When was alcatraz found

This photo from Alcatraz shows John Anglin's cell, as well as the method of concealing the escape and the dummy head used. A laminated print out hangs on the wall at the ranger office on Alcatraz with images of Frank Morris, John Anglin, Clarence Anglin as well as photos where they've been aged.

Images of John Anglin second from left and Clarence Anglin far right from mug shots taken before their alleged escape from Alcatraz compared to a photo that allegedly shows John far left and Clarence second from right living in Brazil in On June 12, , an Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary guard on his morning rounds noticed three inmates had not woken from their slumber.

When he pushed at the sleeping frame of one man, his head rolled off the bed. It was a dummy. Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin — three career criminals with prior prison break attempts to their names — had escaped sometime during the night of June It was a plan months in the making. Over six months, they built an inflatable raft and life vests out of pilfered raincoats. To seal the seams, they pressed the coats against hot steam pipes. They made paddles to row with, dummy heads to buy them time, and they dug and dug.

During the daily hour when inmates were allowed to play instruments and sing, the men used the cover of that cacophony to scrape through the backs of their cells. Once through, they had access to an unguarded utility corridor. From there, all they had to do was climb to the roof, remove the bolts from a ventilation shaft, and crawl to freedom. About 10 p. Together, they paddled out into the dark, cold night.

From this point, there are very few facts anyone agrees on. No bodies surfaced, but neither did any sightings that led to arrests. To this day, the U. Marshal Service keeps an open file on the escapees. It will be closed only when they each turn Mug shots of three prisoners that made a rare escape from Alcatraz Island.

A woman who sells warranties in a car dealership in Burlingame has done it 1, times. A 9-year-old swam to the island and back again in In fact, after our three escapees definitely did it in , another inmate, John Paul Scott, successfully made the swim in December that year, naked, without a raft, in much colder temperatures, only to be found on the beach in San Francisco before being returned to the island. Even without the adrenaline boost of guard rifles aimed at your back, thousands of people have swum from Alcatraz safely to land.

As kids, John and Clarence Anglin became strong swimmers in the frigid waters of Lake Michigan, where they spent every summer picking cherries. Frank Morris was smart enough to physically ready himself for the one-mile swim over the six months or more he spent preparing for his bid for freedom. They may not have even needed to swim anyway — they had a fully inflated three-man raft to sail away on. Built over months with 50 raincoats meticulously glued together in their secret workshop. If they let the water take them, they would have ended up at the Marin Headlands as it did when the Mythbusters guys successfully re-created the attempt in , or under the bridge, where they could have jumped out for a short paddle to Horseshoe Bay.

Martin, Young, and McCain surrendered, while Barker and Stamphill were shot when they refused to surrender. Barker died from his injuries. May 21, -- Joe Cretzer, Sam Shockley, Arnold Kyle, and Lloyd Barkdoll took several correctional officers hostage while working in the industries area.

The officers, including Paul Madigan who later became Alcatraz's third warden , were able to convince the four that they could not escape and they surrendered.

September 15, -- While on garbage detail, John Bayless attempted to escape. He gave up shortly after entering the cold water of San Francisco Bay. Later, while appearing in Federal court in San Francisco, Bayless tried, again unsuccessfully, to escape from the courtroom.

The four climbed out a window and made their way down to the water's edge. One of the hostages was able to alert other officers to the escape and shots were fired at Boarman, Brest, and Hamilton, who were swimming away from the island.

Hunter and Brest were both apprehended. Boarman was hit by gunfire and sank below the water before officers were able to reach him; his body was never recovered. Hamilton was initially presumed drowned.

However, after hiding out for two days in a small shoreline cave, Hamilton made his way back up to the industries area, where he was discovered by correctional officers.

August 7, -- Huron "Ted" Walters disappeared from the prison laundry building. He was caught at the shoreline, before he could even attempt to enter San Francisco Bay.

July 31, -- In one of the most ingenious attempts, John Giles was able to take advantage of his job working at the loading dock, where he unloaded army laundry sent to the island to be cleaned - over time, he stole an entire army uniform.

Dressed in the uniform, Giles calmly walked aboard an army launch to what he thought was freedom. He was discovered missing almost immediately. As Giles set foot on Angel Island, he was met by correctional officers who returned him to Alcatraz.

May , -- During this incident, known as the "Battle of Alcatraz" and the "Alcatraz Blastout," six prisoners were able to overpower cellhouse officers and gain access to weapons and cellhouse keys, in effect taking control of the cellhouse. Their plan began to fall apart when the inmates found they did not have the key to unlock the recreation yard door.

Shortly thereafter, prison officials discovered the escape attempt. Eventually Shockley, Thompson, and Carnes returned to their cells, but not before the officers taken hostage were shot at point-blank range by Cretzer encouraged by Shockley and Thompson. One officer, William Miller, died from his injuries. A second officer, Harold Stites who stopped the third escape attempt , was shot and killed attempting to regain control of the cellhouse.

About 18 officers were injured during the escape attempt. Marines were eventually called out to assist, and on May 4, the escape attempt ended with the discovery of the bodies of Coy, Cretzer, and Hubbard.

Shockley, Thompson, and Carnes stood trial for the death of the officers; Shockley and Thompson received the death penalty and were executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin in December Carnes, age 19, received a second life sentence. July 23, -- Floyd Wilson disappeared from his job at the dock. After hiding for several hours among large rocks along the shoreline, he was discovered and surrendered. September 29, -- While working on the garbage detail, Aaron Burgett and Clyde Johnson overpowered a correctional officer and attempted to swim from the island.

Johnson was caught in the water, but Burgett disappeared. An intensive search turned up nothing. Burgett's body was found floating in the Bay two weeks later. June 11, -- Made famous by Clint Eastwood in the movie Escape from Alcatraz, Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin vanished from their cells and were never seen again. A fourth man, Allen West, believed by some people to have been the mastermind, was also involved; however, he was still in his cell the next morning when the escape was discovered.

An investigation revealed an intricate escape plot that involved homemade drills to enlarge vent holes, false wall segments, and realistic dummy heads complete with human hair placed in the beds so the inmates would not be missed during nighttime counts.

Behind the rear wall of the cells is a utility corridor that had locked steel doors at either end. The three men climbed the utility pipes to the top of the cellblock, and gained access to the roof through an air vent the men had previously bent the iron bars that blocked the air vent. They then climbed down a drainpipe on the northern end of the cellhouse and made their way to the water.

They used prison-issued raincoats to make crude life vests and a pontoon-type raft to assist in their swim. A cellhouse search turned up the drills, heads, wall segments, and other tools, while the water search found two life vests one in the bay, the other outside the Golden Gate , oars, and letters and photographs belonging to the Anglins that had been carefully wrapped to be watertight.

But no sign of the men was found. Five years later, facial-recognition analysis confirms that the men in the picture are the same as those who escaped from prison. These facial fingerprints are highly discriminative. Identv has developed techniques to carry out this matching process in tens of milliseconds over millions of faces.

Technology is advancing at such a rate, it can leave you a little dizzy and, short of obtaining DNA proof, there will always be a little room for mystery.

But as far as technology is concerned — the prisoners made it. Stay signed in. Forgotten password? Get the very latest news and insight from Campaign with unrestricted access to campaignlive.

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