Casefile True Crime - Case 68: Escape from Alcatraz

Episode Date: November 25, 2017

Following the failed 1946 escape turned violent siege, safety measures at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary were made even more stringent and inmates were kept under harsher controls. In the decade following the Battle of Alcatraz, no further escapes were attempted. --- Researched and written by Milly Raso For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-68-escape-alcatraz

Have you ever tried BBQ on BBQ? Picture this. Freshly prepared crispy seasoned chicken that's tossed in a smoky BBQ glaze and topped with a creamy BBQ sauce. Can't picture it? Well you can try it now at Tim's. Get our new BBQ crispy chicken loaded bowls and wraps for a limited time. 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. Although Alcatraz Prison had since been repaired to a workable condition, the battle scars of Bernie Coy's 1946 violent failed escape remained visible throughout the cell house. Areas of the floor were chipped, cracked and faded black from where grenades had detonated. In response to the battle of Alcatraz that resulted in the deaths of two correctional officers, the imposing prison tightened its grip on the inmates. The stricter control was used to readjust the kinds of rebellious attitudes and behaviours that led to the siege in the first place and aimed to crush all thoughts of escape. Minor infractions seen as disrespectful or agitating were met with harsh punishment. Rumours spread amongst inmates that guard tower snipers had been ordered to shoot to kill anyone trying to break out. In the ten years following the battle of Alcatraz, no inmates attempted an escape. It seemed the temptation had been overtaken by fear of death. However, the thought never left the minds of battered inmates who resented Alcatraz and sought freedom. As days dragged on and felt like eternity, inmates found solace in passing the time by dreaming up elaborate escape plans and thinking of ways to get out of Alcatraz once and for all. Every morning at 6.30am, inmates woke to the piercing sound of the morning whistle. They rose, made their beds, cleaned up their cells and washed themselves in preparation for breakfast.

At 7.15am, a second whistle blew, signalling the start of the camp. Inmates stood at the bars of their cell while the passing guard took a head count. It was no different on the morning of June 12, 1962. Inmates slant against the bars as guards walked past counting. Oddly, the guards realised they were missing three. Thinking they must have miscalculated, they walked back along the corridors and recounted. But they got the same result. Three were missing. Logical explanations were considered first. Maybe the three inmates were still in a deep sleep and failed to hear the morning whistle. Maybe they were unwell in bed and needed medical attention. Guards quickly paced by the cells to determine who was on upstanding. In cell 158, an inmate was called up in bed still asleep. Reaching into the cell, a guard padded the pillow next to the inmate's head in an attempt to wake him up. But the inmate didn't stir. The guard then tapped the inmate's head. Still no response. The guard yelled out, we either have a dead man or a dummy in the cell block. I can't wake him up.

Other guards walked over to the cell to investigate. One yelled at the inmate to get up. Still no response. Inpatient, the guard reached in and slapped the sleeping inmate hard across the face. Horrified guards leapt back when the inmate's decapitated head rolled straight off the pillow and onto the floor. It's a dummy a guard caught out. They pulled the blankets off the cot and exposed bunched up clothing that had been tucked underneath to give the illusion of a sleeping body. A small square hole just wide enough to squeeze through was found dug into the back wall of the cell. Guards rushed frantically around the cell house. They discovered two more cells with dummies in the beds and holes dug out of the back walls. The three inmates belonging to each of the cells were missing. When the guards rushed to raise the alarm, Alcatraz inmate Alan West casually leant against his cell door and called out. He may as well lock me up. I planned the entire escape. Alcatraz inmate A-Z-1130

Serving 10 years for transporting stolen vehicles across state lines, 33-year-old Alan West was relocated to Alcatraz in 1957 after a failed escape attempt at his previous state penitentiary in Florida. Alcatraz inmate A-Z-1130, West quickly earned a reputation as an aggressive tough guy who always got in trouble with other inmates. After a punishing stinging deblock, the prison's treatment unit for troublemakers featuring solitary and isolation cells, West emerged with a strong desire to escape Alcatraz, but had yet to come up with a plan on how to do so. The main cell house of Alcatraz prison consisted of four large cell blocks, A, B, C and D blocks. D block was the only one closed off from the main cell house. The cells in A block were mostly used for storage, except when certain prisoners needed to be separated from other inmates, but were not being punished. The lines of cells in B and C blocks housed the majority of the general prison population. Each cell block was three stories high with rows of cells on each level. Every moment of the day, guards patrolled the ground floor corridors between cell blocks, as well as the balconies of each of the higher levels. On the top of each cell block was an attic-like space directly under the prison's ceiling. This narrow space was surrounded at its edges by bars and was in full view of guards patrolling the galleries.

There was an open space filled with pipes and vents that was rarely visited. As such, it had been neglected and become very dirty and dusty, and the ceiling paint had faded. So after his punishment in D block, Alan West was assigned to go up to the top of the cell blocks to clean up and to repaint the ceiling of the main cell house. Whilst up there, he caught sight of something intriguing. There were multiple wide ventilation shafts in the ceiling that laid out onto the prison roof. Most had been filled in with concrete long ago, making them completely inaccessible. However, West noticed one ventilation shaft had not yet been filled in. But there were several steel bars inside the duct crisscrossing over each other. They were strong and would be near impossible to cut through with meager makeshift prison tools. It seemed the ventilation shaft was a false hope. But then, West noticed the edges of the vent had been screwed into the concrete ceiling.

He started to believe with the right tools, he might be able to unscrew and remove the entire vent structure and pull the whole thing out in one piece. That would save him from having to cut through the bars inside. The exposed tunnel would lead him straight onto the prison roof and onwards to freedom. West couldn't investigate the vent properly though, as the top of the cell block could be seen by guards patrolling the nearby gun gallery. If they caught sight of him eyeing the vent, they'd probably fill it with concrete immediately as a precaution. There was no way he could work on unscrewing the massive vent out of the roof whilst up there without being noticed. Even if he worked on it slowly over time, tinkering with the vent whenever he wasn't being watched, a straight guard could notice the tampering damage and have the vent filled.

As promising as it looked, it was too high a risk to do anything about it, and West had to let it go. It tortured him that he had found a potential exit, but he couldn't take advantage of it. 32-year-old John Anglin and his 31-year-old younger brother Clarence robbed the bank in Alabama with a toy pistol, netting them almost $20,000 in cash. But they were apprehended five days later, and after their convictions, the brothers were placed in separate prisons. John was sent to Florida, and Clarence was sent to Kansas. It was while serving time in Florida that John Anglin met Alan West, before West was shipped off to Alcatraz after his botched escape attempt. After West was moved to Alcatraz, John Anglin was transferred as well. He was sent to Kansas, where he was reunited with his brother Clarence. John got a job in the prison's bakery in Kansas.

When a guard spotted him straining to push a trolley carrying two supposedly empty breadboxes into the prison elevator, the guard ordered him to stop and open the lid. Hidden inside was John's brother Clarence attempting to escape. The failed breadbox breakout rewarded the siblings a ticket each to Alcatraz. Their transfer record stating the move was to ensure safer custody. John Anglin arrived first in October 1960, becoming Alcatraz inmate AZ 1476. Clarence arrived soon after in January 1961, as Alcatraz inmate AZ 1485. The Anglin brothers arrived to the fearsome Alcatraz prison without the kind of dangerous reputation that preceded their cellmates. They were nobodies, who had no connection to any well-known crime circles.

They didn't have a hardcore violent criminal history to boast about. The big crime that put them behind bars was considered soft, but was committed with a toy weapon because they didn't want to hurt anybody. In an act of uncharacteristic leniency, Alcatraz staff permitted the Anglin brothers to be placed in adjacent cells and sit together during meal time. What was known to other inmates in Alcatraz was that the Anglin brothers were failed escapees, always looking for a way out. John Anglin was soon reacquainted with Alan West. West was still obsessed with the thought of escape, and after learning about the Anglin brothers' failed attempt, he realized he and the siblings shared mutual interests. Trusting the Anglins, West told them of his prior discovery, the ventilation shaft on top of the cell block. A lengthy and quiet discussion followed about how they could possibly pull off a successful escape.

The group clicked immediately, they were all on the same page, and they hatched the beginnings of an escape plan around removing the duct and climbing out onto the prison roof. From there, they would climb down the prison building and make a break for San Francisco City across the bay. Alcatraz inmate Az1441, 35-year-old bank robber Frank Morris, had been in and out of trouble with the law since he was 13 years old. Throughout his troublesome youth, Morris adapted his high intelligence to serve him more practically. His understanding and observation of others made him incredibly cunning and trued. He put his skills to the test by trying to break out of every institution that held him. When he was finally sent to the end of the prison line, Alcatraz, his official occupation listed on his prison documents, was a scape artist. Prison authorities considered Morris a psychopath, a loner who preferred solitary activities and who kept his thoughts to himself.

Inmates saw Morris as the most intelligent person in Alcatraz, a genius, which made him stand out to Alan West, who just happened to be his sole neighbour. Previous escapes by other inmates throughout the years of Alcatraz had failed for being too hasty with little in the way of planning. West needed someone who could outsmart Alcatraz, an experienced escapee who was patient and clever, someone who could foresee and solve various problems in their planning and not leave anything to chance. Which made Frank Morris the perfect person to join West and the Anglin Brothers escape. And by December 1961, Morris was brought up to speed. He became invaluable to the group. Morris spearheaded some of the more elaborate and brilliant ideas in the escape and resolved a lot of the problems that stood between the inmates and freedom. When it was built in the 1930s, Alcatraz Prison was one of the largest concrete structures in the world. The solid, impenetrable concrete exterior added to the prison's escape-proof reputation.

However, by the 1960s, the building had been battered for decades by corrosive seawater that had worn down the structure's integrity. Cracks were beginning to appear throughout the cellhouse, creating structural vulnerabilities. Spending upwards of 23 hours a day in one cell, with not much else to do but stare at the walls, inmates noticed the many cracks slowly appearing before any guards did. West, Morris and the Anglin Brothers scratched at the cracks in their cells and realised that the supposedly solid concrete around them actually flaked away rather easily when chipped at with a sharp tool. At the base of the back wall of each cell was a small vent measuring 6 by 10 inches. The escaping inmates' plan was to remove the grill that covered the vent, widen the vent hole until they could fit their bodies through it, and then crawl into the utility corridor behind it. The utility corridor was a sealed corridor that was rarely used, filled with piping and scaffolding. It was an easy climb up the three levels in the utility corridor to the top of the cellblock, and to the ventilation shaft they hoped would be their exit from the cellhouse.

To dig out their cell walls, they needed to construct decent digging tools. The group noticed that the guards counted knives after each meal to ensure none had been stolen, but they neglected to count the less threatening utensils, so they were easily able to pocket the metal spoons they used for their meals. They bent the bowl of the spoon back and forth until it snapped off, then sharpened at the broken end of the handle and used it to dig and chip at the concrete around the vent in the backs of their cells. Digging occurred at night, during the music hour. This was when inmates with instruments were permitted to play before lights out. During music hour, the cellhouse was filled with the ear splitting, echoing sound of dozens of instruments playing different songs all at once. It easily masked the sound of the escaping inmates chipping and carving out the walls in their cells. The Anglin brothers worked together as one team, and West and Morris as the other. As one inmate dug, the other acted as a lookout, and each night the rolls were reversed.

They flushed concrete chunks down the toilets in their cells and swept dust out into the corridor. They'd passed larger piles of broken up concrete to other inmates who worked outdoors, where the pieces were discreetly scattered outside. The other inmates helped without question. There was a code amongst the prison population. If you could help another inmate escape, you did it, even if you weren't participating in the escape yourself. In the early days, they initially hid the small damage they were creating in their cell walls with strategically placed boxes or hanging clothes. But as days turned to weeks, the damage became far more obvious. They worried their work could be easily exposed in a simple random cell search. The excitement of escaping was blinding them to obvious flaws in their planning.

They needed to slow down and think things through, be smarter than the prison. After putting their heads together, they came up with a solution. They each built fake vent grills out of cardboard and painting canvas. Using paint collected from inmates who were permitted to make art, they painted the fake cardboard grills the same color as the ones in their cells. During times they couldn't work on digging, they covered their handiwork with the fake grill. Passing guards were fooled. The fake grills were near exact replicas of the real thing. After months of digging, it was Morris and John Anglin who burst through the backs of their cells first. They had expanded the 6 by 10 inch vent gap into a sizeable 10 by 14 inch hole.

Yet, there was no sense in going into the utility corridor and climbing up to the ventilation shaft just yet. Their shadowy figures would most certainly be seen or heard by night shift guards. Besides, another major problem had arisen they needed to fix before they got to work on the ventilation shaft. After lights out at 9.30pm, guards walked down the corridors and did a body count. This happened all through the night, on the hour, every hour. It was a major problem for the escapees. They couldn't sneak out the back of their cell to get to work on the ventilation shaft as their absence would be noticed during the count. They needed to create the illusion that they were still in better sleep when they weren't.

It would require something smarter than just stuffing pillows under their blankets to look like there was a body under there. After thinking hard for a solution, Frank Morris approached inmates who were artists and inquired about what colours of paint you would have to mix to create a flesh coloured tone. Then, using paper mache around a wire frame, a mixture of concrete and plaster dust, sticky toothpaste and soap mixed into the consistency of clay and the flesh coloured paint. Morris and the group managed to create dummy heads that were amazingly detailed and lifelike. Good enough to trick a passing guard looking into a dark cell during nightly counts. Clarence Anglin worked in the prison barbershop and he was able to smuggle out bunches of cut hair that they stuck on the dummy heads.

They even gave the dummy heads eyebrows and eyelashes. The escaping inmates also needed to work out a way to take out the ventilation shaft on top of the cell block without being seen by guards. Alan West was still assigned to paint the top of the cell block and he intentionally swept dust and dried paint flakes off the edge, causing them to rain down on the lower tier balconies and to the polished ground floor below. Guards became frustrated at the mess, so West approached them with a solution. He suggested he should hang heavy blankets around the top of the cell block to create a wall that would stop the dust and paint flakes from falling off the edge. The unsuspecting guards gave West permission to do this. The hanging blankets gave the escaping inmates complete privacy to work on removing the ventilation shaft and luckily for them,

the blankets were permitted to hang up there for months without issue. Once Frank Morris and Clarence Anglin completed their dummy heads, they tucked bunched-up clothing under their blankets and arrested the head on their pillow, giving the illusion of a sleeping body. Passing guards were completely fooled. They were convinced that Frank Morris and Clarence Anglin were asleep in their cells each night, when in reality, they were on top of the cell block, hiding behind the walls of blankets, securing their exit out of the prison. During their childhood growing up in the Florida swamps, the Anglin brothers visited local swimming holes and built makeshift boats and rafts out of any material they could find. They developed a strong understanding of raft building and how to negotiate currents.

Many years later, as their grand escape from Alcatraz plan progressed, they suggested that the group construct a raft and lifejackets to increase their chances of surviving the trek across the San Francisco Bay to the mainland. The only waterproof item on Alcatraz that the inmates had access to were old US Army issue olive-colored rubber raincoats. These were given to inmates working outdoors to ward off the icy ocean breeze. The raincoats were durable and strong, and the ideal fabric for an inflatable raft and lifejackets. Other inmates handed the group their raincoats and then lied to the guards, stating that they had misplaced, lost, or others had stolen their coats. There was an overabundance of them, so the guards would hand the inmates a new one without question. Over time, the escapees amassed more than three dozen raincoats that they stored secretly on top of the cell block.

A 1962 issue of the magazine Popular Mechanics gave the inmates the pattern they needed to design the lifejackets. The magazine, which was accessible through the prison library, featured a lengthy article called Your Life Preserver. How will it behave when you need it? The article listed different flotation device designs with detailed illustrations, as well as a test and critique of each. The inmates determined the yoke-type design was the one they'd model their lifejackets on, had wrapped around the back of the neck and hung down the chest. Alan West and John Anglin obtained sewing needles, heavy thread, and glue, and started putting together the lifejackets in their cells at night. They cut off the raincoats' leaves and stitched them together. West had now prioritized the creation of the lifejackets, because unlike the Anglans who were experienced swimmers, Morris and West were not.

West actually halted work on digging through his cell wall to focus on making the lifejackets and raft. He had already made a sizeable cavity in his rear wall and had placed the fake grill in front, but there were still at least two more inches of concrete between his cell and the utility corridor behind. West planned to kick through the remaining concrete on the night of the escape, instead of waiting valuable time continuing to dig it all out prior. There were more pressing jobs to do. Each of the other men had already broken through the backs of their cells into the utility corridor, so they were ready to squeeze out the moment lights went out on the night of the escape. By May 1962, the inmates began making a 6 x 14 foot raft that would carry them across the bay to the San Francisco mainland. The raft was stitched together using 32 sets of raincoat sleeves to form a long inflatable tube that would frame the base of the raft.

The base itself was made out of the backs of the raincoats. Over several weeks they constructed the raft in small pieces which were then taken to the top of the cell block and assembled into the larger structure. All they needed to do now was work out how to pump up the raft and lifejackets. Frank Morris had that covered. An avid accordion player, Morris asked prison officials if he could order a concertina, a small accordion-like instrument that he could play during the music hour at night. The request was granted, and when Morris obtained the instrument, he removed the keys and cleverly redesigned the pouch to use as an air pumping mechanism. Then finally, after months of work, Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris were able to remove the ventilation shaft, securing their means of escape. They clipped it back into the ceiling with clamps and fake screw heads, making it easy to take down when it was time to go.

With the lifejackets and raft ready, each inmate built boat puddles out of the plywood shelving in their cells and the nuts and bolts they had smuggled from the furniture shop. When lights out shadowed the entire cell house in darkness at 9.30pm on June 11, 1962, the escape was on. Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers tucked their dummies into bed, removed the fake grill at the back of their cells, and squeezed into the utility corridor. Guards made their routine head counts, but fell for their dummies in the cots and assumed they were the sleeping prisoners. Alan West, who hadn't yet broken through his cell wall completely, kicked at the remaining two inches of concrete to get through, but something was blocking him. As the concrete crumbled away, it exposed a large steel reinforced pipe that was embedded into the wall and ran right across the hole West had been digging. Despite his best efforts, there was no way he could squeeze out with the pipe in the way. The cavity here dug was too small. West kicked the pipe with desperate ferocity, but it didn't budge.

West begged the other escapees to bend the pipe and try to break it. They tried their best, but they failed. Falling behind in their escape, Morris and the Anglin brothers made a difficult decision. They turned away from the men who started it all and began climbing up the piping and scaffolding, leading them to the top of the cell block. West had to be left behind. They couldn't risk waiting for him. West was overwhelmed with a mix of emotion, desperation, anger, disappointment, but in the end he accepted the nature of the game. If it were any of the others in his position, he would have left them. Over the next few hours, Alan West struggled with the pipe until his hands were raw and bloody. He didn't know what had become of the other three, but since the prison alarm wasn't going off, he knew they hadn't been caught.

By 1am, almost four hours after the others had climbed up the utility corridor, he successfully dug out enough of his cavity to squeeze his body past the steel pipe. Emerging in the utility corridor, he frantically climbed up the piping to the top of the cell block. The others were nowhere to be seen. He found the ventilation shaft on the ground and saw the open tunnel leading to the roof. On the ground close by was a life jacket and a paddle, left behind by the others in the hope West was able to break out and catch up with them. West pulled himself up to the roof, and for the first time in a long time, he saw the moon. Sprinting across the roof, West prepared himself to leap onto an exhaust pipe and slide down to the ground. He had already wasted too much time, and he was determined to make it down to the shoreline where there was a chance the others might still be waiting. But he stopped dead in his tracks and fell to the ground when he saw a lone guard step out to the railing surrounding the water tower nearby.

The guard had a clear view of the side of the building West needed to climb down, and he didn't want a risk being seen, so he decided to wait until the guard walked away before making his descent. However, the guard didn't leave his post. West remained hidden on the roof, hoping the guard would walk away just for a moment. Hours passed, and the wait was agonizing. West was so close to freedom, but he was unable to take it. As the sun rose over the horizon, and the guard failed to move out of sight, West's hope of escape was over. For a long moment he took in sights he hadn't seen in years, and would perhaps not see again for a very long time. The rising sun, seagulls soaring overhead, the lapping waves of the bay, the striking Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.

As the morning fog swirled away from Alcatraz Island, West knew he would soon be spotted. He couldn't see Morris or the Anglin Brothers sailing away. He had no idea if they had made it, or how far they'd gotten. But the alarm hadn't gone off, so he was certain they must have escaped. But he hadn't. West crept back across the rooftop. He lowered himself down the open ventilation shaft. He climbed back down the utility corridor, squeezed back through the hole when he saw.

And collapsed into bed. By 7.30 am the following morning, June 12, 1962, one of the largest manhunts in the history of the United States began. Frank Morris and John and Clarence Anglin were discovered missing. Guards quickly followed the route the escapees took from their cells to the utility corridor up to the top of the cell block through the ventilation shaft. They narrowed onto the prison roof. They determined the three escapees must have climbed down the north end of the building, as the fence below showed signs that had been climbed. The coiling barbed wire on top was crushed down from where they would have swung themselves over. They could see the stamped down grass the three men would have caused when rushing down the embankment to the shoreline.

But from the beach onwards, the trail went cold. Prison officials with bloodhounds canvassed the entire island in case they didn't make it off and were hiding out. The shoreline, rocks and caves around the edges of Alcatraz were checked, as was every single building, even those that were locked and otherwise inaccessible. The possibility the escapees made off the island seemed more and more likely, as every single possible hiding location was checked and rechecked, but no trace of them was found. Alan West was immediately pulled in for questioning. Surprisingly, he declined to counsel and was willing to talk. He revealed in great detail how he had discovered the concrete free ventilation shaft on the cell block roof during his routine painting assignment. How he'd brought the Anglin brothers and Frank Morris in on his escape plan.

How they dug through their cells, constructed dummy heads, life jackets and the raft. He took responsibility for everything and claimed to have masterminded the entire breakout. But prison officials were skeptical. Some elements of the plan seemed far too clever for someone like Alan West to conceive. It was widely accepted that despite what West claimed, it was far more likely that renowned escape artist Frank Morris masterminded the breakout. Alan West claimed their plan was to paddle the raft to Angel Island. Angel Island was a large island covered in greenery that was once the location of an immigration station. It was two and a half miles north of Alcatraz Island.

After a short rest, West explained their plan was to sail to the mainland, landing in Marin County in the northern part of San Francisco. They would then commit burglaries to obtain guns, clothes and cars. And after that, the group would go their separate ways. Investigators were fully aware that despite Alan West's openness to talk, his words couldn't be trusted. West was clearly loyal to the escapees and invested in their success. He was not the type of inmate that would graciously hand over valuable information to the screws. Investigators assumed he was telling them enough detail to answer their questions, but he was providing nothing that could jeopardize the efforts of the escapees. He could also be attempting to throw off the investigation with straight-up lies.

Nevertheless, the search for Frank Morris and the Anglin Brothers was extended to Angel Island and Marin County. Evidence found in each of the escapee cells confirmed West's version about how they orchestrated the escape. Inside Morris' cell was the copy of Popular Mechanics Magazine, which featured the article on lifejacket designs. John Anglin's cell had bottles of green and blue paint. The colors used to paint over the fake grills. Also found in his cell were rolls of adhesive tape and other art supplies. Under Clarence Anglin's bunk was a folded handkerchief carrying clippings of dark human hair, matching the hair glued to the dummy heads. Hidden in each inmate's cell were various hand-made digging tools, including several broken spoons. 80 makeshift tools were found in total.

On top of the cell block, behind the blankets West had hung up months earlier, were the chopped-up remains of the raincoats. The lifejacket and paddle the escaping inmates had left behind for West were also found up there. Most curiously was the discovery made in West's cell. West had a copy of a Road Atlas book that featured maps of the US, Canada and Mexico. Pages from the Mexico section of the Atlas had been torn out and couldn't be found. Investigators considered the possibility the escapees planned to head straight across the border to somewhere they would be safe from extradition. While the time they were noticed missing, Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers had been gone for over nine hours, giving them a substantial head start. It was confirmed that they had made it off Arquitra's Island, as there was no sign of them anywhere on it.

But the question remained, did they survive the track across the bay? The FBI worked under the assumption that the escapees had succeeded. Local police set up roadblocks, chased suspicious vehicles, combed the coastline and kept an ear out for reports of stolen vehicles or burglaries. As boats circled the bay and helicopters circled the sky, 200 soldiers searched Angel Island end to end. But there was no sign of the escapees or any clues as to what might have happened to them. The media spread word of the incredible escape and the story gained international attention. Headlines and news broadcasts focused on the near comical concept that inmates were able to dig their way out of the most notorious escape-proof prison, using kitchen spoons. Arquitra's prison officials were quick to save face.

They stated the three escapees would have most certainly drowned. There was no clear evidence to prove it, but they believed the untested makeshift raft and lifejackets would have failed the moment the escapees sailed out into the bay. The water in San Francisco was cold. Not insufferably so, but it would have felt shockingly colder to the escapees as unlike other prisons, showers in Arquitra's intentionally used warm water to ensure inmates couldn't adapt to cold water. With additional hindrances such as the darkness of night, the choppy water and the fact the escapees were wearing heavy denim prison uniforms that would have weighed them down when wet. Arquitra's officials were confident the three men drowned. Furthermore, prison officials claimed that at the time the inmates would have entered the water, the strong outgoing current would have swept them straight out the Golden Gate and into the Pacific Ocean. Prison officials were sure the three bloated drowned bodies would eventually be found floating in the bay or would wash up on nearby beaches.

Despite news spreading the escapees were most likely dead. Reports of sightings came in thick and fast. Three men were seen at a service station in Seattle. The Anglin brothers were apparently seen out and about eating lunch in San Francisco. Several men looking like the escapees were seen in a car with a woman driving. Reports came through that a blue 1955 Chevrolet was stolen in Marin County the night of the escape. An unknown man called Stockton Highway Patrol to lodge a complaint about a car driving erratically and almost forcing him off the road. He claimed to have seen three men in the car wearing identical blue clothing. Other witnesses claimed to have seen three men floating in a raft in San Pablo Bay. All of these reports were looked into but they were all false or dead-end leads.

At 10 30 a.m. the morning of the escape a receptionist working in the front desk of a law firm in San Francisco received a strange telephone call. The man on the other end introduced himself in a low serious voice as John Anglin. At this stage the receptionist hadn't heard about the architecture's escape so the name was unfamiliar to her. The caller asked to speak to a lawyer who worked in the office. When questioned about his identity the caller said roughly read the newspapers then hung up. When the FBI were informed of the call they bugged the law office phone in case the caller rang back. They discovered there was a lawyer working in the office who two years earlier defended inmates who wound up in Alcatraz. But the lawyer had never worked for or met either of the Anglin brothers or Frank Morris.

If it really was John Anglin calling it was possible he may have gotten the lawyers details of a fellow inmate prior to escaping Alcatraz. However the caller never rang back and his identity was never confirmed so the FBI put the call down as a hoax. Over the following days there were no confirmed sightings of any of the escapees. Investigators believed it impossible that the fugitives could have travelled across the mainland without being spotted by somebody. They would have had to have found new clothes, money, transportation, maybe even weaponry. It was considered highly unlikely that they could have obtained any of the things that they would have needed without anyone noticing. It became more and more likely in the minds of investigators that the escapees never made it to the mainland. At 10.15pm on the night of June 14th, three nights after the escape, a Coast Guard boat slowly cruised off the shore of Angel Island, scanning the dark water with a search lot.

The beam of light captured something floating across the surface of the water. It was a homemade ore made out of blue and green plywood. The paddle was compared to the one left behind for Alan West and they were a match. This confirmed with certainty that the inmates made it into the water. But did they survive? The following day a US Army boat skimmed across the bay checking and removing piles of floating rubbish. About a mile north of Alcatraz Island they netted a small package made out of green rubbery material. Wrapped inside was a sealed plastic wallet.

The wallet held scraps of paper with lists of names, addresses and contact numbers of various people. Amongst the paper were approximately 80 family photographs. Most compelling was a receipt for $10 featuring the name Clarence Angwon. The rubber packaging that carried the wallet was confirmed to be made from raincoats worn by Alcatraz inmates. The FBI were also able to confirm the photographs found inside the wallet featured mostly members of the Angolan family. This suggested that one of the Angolan brothers made the package prior to their escape and had it on them when they entered the bay. Some found it hard to believe the men would willingly discard such a personal and precious item. The photographs were sentimental but the list of contacts on the outside was practical.

They assumed the only way the inmates would have parted with the important package was if they dropped it as they were drowning. But others considered the package an ingenious ploy to throw off investigators. This wasn't some mad dash at freedom by opportunistic uneducated criminals. This was a carefully orchestrated escape, masterminded by known genius Frank Morris. They believed the package was meticulously protected to ensure its contents wouldn't get damaged or sink to the bottom of the bay because they wanted it to be found. It was meant to lead people to believe the escapee is drowned. If the Angolan brothers considered the package so precious, they would have taken greater care to protect it by tying it to their bodies. Others believed there was a simpler explanation.

Perhaps one of the Angolan brothers dropped it into the water accidentally and either didn't notice or was unable to retrieve it. And its discovery didn't prove any conclusions. The FBI investigated the names listed on the paper found in the floating package. Curiously, there was the name of the lawyer in San Francisco who received the call from a man claiming to be John Angolan the first morning of the escape. Other names on the paper included a man in Cleveland who knew a bank robber incarcerated in Alcatraz but didn't know any of the three escapees. Another belonged to a man in Ohio who had been killed in a car accident a year earlier. He was a known lone wolf type who didn't associate with anybody and had never been heard mentioning the names Frank Morris, John Angolan or Clarence Angolan. Another name on the list was a man from Ohio who knew the Angolan brothers when they were children but he couldn't provide any more useful information to investigators.

Other names belonged to people who had visited family members in Alcatraz but they had never heard of the fugitives or seen them during their short visits and were genuinely perplexed why their names were on the list. Most of the names belonged to direct family and friends of the Angolan brothers. The Angolan family were being closely watched by the FBI. They claimed to have no knowledge of the escape and their claims were believable given they lived in Florida and didn't have the money to visit the boys whilst they were in Alcatraz. The Angolan family assured investigators that they hadn't heard from John or Clarence and didn't know their whereabouts. Frank Morris was an orphan who was raised in institutions. He had no known living relatives thus there was nobody the FBI could question regarding his disappearance. Five days after the escape on June 16th Alcatraz prison warden Olin Blackwell received a postcard stamped from the day before. The postcard read check to see what Jose Luis Martinez was up to last Monday night on his boat from Fisherman's Wharf.

He wasn't alone or fishing. Sure enough the FBI found Jose Martinez on the docks of Fisherman's Wharf. He earned a 27 foot cabin cruiser boat. He told the FBI that on the night of June 11th he hadn't taken his boat out onto the bay. In fact he never took his boat out because it didn't have lights and wasn't fully equipped to make the trip. A close friend of Martinez vouched that the boat never left the dock. The FBI couldn't link Martinez to the escape and they found no hint as to who sent the postcard to the warden or why. But its contents did open up the investigation in a new direction and gave more insight into how the inmates may have survived and made it to the mainland.

The possibility that there was a boat out in the bay waiting for the escapees became one of the more significant explanations for those who believed they survived. It cut out the problems surrounding the unpredictability of the raft, life jackets, swimming ability and the current. All the three escapees needed to do was swim to the waiting boat and climb aboard. This theory contradicted Alan West's version of what the escapees had supposedly planned to do regarding paddling to Angel Island and beyond. But there was a strong possibility West was lying to protect them. The boat theory was bolstered by a San Francisco police officer who came forward and told the FBI that at 1am on the night of the escape he was on duty around Fisherman's Wharf. He spotted a fishing vessel approximately 30 feet long that was stopped dead in the water to the southeast of Alcatraz Island. He didn't see fishing rods or netting off the side of the boat.

According to the police officer, the boat moved off around 30 minutes after he noticed it and headed West out the Golden Gate towards the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps that boat was involved in the escape, but FBI agents couldn't be 100% certain. Several dozen boats trawled the San Francisco Bay on any given night, unless they entered the restricted zone surrounding Alcatraz Island, which none did on the night of the escape. They would draw little attention from anybody. It would be impossible for the FBI to identify every boat that was in the bay at the time of the escape, especially if one had been involved, because the owner would never come forward. But the boat theory seemed unlikely, as there was no way the escapees could have organized the boat to meet them prior to the escape. It was incredibly difficult, near impossible, for information to get in and out of Alcatraz, and none of the escapees had any visitors during their time inside. However, they did do time with a renowned and influential mob boss named Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson.

Bumpy was a career criminal in New York, and he was the type of person who had the means and power to put a boat in the harbor to pick up the escapees. Bumpy never confessed to any involvement, and the assumption he was involved was a bit of a stretch. Bumpy had no direct connection to any of the escapees that would compel him to help them, except the fact he was incredibly anti-establishment and anti-authority, and may have helped just to stick it to the man. Other inmates witnessed that Bumpy Johnson looked anxious and lost in thought a day of the escape, but it wasn't unusual for inmates in Alcatraz to look like that. Bumpy died in 1968 from congestive heart failure. Any knowledge or involvement he may have had about the escape died with him. As the search continued, debates between inmates inside Alcatraz took place. Some wanted to believe Morris and the Anglin brothers made it, as it gave them hope. Others gave them no chance, and were confident their bodies were resting at the bottom of the bay. The escape did change the atmosphere in the prison though. Suddenly, the fortress that stripped inmates of hope and humanity, that aimed to punish, not rehabilitate, no longer seemed so imposing and fearful. What followed was a renewed sense of hope amongst inmates who had lost it long ago. If Morris and the Anglin brothers can do it, so can I.

Prison officials increased the frequency of random cell and body searches, and constantly relocated inmates to different cells. But the prison's reputation had been tarnished inside and out. Some inmates were interviewed by investigators, but it was clear there was a sense of loyal camaraderie amongst the prison population, and no one was going to sell out Morris or the Anglin brothers to authorities. Little bits of partially useful information were given though. Apparently the escapees had been learning Spanish prior to the breakout, which gave weight to the theory that they had planned to go south across the border. More specifically, some inmates overheard talk about going to Brazil, but it was hard for investigators to trust anything given by career criminals. Seven days after the escape, June 18th, Alcatraz Prison Warden Blackwell received another postcard that was stamped two days earlier. In messy, uneven capital letters, the postcard read, ha ha, we made it. In the bottom right corner were the names Frank, John and Clarence.

Warden Blackwell handed the postcard to the FBI, but he believed it was just a hoax. The writing on the postcard didn't match handwriting samples of the escapees, but it was written in rushed capital letters, so it made it hard to compare. Divers with scuba gear probed the bottom of the bay, and authorities tracked floating debris, hoping to find a clue, but ten days passed with no new discoveries. The suggestion made by some that the escapees could only have succeeded in such an elaborate breakout by bribing prison staff was considered unlikely by investigators. Neither Mara saw the Anglin brothers were wealthy, nor were any of their close friends or relatives. They had no hidden stashes of loot from previous robberies, as all the money they had stolen had been recovered. The most embarrassing explanation seemed the most probable. The inmates outsmarted the prison.

Months later, a delayed report came through to FBI headquarters from a crewman aboard a Norwegian freighter that headed out the Golden Gate on July 17th, six days after the escape. He said he saw something bobbing in the water a distance away. Using binoculars, he saw it was the body of a man floating face down in the water, wearing faded blue denim pants. The way the witness described the body strongly correlated with the physical appearance of Frank Morris. The sighting had been recorded in the ship's logbook immediately. There was little doubt the crewman had seen a body, but it wasn't reported to the FBI until three months later. So the body wasn't able to be recovered to confirm identity. Unfortunately, bodies floating in the bay weren't an uncommon sight.

Many suicides are committed by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Sometimes the bodies are found, but sometimes they're not. In fact, on the night of the escape, a man by the name of Seymour Webb abandoned his car on the Golden Gate and jumped off. Many people witnessed this, but Seymour's body was never found. The fact that the crewman gave a description of the body that correlated with the physical appearance of Frank Morris might not be reliable either. It was three months later when he was interviewed, and his description may have been influenced by knowledge of the escape and the inmates. It was making headlines around the world, so their descriptions were well publicised. There are a lot of variables when it comes to discovering drowned bodies in San Francisco Bay.

No one can accurately predict where bodies will end up, or if they will even surface at all. Many bodies have gone missing in the bay, never to be seen again. Variables such as marine life, underwater snags, rocky outcroppings and debris can hinder a body from surfacing. However, since the escape, experts have agreed that if all three Alcatraz inmates drowned, then at least one body should have been found. On June 21st, on the beach at Fort Cronkite, just outside the Golden Gate, a water-volive coloured rubber washed up on shore. It was later confirmed to be one of the homemade life jackets the inmates wore during their escape. The next day, a second life jacket was pulled from the bay 50 yards off Alcatraz Island. Both jackets were deflated, and it appeared the seams had not held.

One of the life jackets had obvious teeth marks, whoever was wearing it bit together the broken seam as they swam. By July, the chance at recovering bodies if they had drowned seemed remote. However, the FBI continued searching, conducting over 1,000 interviews. They continued their round-the-clock surveillance of the Angolan family, intercepting male, tailing family members and bugging their telephones. But neither John nor Clarence ever reached out. Either they were smart enough to go underground, keep a low profile and make no contact. Or they were dead. Three months after the escape, September 13, 1962, a fisherman a half mile out from Alcatraz reeled in his line and brought up a barnacle encrusted human skull with its lower jaw missing.

Alcatraz prison officials boasted this was proof the escapees had drowned. But dental records showed that the skull didn't belong to any of the inmates. Further tests showed the skull belonged to someone much older than any of the escapees. The air and water search concluded on June 22, 11 days after the escape. Days, weeks, months and years passed with no breakthroughs. But there were plenty of rumours, assumptions and myths. Over the years, the Angolan family claimed to have received numerous unexplained birthday letters and postcards that had writing similar to that of John and Clarence. But as none of the letters had postmarked dates, it was difficult to confirm when they were sent.

Oddly, John and Clarence's mother had a bunch of flowers delivered on her birthday each year. The sender remained anonymous. Years later, the Angolan family were given a photograph from an old friend of John and Clarence. The photo showed two men standing near a rock purportedly taken on a farm in Brazil. A forensic expert confirmed the photograph was taken in 1975 and asserted that the men in the photo were more than likely John and Clarence Angolan. However, the men are wearing sunglasses and have facial hair. The photo was also taken at a distance, so it couldn't be confirmed without a doubt that it was John and Clarence. In 1973, John and Clarence Angolan's mother passed away.

The FBI attended the funeral, and witness accounts claim that two tall and unusual-looking women wearing long dresses and heavy makeup attended the service. Said nothing to anybody, and disappeared before the FBI could speak to them. An old institutional questionnaire filled out by an incarcerated 20-year-old Frank Morris listed the things he would wish for if he were granted three wishes. His wishes were... One, to get out of prison. Two, a nice home with everything to go with it. Three, plenty of money. It may never be known if any of Morris's wishes came true.

After 17 years of active investigation, the FBI reached the formal conclusion on the escape from Alcatraz. They determined, through limited evidence and expert opinion, that the likelihood the three inmates survived their escape was highly unlikely. And that no credible evidence in the US or overseas had emerged to suggest otherwise. The FBI officially ended their involvement in the investigation on December 31st, 1979, and handed the case to the United States Martial Service, a federal government agency that specializes in searching for wanted individuals and prison escapees. Open to the possibility that the inmates were able to survive their well-thought-out escape, the marshals continued to follow leads in every American state, as well as overseas. In 2010, after one promising tip, they exhumed an unmarked grave claimed to belong to one of the escapees. But no positive identification was made.

For years since the disappearance, authorities have received thousands of leads, tips, and claims of sightings of the three men. The investigation went all the way to South America after a tipster informed authorities that they saw the Anglenbrothers in a bar in Brazil. Investigators visited the bar and conducted multiple interviews, with no result. Many tests have been conducted under similar circumstances of the escape. Rafts made of raincoats have been sailed across the bay. Thousands of people have successfully swung the distance between Alcatraz Island and the San Francisco mainland in varying conditions. Studies of the bay's currents have been inconclusive. Results depend on the exact time the men set sail from Alcatraz Island, something that will never be known.

Various witnesses claim to have met the men throughout the years, but without proof, these statements can't be verified. The escape triggered debate and discussions in Washington DC between Congress and prison officials. Alcatraz was created to be a deterrent to 1930s public enemy gangster crime. The times had changed. Questions were asked if the prison had outlived its usefulness and become a dated relic of a time long ago. The prison was inspected and it was concluded that to fix the structural damage that would cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Plus, the cost of keeping an inmate in Alcatraz was upwards of $13 per day, compared to $5 per day at other state prisons. The interest in keeping Alcatraz prison open was fading.

On December 17, 1962, six months after Morris and the Anglin brothers' escape, two other inmates broke out of Alcatraz. With only crude water wings made out of blown-up surgical gloves stuffed up the sleeves of their shirts, the inmates dived into the bay and started swimming. One inmate was found clinging to a rock-out cropping 100 feet west of Alcatraz and recaptured. But most damaging to the prison was the discovery of the second escapee. Teenagers walking along the beach at Fort Point near the Golden Gate Bridge found the unmoving body of the second escaped inmate. Believing he was dead, they contacted authorities, who were shocked to discover the inmate was actually still alive. He had successfully swum across the bay from the prison. This raised serious doubts over prison officials' previous claims that it was impossible for Morris or the Anglin brothers to have survived a swim to the mainland.

That ended up being the final escape attempt from Alcatraz prison. Within weeks, the phase to close the prison permanently began. Inmates were relocated to other state prisons in small groups, including Allen West, who was transferred to McNeil Island in Washington. He spent the remainder of his life in and out of prison before he died in 1978. Alcatraz closed its doors on March 21st, 1963, after 29 years of operation. 1,576 prisoners went through the prison during that time. 36 attempted to escape. 23 were recaptured.

Six were shot dead. And four were confirmed drowned in San Francisco Bay. As for the other three, arrest warrants are still active for Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers, and they are still listed by the marshals as Northern California's most wanted fugitives. The investigation will continue until the escapees are arrested, confirmed deceased, or when they reach the age of 99. If the men were alive today, Frank Morris would be in his early 90s, and the Anglin brothers would be in their late 80s.

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