There Were No Prisoner Escapes
The truth is there have never been any escapes. Although a total of 36 inmates put the “escape-proof” Alcatraz to the test, none succeeded. Of those who tried to flee, 23 were captured, six were gunned down, and two drowned while trying to swim to freedom. The other five went missing and were presumed to have also drowned, including Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin, whose 1962 attempted breakout was the inspiration for the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz.
Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images
The three convicts picked at the rotting concrete walls with sharpened spoons and even used locks of hair from the barbershop which they placed in their beds to fool the guards. In the end, their possessions were found floating in San Francisco Bay, but not their bodies. There were even theories leading some to believe that they may have successfully escaped.
If you want to know who the first prisoners of Alcatraz were, see the next page…