On 28 April 2025, inmates Frank Morris, Clarence Anglin, and John Anglin became the only men to ever escape from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary — but nobody knows if they made it out of San Francisco Bay alive.
Anthony Morgan / Alamy Stock PhotoAlcatraz Federal Penitentiary was thought to be scat - validation , but in 1962 , three prisoners managed to sneak off the island .
Alcatraz Island ’s account as a prison date back to the mid-19th century , and it function as a Union penitential beginning in 1934 . With its high walls , armed guards , and location in the centre of San Francisco Bay , the adeptness soon earned a reputation of being inescapable . However , the 1962 Alcatraz leakage showed that while the betting odds of bankrupt out of the prison were slender , it was not an out of the question feat .
On the night of June 11 , 1962 , inmates Frank Morris , John Anglin , and Clarence Anglin used papier - mâché pass to trick sentry go into believing they were departed in their cell . They get by to run from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in the dead of night — and they were never seen again .
Anthony Morgan / Alamy Stock PhotoAlcatraz Federal Penitentiary was thought to be escape-proof, but in 1962, three prisoners managed to sneak off the island.
The FBI and local law enforcement spent old age trying to track the men down , to no service . Countless theories were put forth about what could have pass to the Alcatraz escapees . Perhaps , some suggest , they had drown while trying to float to Angel Island . Others claimed they had blemish the fugitives in office like Brazil , Maryland , and Florida .
After 17 years , however , the FBI closed its file on the 1962 Alcatraz outflow . To this Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , no one is exactly sure what happened to Morris and the Anglin brothers — but we do know how they managed to pull off their daring lam .
Alcatraz, The Nearly Inescapable Maximum Security Prison
To understand just how insurmountable the project ofescaping from Alcatrazwas , it ’s significant to be intimate about the prison house ’s history . BeforeAlcatrazhoused a Union penitentiary , the island , which stick out in the middle of San Francisco Bay , served as a naval fort in the 1850s . By the end of that decade , military captive were entertain within its wall . Then , in the 1910s , the U.S. Army constructed a sprawling prison composite on the island .
In 1933 , the United States Department of Justice took over the island , develop the complex body part and increase security to transform the coordination compound into a maximal security measure prison house . Since Alcatraz was surround by water and the flow in San Francisco Bay are firm , many consider it was in effect unavoidable . For a prison term , it was consider the most good prison in the U.S.
Federal Bureau of InvestigationAlcatraz Island in 1932 , the year before the U.S. Department of Justice commence transform it into a Union penitentiary .
Federal Bureau of InvestigationAlcatraz Island in 1932, the year before the U.S. Department of Justice began transforming it into a federal penitentiary.
For nearly three decades , it seemed that the readiness truly was impossible to split up out of . Prior to the 1962 Alcatraz leakage , 12 other attempts were made by inmates to pass on the prison house , and none of them were successful . In each instance , the prisonerswere either recaptured , dart , or submerge in San Francisco Bay .
That convert , however , on the morning of June 12 , 1962 , when guards discovered thatFrank Morris , Clarence Anglin , and John Anglin had vanished from their cells .
Inside The Daring 1962 Alcatraz Escape
The first successful Alcatraz escapees began plotting their break in late 1961 . The programme was hatched by Frank Morris , a career felon with a rap sheet that included burglary , armed looting , and drug transaction . According to a 2012 report card inThe New York Timesdocumenting the 50th day of remembrance of the 1962 Alcatraz escape , Morris reportedly had an I.Q. of 133 , which is higher than 98 per centum of the universe .
Public DomainFrank Morris , the ringleader of the 1962 Alcatraz escape .
Thus , it was Morris who assembled the other co - plotter . He engage John and Clarence Anglin , two crony from Georgia who had been robbing banks together since they were youngster , and Allen West , a car stealer from New York .
Public DomainFrank Morris, the ringleader of the 1962 Alcatraz escape.
Public DomainClarence Anglin and his brother John were the other two yardbird who successfully escaped from Alcatraz in June 1962 .
Morris work these man together to carry out his daring plan . Over six months , the four human being used stolen adage blades and spoon , as well as an jury-rigged drill made from the engine of a broken vacuum cleanser , to gradually widen the ventilation epithelial duct in their respective electric cell .
They act upon at nighttime during their cell blocking ’s designated “ music hour ” as Morris played his accordion to hide the dissonance of their drilling . During the day , they concealed the holes they ’d made with cardboard painted the same colour as the walls of their cell .
Public DomainClarence Anglin and his brother John were the other two inmates who successfully escaped from Alcatraz in June 1962.
Public DomainIn 2013 , a man claim to be John Anglin wrote a alphabetic character to San Francisco constabulary stating that all three of the Alcatraz escapees had made it to exemption .
Widening these vents cave in the prisoners access to an unguarded utility tunnel that ran behind the cell . From there , they could climb to the empty top level of the building , where they stash away their straight chef-d’oeuvre : a six - by-14 - foot inflatable pencil eraser lot made out of 50 raincoat that had been slip from the prison shop or donate by other inmate .
As they constructed the raft over a period of months , the conspirators concealed their absence from their cells by fashion win over dummy brain and localise them on their pillows in their beds while they work on . The heads were made out of a papier - mâché material formed from Georgia home boy and commode paper and painted in a lifelike way . The world even glued hair take from the floor of the prison house ’s barbershop to them .
Public DomainIn 2013, a man claiming to be John Anglin wrote a letter to San Francisco police stating that all three of the Alcatraz escapees had made it to freedom.
When all their preparations were sodding , the prisoners made their flight .
Bettmann / Getty ImagesA view of the vent the inmates get away from their cells through from within the utility program corridor .
Morris and the Anglin brother pass away their cells and filed into the burrow . West was unable to remove the grill covering the airing shaft when it became stuck and was left behind .
Bettmann/Getty ImagesA view of the vent the inmates escaped from their cells through from within the utility corridor.
The man then climb up to the roof of the prison house using a connection of pipes , slide down the bakery ’s smokestack , descale two 12 - foot - tall barbed wire fences , and scrambled down a drop-off to a beach . At some breaker point after 10 p.m. , the prisoners ship on their makeshift raft to a fate unknown .
What Happened To The Alcatraz Escapees?
safety gadget at the prison only discovered the disappearance of Morris and the Anglin brothers the next morning , thanks to the dummy forefront the inmates had left in their prison cell . From interview West , law discovered that the Alcatraz escapees plan to dodder to Angel Island , about two statute mile away .
Federal Bureau of InvestigationClarence Anglin place this dummy brain in his bed before he climbed out of his jail cell the dark of the outflow .
Three day after the 1962 Alcatraz escape , authorities get one of the manpower ’s improvised oars float in San Francisco Bay . Then , on June 21 , they detect shreds of raincoat material on Angel Island . This find supports the hypothesis that the men survived the relief valve endeavor .
Federal Bureau of InvestigationClarence Anglin placed this dummy head in his bed before he climbed out of his cell the night of the escape.
However , FBI researcher at the time concluded that due to the unassailable currents and unfavorable weather condition conditions in the Bay on the night of June 11 , it was unlikely that the Alcatraz escapee survived . They closed their file on the scarper prisoners in 1979 , square up that the man likely died at sea . Many people dispute this public opinion , however , and maintain that the three valet successfully scarper the prison house .
Federal Bureau of InvestigationThe Alcatraz escapee used this improvised paddle to make their way to Angel Island — but nobody recognize if they actually made it to their destination .
expert and computer models have proven that it is possible that the gentleman could have come through if they left the island when the tide was in their favor . “ It ’s very plausible they made landfall , ” Dutch scientist Rolf Hut toldCBS ’s San Francisco affiliatein 2014 .
Federal Bureau of InvestigationThe Alcatraz escapees used this makeshift paddle to make their way to Angel Island — but nobody knows if they actually made it to their destination.
Indeed , in 2013 , a man arrogate to be John Anglin charge a letter to police in San Francisco . It read : “ My name is John Anglin . I escape from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my sidekick Clarence and Frank Morris … Yes we all made it that night but just ! ”
The letter stated that Frank Morris and Clarence Anglin had give out in 2005 and 2008 , respectively , and that John Anglin was suffering from malignant neoplastic disease . He want to deliver in central for aesculapian discussion . The FBI was ineffectual to determine if the proportionateness was licit , and the true fate of the Alcatraz escapee remains unknown .
What is known is that one night in 1962 , three men attempted the impossible — and may have even succeeded .
After learning about the 1962 Alcatraz escape , go insidemore of history ’s most daring prison house bunk . Then , read aboutYoshie Shiratori , the “ Japanese Houdini ” who escape from prison four time .
