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scholastic.com/scope FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Prisoners were brought to

Alcatraz in armored railcars
carried on ferries.

as you read, THINK ABOUT:

why they tried

This article is about a dangerous

escape attempt by inmates at
Alcatraz. As you read, consider
how conditions at Alcatraz may
have motivated them to risk
their lives.

t exactly 9:30 on
the night of June
11, 1962, the lights
at Alcatraz Prison
went out. Most
of the inmates

shivered on their thin, narrow beds

as they tried to get some sleep.
But not Frank Morris.
Morris waited for the prison

Alcatraz was nicknamed

Uncle Sams Devils Island.

to quiet, his heart pounding. If all

their cells and set up a secret

went according to plan, he would

workshop.

never sleep behind bars again.

For months, Morris and three

Many Had Drowned

Now, as darkness settled over

Alcatraz, everything was ready.
Well, almost.
At the last minute, West couldnt

Men who had tried to escape

get out of his cell. Morris and the

brothers Clarence and John

before had drowned swimming in

Anglin brothers went on without

Anglin, had been secretly plotting

the frigid waters of San Francisco

him. They wriggled out of their

to escape from the bleak prison,

Bay. Morris and his friends did

cells and climbed up plumbing

perched on an island in the middle

not intend to swim, though. Using

pipes. Finally, they stepped onto

of San Francisco Bay. People said

stolen and handmade tools, theyd

the roof. Carefully avoiding the

it was impossible to break free

managed to fashion life preservers

prison searchlight, they crawled

from the Rock, as Alcatraz was

and a raft made of raincoats.

silently across the roof and

other prisoners, Allen West and

known. Morris and his friends were

desperate to prove everyone wrong.
They had developed an

Morris was certainly no stranger

scrambled down a drainpipe.

to escape. An armed robber, he

They were out.

had already escaped from several

The salty breeze blew against

ingenious plan. For months, they

prisons. But Alcatraz was different.

their faces. Now all that stood

had been using tiny tools to chip

Security was tight. Guards counted

between them and freedom was

away at the concrete walls of their

the inmates many times each day

a 15-foot fence and the crashing,

cells. It was painstaking work, but

and night. To fool them, Morris and

shark-infested waters of the bay.

eventually, they made holes big

his friends made dummy heads.

enough to crawl through. Once

On the night of their escape, they

only to drown or be turned back

they had a way out, they climbed

tucked the heads into their beds. In

by the strong currents. One inmate

up the ventilation shafts behind

the dim light, the heads looked real.

had hidden in the sea caves, too

Scholastic Scope FEBRUARY 20, 2012

AP Images

Men had made it this far before,

ESCAPEES
TOOLKIT
What it took to
bust out of Alcatraz

scared to plunge into the water.

seemed like the ideal place to

He finally got so cold and hungry

incarcerate these criminals. So

that he gave up and went back.

officials set out to build the most

Morris took a deep breath.

escape-proof prison in the nation.

Could they pull off the most daring

Cell blocks built in 1909 were

escape in the history of Alcatraz?

turned into a fortress meant to

hold those who had triedand

Island of the Pelicans

Patience

At first, the men used nail clippers

and stolen spoons to dig holes in
the walls of their jail cells. Blisters
soon covered their aching hands.
Later, they made a power drill out
of a vacuum cleaner motor. It took
months to dig holes large enough
to crawl through.

sometimes managedto break

By the night of this great

out of other prisons.

escape attempt in 1962, the small

Nicknamed Uncle Sams

sandstone island of Alcatraz had

Devils Island, Alcatraz opened

been used as a prison off and on

as a federal prison in August 1934.

for more than 100 years. But its

Penitentiaries across the country

history goes even further back.

were notified that Alcatraz was

Alcatraz was named Isla de los

ready to take troublemakers off

Alcatraces (Island of the Pelicans)

their hands. As Alcatraz Warden

in 1775 by Spanish explorer Juan

James A. Johnston later wrote,

Manuel de Ayala.

They would select their worst; I

After 1848, when news of gold

would take them and do my best.

in California spread, people

At 5 a.m. on August 19, 1934,

CUNNING

Atlanta, Georgia, for the long ride

located a mile from shore, seemed

The men took up a hobby: painting.
That way, no one was suspicious
when they ordered brushes, paints,
and drawing boardsall of which
they used to create fake walls to
hide the holes in their cells.

53 prisoners boarded a train in

be attacked. Barren Alcatraz,

top to bottom: www.istockphoto.com (2); National Park Service/Museum Management Program/GOGA

worried that San Francisco might

to California. They were to be some

the perfect place to build a fort.

of the first inmates at Alcatraz.

During the Civil War, in the 1860s,

Officials couldnt help feeling

the small 22-acre island was used

nervous. These men were going to

as a military prison. Then, in 1934,

Alcatraz because ordinary prisons

the U.S. Department of Justice

couldnt handle them.

took it over. Alcatraz was about to

Warden Johnston took every

become the toughest and most

precaution. The prisoners rode in

feared prison in America.

specially designed railroad cars

Ready for Troublemakers

During the 1930s, a crime wave

It wouldnt take a guard long to

notice an empty cell. To buy some
time, the men made dummies out of
toilet paper, cardboard, and cement
chips. They painted faces on them
and covered the heads with
hair stolen from the prison
barbershop.

No prisoner was allowed to leave

his seat during any stop.

hit the U.S. Robberies and murders

CREATIVITY

with steel bars across the windows.

The inmates arrived on August

were on the rise. Some criminals

22, 1934. By the end of the year,

had become incredibly powerful;

Alcatraz was housing more than

they were as famous as celebrities.

200 of Americas worst criminals.

The public felt that a superprison was just what the

What
else
did the
escapees
need?

country needed.
Desolate and
isolated, Alcatraz

A Bitter Surprise
A prisoner at Alcatraz found
himself in a harsh, isolated
world, punctuated by

scholastic.com/scope FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Capone. To many, Capone

symbolized the collapse of law
and order in the 1920s. He made
millions running illegal gambling
joints in Chicago. He was said to
have murdered at least a dozen
people. Capone was used to having
power, and he was proud of his
reputation as a big shot. He figured
hed be able to pull strings to get
special privileges at Alcatraz, just
like he had in other prisons.
As soon as he arrived, Capone
met with Warden Johnston. I have
a lot of friends, he told the warden.
I expect to have a lot of visitors.
Capone was in for a bitter
surprise. He was allowed to see
family, but not friendsor fellow
gangsters. Every prisoner at
Alcatraz was treated the same, and
there was nothing he could do
about it. Eventually, Capone had to
TOP: The hole that Frank Morris carved in his jail cell, along with the fake wall he
made out of cardboard. left: Legendary Alcatraz inmate Al Capone was known as
Public Enemy Number One. right: Famous Alcatraz Warden James A. Johnston.

the clanging of bars and the

supervised recreation time. Lights

distant blaring of foghorns. No

out was at 9:30 p.mon the dot.

newspapers were allowed. Inmates

Men who broke the rules faced

admit, Alcatraz has got me licked.

Daring Escapes
By 1963, the island prison had
become too expensive to operate,
and the government decided

harsh punishment. The most

to shut it down. Today Alcatraz

programs approved by the warden.

feared was solitary confinement.

is a landmark managed by the

A morning gong signaled wake-up

Prisoners hated to be cooped up

National Park Service. More than

at 6:30 a.m. The men stood to be

in tiny concrete cells apart from

a million tourists visit every year.

counted, then cleaned their cells.

everyone else, with only a hole

So do about 100 species of birds,

At the shriek of a whistle, they

in the floor for a toilet. In solitary

including gulls, cormorants, and

marched single-file to breakfast,

confinement, a man was allowed a

pelicans.

which lasted 25 minutes. After

mattress at night, but even that was

So what about escapes?

breakfast, utensils were counted.

removed during the day. There was

Alcatraz was a federal prison for

During the day, guards marched

the inmates to jobs in the laundry,
the garden, and the tailor shop.

nothing to do but stare at the walls

29 years. During that time there

as time ticked by.

were 14 escape attempts, involving

The most notorious felons

36 men. Twenty-three were

Head counts took place constantly.

couldnt beat Alcatraznot

caught, seven were killed, and one

In the afternoon, inmates had

even gangsters like Al Scarface

drowned. Two others attempted

Scholastic Scope FEBRUARY 20, 2012

clockwise from top: Newscom; Bettmann/Corbis (2)

could only listen to certain radio

escape in December 1937. Officials

believe they were swept out to sea.

POETRY connection

That leaves three men: Frank

Morris and John and Clarence
Anglin. After the night of June
11, 1962, they were never seen or
heard from again.
After the men were discovered
missing, a massive search was
conducted. According to some
records, a raft was discovered on
nearby Angel Island. There was also
a report that a car was stolen that
night, which could have been used
by the escapees. But in the end,
officials concluded that the men
had drowned. Indeed, a body was
found floating in the bay, but it was
never identified. If the men had
gone overboard, survival would
have been unlikely. Hypothermia
would have set in right away, and
the powerful current would have
easily dragged them to their deaths.
People have speculated about
their fate for decades. To this day,
rumors still circulate that they
are alive. There have been many
sightings; nothing has been proved.
What do you think? Did Morris
and the Anglin brothers make it

A modern poet imagines

the plight of Alcatraz prisoners
Vow

By Irene Latham
Inside, we endure relentless
routine in a concrete cage.
After countless crimes,
we stand to be counted
twelve times a day.
Were an island of masters.
We dodge brawls
and block handmade blades.
At night we battle
through dark seclusion
and silent, deadly wars.
Torture thrives
in surprising places:
from the top tier
we watch gulls wheel
across paintbrush sky.
Tugboats cry, Escape!
Distant windows wink like stars.
We will not die on this rock.

or did they perish in the merciless

waters of San Francisco Bay?

contest

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Why Did They Try?

ALCATRAZ Contest
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