of BAMP bars and they found his makeshift bar spreading device. Many officers were badly wounded. Officer Harold Stites was struck by a straight bullet and lay motionless at the southwest corner of D Block, bleeding profusely. When other officers finally got to Stites, he was unconscious and unresponsive. He was dragged to safety, where the severity of his wounds was realized. Officer Stites was pronounced dead soon after.

At 3.30pm, the Coast Guard, the Army, the Navy, the Marines, the San Francisco Police Department, the Bureau of Prisons and off-duty Alcatraz prison officers arrived to Alcatraz Island to help take back the cell house. The military brought a full arsenal of weaponry that could completely wipe out the prison building if necessary. They were prepared to storm the building in a blaze of bullets and flash grenades, but Warden Johnston deemed it too risky to send in an armed assault team. He couldn't confirm how many inmates were involved in the siege.

A known humanitarian, Warden Johnston also didn't want to risk the lives of the hostages. Instead, he wanted to try communicating with the escapees. Officers climbed up the outside of the prison to broken windows facing into the cell house. When they called out to the escapees inside and told them to surrender, Kretzer's voice shouted back that they would not be taken alive. Come and get us, he screamed. Officers fired in the cell house from the windows. The bullets ricocheting off concrete and steel was deafening as tear gas canisters

also filled the building with burning mist. The searing hot shrapnel of exploding grenades injured a knocked out innocent inmates caught in the crossfire. Prisoners scrambled for cover as the inner steel workings of the building expanded and contracted with the explosions. The cell house lit up in bright smoky colours of white, yellow and red as freezing seawater rained down from destroyed plumbing fixtures. The bodies were billed out of wet mattresses, hooks and blankets, but they proved useless

against the fiery bullets and explosions. Coy and Kretzer fired back from the smoke and rubble, forcing officers to retreat. The battle lasted over five hours. By 9pm, the intensity waned. And by 10pm, the entire cell house fell completely silent. Good and Johnston finally agreed to send an armed assault team to storm the building to rescue the hostages and take out the armed inmates. At 11.05pm, 10 armed officers slowly opened the heavy steel door leading into the cell

house. They crept into the darkness with weapons poised. Progressing quickly and quietly down the corridors, they examined each cell they passed. At this stage, they were unsure which prisoners were involved in the siege, so they had to suspect everyone they came across. They saw cowering inmates squeezed under cots and huddled into corners. Some had fallen asleep, exhausted. The anxious assault team pointed their guns towards every click, crack and clutter.

They knew the armed inmates were hidden in the shadows around them somewhere. Waiting. Bernie Coy was perched on the top tier of C-Block, watching the assault team sneak below. He aimed his rifle and fired. The assault team retreated under the walkway directly beneath his location, only emerging to fire back. Drastically outnumbered, Bernie Coy was forced to retreat. The assault team hastily moved down C-Block and noticed a thick, dark puddle of liquid

seeping out from cells 403 and 404. Inside, they were confronted with blood-splattered walls and the unmoving bodies of their colleagues spread out on the floor. As they tried to make sense of what they were seeing, they were shocked to see some of the bodies begin to move. Having played dead for almost 10 hours, officers Burdette, Bristo and Sundstrom crawled out miraculously unhurt. Officer Larguson also emerged, he had been shot in the face, but luckily the bullet only

grazed him. Those that could walk helped lift and carry those who couldn't. Officer Baker had two bullet wounds in his left leg and another in his thigh. Captain Winehold, Lieutenant Simpson and officers Miller and Corwin were in critical condition. It was nearing midnight when the hostages emerged safely from the cell house. The critically wounded officers were loaded onto ferries and taken to hospitals on the mainland to receive emergency surgery.

Captain Winehold and Lieutenant Simpson were operated on first. Officers Corwin and Miller were next. The remainder of the hostages were able to detail the attempted breakout and identify who was involved. At 7am the following morning, May 3rd, the siege entered its second day as the orchestrators refused to surrender. That morning, news reached prison staff that officer William Miller had gone into shock as a result of severe blood loss.

Shortly after, he went into cardiac arrest and couldn't be resuscitated. As the sun rose over San Francisco and the building was now free of hostages, hellfire rained down on Alcatraz Prison. Gas grenades dropped into the cell house through ventilators. Grenades were lowered through holes drilled in the prison roof and detonated. Relentless gunfire dotted the building as Marines fired anti-tank shells striking the prisons out of walls. The onslaught was a spectacular sight to the thousands of civilians watching from the

mainland, but was absolutely terrifying to the inmates trapped in the cell house. The frightened and injured inmates were convinced they were going to die and could be heard crying out for help from the smoking building. One officer commented, that's one hell of a breakfast they're serving. The bombardment lasted the entire day and carried on into the night. During brief moments of reprieve, gunfire would spark from the battered prison building, confirming Coy, Kretzer and Hubbard were still alive somewhere inside and unwilling to surrender. So the bombing recommenced.

The battle ended at 8.40am the next day, May 4th, 43 hours after Coy instigated his grand escape from Alcatraz. No gunfire had been heard from the cell house for hours, so armed officers cautiously entered the prison to determine the fate of the escapees. Cell blocks A, B and D were cleared and secured, leading the officers to believe the armed inmates were cornered in C block. They paced by the recreation yard door, the inmates intended means of escape, which was still locked down.

As the officers descended on C block, rushing up each level and raiding all the cells along the way, Coy, Kretzer and Hubbard were nowhere to be found. An officer cautiously opened the door to the utility corridor nestled in the center of C block. It reeked of raw sewage as the bombing and gunfire had severed the plumbing inside. The officer called out a warning and was met with silence. As he stepped inside, his searchlight illuminated the body of Bernie Coy by the doorway. His eyes were open and glazed, pupils fixed.

Dried blood had crusted beneath his nostrils. He had a cut across the left side of his face and a weeping gunshot wound through his neck. His rifle was by his side, loaded and ready to fire with additional ammunition close by. Lying next to Coy was the body of Joseph Kretzer covered in bleeding abrasions. He had a gunshot wound to his head. Around his body was the revolver he used to shoot his hostages as well as various keys he had stolen from the guards. Found in the pocket of the jacket he was wearing was a crumpled piece of paper featuring a poem

he had written titled Death. There has been death this day and there will be more. Many men will come across the prison floor. They will kill me of that there is no doubt. There are many ways in, but no way out. My life has reached its final span. There is nothing left but to do what I can. They won't kill a convict, they'll kill a man.

Both Coy and Kretzer were wearing correctional officers' uniforms and their bodies were stiff from rigor mortis. At the very opposite end of the corridor was the body of Marvin Hubbard. Hubbard's body was still warm, confirming he was the last to die and that he had been killed hours after Coy and Kretzer. He had two bullet wounds to the back of his head. Hubbard had no firearms around his body, only the butcher's knife he had stolen from the kitchen at the start of the escape attempt.

Investigating officers believed Hubbard didn't fight alone until the bitter end. Instead, he waited patiently for his inevitable death from the reigning gunfire and grenades. None of the failed escapees died by their own hand. It was later determined that Officer Harold Stites, who was the first casualty of what was to be called the Battle of Alcatraz, was killed accidentally by friendly fire. His funeral service was held on May 7th, 1946, surrounded by his family and Alcatraz prison colleagues. The body of Officer William Miller, who was shot by Joseph Kretzer and later died of his

injuries, was returned to his hometown state of Pennsylvania, where he was laid to rest after a small service. Officer Miller was regarded a hero for bravely keeping Key 107 from the inmates, ensuring they couldn't get out of the cell house, where they would have had the opportunity to harm many others. The following is a written tribute to the two fallen officers. When men of courage and steadfastness lose their lives in the faithful performance of their duty, there is little that need be said by those of us who did not face the danger.

Their deeds speak far more eloquently. But I am sure there is no one in the entire federal prison system whose heart is not quickened with pride and at the same time saddened with a very real sense of loss when two such heroic men as William Miller and Harold Stites make the supreme sacrifice. The other critically wounded hostages from Joseph Kretzer's shooting spree, Winehold, Simpson and Corwin, all made full recoveries, as did all the other officers and inmates who suffered injuries during the Battle of Alcatraz. After a 12 minute boat ride to the San Francisco docks across the bay, Bernie Coy, Joseph Kretzer

and Marvin Hubbard finally found freedom from Alcatraz prison. No one claimed Coy's remains. His body was put in a plain pinewood coffin and buried in an unmarked grave at Woodlawn Cemetery in South San Francisco. Joseph Kretzer's body was cremated and his ashes placed in an unmarked burial vault at Cyprus Lawn Cemetery in Colmar, California. Marvin Hubbard's wife arranged to have his remains transferred to his hometown of Alabama, where he was buried in Shadygrove Cemetery.

Sketched with pencil on the rough concrete wall of cell 403 was a list of names. Fearing all the hostages would end up dead, including himself, Officer Ernie Largeson wanted to make sure those investigating later could identify his killers. On the wall he wrote the names Kretzer, Coy, Carnes, Hubbard, Thompson and Shockley. He circled the ringleaders, Kretzer, Coy and Hubbard. Next to Kretzer's name was a tick, labelling him as the killer. But this evidence wasn't needed in the end, as almost all the hostages managed to survive. They were able to detail exactly what happened in the cell house, including who was involved

and in what capacity. Sam Shockley, Myron Thompson and Clarence Carnes were singled out for their involvement. On November 20th 1946, the three surviving conspirators were put on trial for the murder of Officer William Miller. Other Alcatraz inmates testified on behalf of the three, stating the cruel and harsh nature of operations inside Alcatraz prison compelled the prisoners to want to escape or die trying. Anything was better than Alcatraz.

Most defended Sam Shockley in particular, claiming Shockley was not mentally fit to stand trial with his low IQ and mental age. They argued he was more so a manipulated victim than a keek and spirited. Seven inmates testified that Shockley was quote, stir crazy, and thus couldn't fully comprehend the repercussions of his actions. They added that Shockley's unmedicated psychosis was amplified by the conditions in which prisoners were kept in Alcatraz, stating that imprisonment on the rock drove even the most sane men crazy. 18 year old Clarence Carnes was also defended by his fellow prisoners.

One inmate described Carnes as quote, a puppy tailing the heels of the tough guys. He was seen as a voluntary though very naive participant. The trial lasted over a month and on December 21st 1946, the verdict was in. All three men were found guilty and were convicted of the first degree murder of Officer William Miller. Sam Shockley and Myron Thompson were sentenced to death. Thompson stated afterwards quote, it's just as well. I'd rather have it that way than go back to the rock.

It was known that Clarence Carnes actually saved the lives of the hostages by lying to Kretzer, stating they were all dead when he knew they weren't. After his act of mercy, Carnes was spared the death penalty and instead given a life sentence to be served in Alcatraz prison. He was kept in solitary confinement for six years before returning to general prison population where he became a model inmate and thrived in the prison environment. Shockley and Thompson were immediately transferred to death row in San Quentin State Prison located north of San Francisco.

While on death row, Thompson was found to be making a key in another escape plot. Both men appealed their sentences on the grounds that Joseph Kretzer alone had murdered Officer Miller and that they were somehow found guilty for his crime. Their appeals were denied. At 7am on December 3rd 1948, two years after the battle of Alcatraz, Sam Shockley and Myron Thompson ate their final meal in adjacent cells. Shortly before 10am, the two men were walked side by side to the gas chamber where in front of an audience of Alcatraz prison staff, they inhaled cyanide gas.

They were pronounced dead soon after. After the dust had settled, Alcatraz prison continued on as normal, slowly repairing itself. Its concrete walls were pockmarked from bullets and its steel framing was bent from the explosive pressure of grenades. The floor and walls were fractured from shrapnel damage. However, one thing remained perfectly intact. Alcatraz prison's reputation has been completely escape proof. Due to the extensive damage done to the main cell house, prisoners were locked up two, three

or four to a single cell. These guards no longer trusted prisoners, especially those who were well behaved and trusted, like Bernie Coy had been. Guards became paranoid and constantly searched inmates and their cells, convinced more violent escapes were being planned behind their backs, but they found nothing. The handling of the Alcatraz siege was commended by James Bennett, the head of all federal penitentiaries, who stated, quote, There was not the least indication of negligence or carelessness or inefficiency in this affair.

The felons found and took advantage of a weakness which not the most experienced enabled prison men could anticipate. When the emergency broke, it was handled intelligently, courageously and with great devotion to duty. Casualties were kept to a minimum. What was to have been a mass escape? Failed utterly. God and Johnston deserves high commendation. But to Alcatraz prison inmates, the responsibility of the battle of Alcatraz was placed on the

prison itself. One Alcatraz ex-convict stated shortly after the battle, quote, I'm out now. I've got no beef. I just want to see something done so things like this riot won't ever happen again. I know that if they treated the prisoners half civilly, they wouldn't react like vicious beasts. You can't coop up men and take all hope away from them.

Warden Johnston always says the trouble with Alcatraz prisoners is that they want their freedom. That's right. They want to get out.