Escapes From Alcatraz

Alcatraz Prison

Escapes from Alcatraz - did anybody ever successfully gain freedom from Alcatraz Prison and live to tell about it?

So basically the answer is "no". No prisoner ever escaped from Alcatraz and lived to tell about it. It all depends on how you define "successful escape." Would you call getting out of the cellhouse, getting to the water, reaching land or getting on land and not getting caught a successful escape?

There were numerous escapes from Alcatraz conducted - 14 of them in all. Of those, five prisoners are listed missing to this day. They have been presumed drowned and dead. Wouldn't it be interesting if one of them was to reappear?

Alcatraz Prison Cell Block

Learn more about taking a tour of Alcatraz.

To sum up Alcatraz escapes or attempted escapes:

• 36 men tried to escape (two tried to escape again)
• there were 14 escape attempts
• 23 were caught, six were shot and killed and two drowned
• two who were caught escaping were exectued in the gas chamber for being involved in the "Battle of Alcatraz" escape attempt

Example Of Rocky Shore Many Prisoners Got Stuck On

1. April 27, 1936 - Joseph Bowers was part of one of the escapes from Alcatraz and was serving a 24-year sentence for robbing a store of $16.63 but it was a also a local post office and therefore his crime was a federal offense - bummer Joe. He was taking care of the incinerator and a guard found him at the top of a chain links fence. Joe refused to come down, was shot and fell to his death below. His was the first violent death at Alcatraz Prison.

2. December 16, 1937 - On a cold and extremely foggy day Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe finally sawed their way through the mat shop window bars. They climbed through the bars and into the San Francisco Bay. There was a strong tide and after searches by the Coast Guard and San Francisco police throughout the night they were never found. They are officially listed as "missing and presumed dead".

3. May 23, 1938 - "Tex" Lucas, Whitney Franklin and Thomas Limmerick got a hammer and attacked prison guard Royal Cline who was unarmed and tried to escape Alcatraz. They got to the top of the roof and were trying to get the tower guard's gun when Limmerick was shot in the head and Franklin in the shoulder. Lucas hid and then surrendered. Limmerick died that night and Cline died the next day. Franklin and Lucas went to trial for first degree murder for the death of Cline with life sentences as the outcome.

4. January 13, 1939 - Dale Stamphill, William Martin, Rufus McCain, Henry Young and Arthur "Doc" Baker tried to escape from Alcatraz from the cellhouse isolation unit by cutting through the flat iron cell bars and inventing a bar spreader. They used their clothes at the shore to tie driftwood together to make a raft when they were found. Stamphill and Barker were shot when they made a run for it. Barker died from his injuries. Martin, Young and McCain surrendered.

5. May 21 1941 - Four men - Sam Shockley, Arnold Kyle, Lloyd Barkdoll, and Joe Cretzer grabbed some officers and spent an hour sawing through bars with no luck. The guards convinced them that an Alctraz escape was impossible and they surrendered.

6. September 15, 1941 - While taking out the garbage John Bayless attempted another of the escapes from Alcatraz and made it to the water before the cold salt water and cuts on his legs caused him to surrender. When he later appeared in court in San Francisco he unsuccessfully tried to escape from the courtroom also.

7. April 14, 1943 - Harold Brest, Floyd hamilton, Fred Hunter and James Boarman took some officers hostage while they were working in the industrial area. Armed with homemade knives they made it through a window and to the shore trying to escape Alcatraz. One of the guards broke free and sounded the alarm. Shots were fired at Brest, Hamilton and Boarman as they were swimming away. Boarman was hit by gunfire but sank and his body was never recovered. Brest and Hunter were captured. Hamilton was presumed drowned but then appeared in the industries area after hiding out in a cave for two days.

8. August 7, 1943 - While working in the laundry building Huron "Ted" Walters made his way to the shore in his shorts but waited there for an hour trying to get his courage up to jump in. He never did before he was caught.

9. July 31, 1945 - John Giles who was convicted of postal robbery worked at the loading dock. Over time he was able to gather an entire army uniform. He pulled off his coveralls over the uniform and got on a boat headed for Angel Island. He was unaware that the headcount was wrong and that Assistant Warden Miller had taken a small speedboat to meet him at Angel Island. That cruise and escape from Alcatraz attempt cost him five more years.

10. May 2, 1946 - This was the biggest of the escapes from Alcatraz attempts known as the "Battle of Alcatraz." Six prisoners got access to weapons and cellhouse keys by overpowering cellhouse officers and took control of the cellhouse. To their horror they found that they didn't have a key to the recreation yard door. Prison officials quickly discovered their escape attempt.

    Instead of quitting, Joe Cretzer, Marvin Hubbard, Sam Shockley, Miran Thompson, Clarence Carnes and Bernard Coy decided to fight. Cretzer shot one officer, William Miller, who died from his wounds and another office, Harold Stites, was also shot and killed while trying to get control of the cellhouse. A total of 18 officers were injured during their attempt at escape. Eventually they called in the U.S. Marines to help. On May 4, the escape attempt ended with the bodies of Coy, Cretzer and Hubbard being discovered.

11. July 23, 1956 - Floyd Wilson disappeared from the dock crew and hid in rock crevices and the sea wall for 12 hours before being captured. This was definitely the most embarassing of the escapes from Alcatraz attempt!

12. September 29, 1958 - Clyde Johnson, a bank robber, and Aaron Burgett, a post office robber, were working on the garbage and bound and gagged a guard. Johnson made it to the water before he was caught. Burgett was found thirteen days later floating dead in the bay.

13. June 11, 1962 - Of all the escapes from Alcatraz this one was made most famous by Clint Eastwood in the movie Escape From Alcatraz. The brothers John and Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris disappeared from their cells and were never seen again. Allen West was involved in the Alcatraz escape but was still in his cell the next morning when the escape was discovered.

    This was the most intricate of the escapes from Alcatraz attempts that involved homemade drills to make the vent holes bigger, fake wall pieces, and realistic dummy heads with real human hair in their beds so they would not be missed during the nighttime counts. The three exited through their vent holes at the back of their cells and put the false wall pieces in their place. They climbed the utility pipes to the top of the cellblock, climbed out on the roof through the air vent and climbed down a drainpipe and found their way to the water. It is officially presumed that all three of them died.

14. December 14, 1962 - Two men, Darl Parker and John Paul Scott worked for several years to loosen the bars on a window with twine soaked in wax and covered with cleanser. They used inflated surgical gloves stuffed into their pant legs to help them swim. Parker made it about 50 feet from shore.

    Scott must have been tougher and a better swimmer and made it to the rocky shores of Fort Point. Some teenagers told authorities about him . He was badly bruised and suffering from hypothermia and taken to the hospital. Interestingly enough, the media interviewed the Alcatraz escapee and got some badly wanted information about Alcatraz before prison officials could intervene. Information about escapes from Alcatraz had been scarce (since many escapes from Alctraz were bungled) and Scott's side of the story didn't help public opinion about Alcatraz Prison.

As you can see there were many Alcatraz escape attempts and none were known to be successful. After making it to the shore many were not even brave enough to jump in! Alcatraz escapes were made famous by movies but in the end were entirely unsuccessful!

Alcatraz Prison Guard Tower

Recreation Yard Prisoners Couldn't Access During The "Battle Of Alcatraz"

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Besides Escapes From Alcatraz