How to Survive Alcatraz Prison

5 min read

Originally used as a military prison in the 19th century, in 1933 the American government decided Alcatraz would keep the county’s most dangerous criminals behind bars. Yes, those that no run-of-the-mill prison could contain. Al Capone and George ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly were just a few of its most infamous gangsters, thieves amd murderers. But In its 30 years of operation, the prison housed some 15,000 dangerous inmates.

Bank robber Frank Morris was one of them. He was a lifelong criminal, first convicted at age 13, and escaped several times from other prisons. But when he was in his thirties, he was sentenced to 14 years in Alcatraz. Escape-proof, right? Well, not for him. In 1962, he masterminded the most amazing prison break in history. If you want to know how he and two other inmates did it, keep watching.

How did they use a vacuum cleaner to break through the walls? Why were musical instruments so important? And how did they use raincoats to survive the freezing waters?

Step 1: Make friends

When Frank Morris arrived on Alcatraz Island, 2.5 km (1.5 mi) from San Francisco’s coastline, he joined forces with Allen West, another escape artist he had met in an Atlanta prison. It was West’s second time at The Rock, so he knew the place inside and out. He had noticed that one of the vents in Cell Block B wasn’t working. It was a perfect exit. They started planning their escape. And then, they realized two other inmates they knew from Atlanta were also in Alcatraz. The bank-robbing Anglin brothers, John and Clarence, were recruited.

Step 2: Get a job

Being assigned to painting detail on their cell block’s roof, gave West the chance to map their route out. When he was painting the outside walls of the prison, he found a pipe connected to the broken ventilation duct they wanted to use as an exit. The best part was, this gave the group a chance to store some tools and materials in a makeshift workshop out of sight of the guards.

Step 3: Be handy

With West’s access to tools, they made a homemade drill out of a broken vacuum cleaner engine, which helped them make small holes in the walls of their cells. They also created an art technique that helped them fool the guards by creating papier-mâché-like sculptures out of soap and toilet paper. If you want to know what they used it for, skip to the next step.

Step 4: Listen to the music

Alcatraz inmates had one hour per day to practice a musical instrument, meaning dozens of amateur musicians making noise at the same time. The group took advantage of it to slowly dig their way out of their cells, one scoop at a time. They used the handmade drill and sharpened spoons they stole from the prison’s kitchen to break through the 20-cm-thick (8 in) walls just large enough to squeeze through. It took them months, but it led them to an unguarded corridor.

To fool the guards, they used paper mache made from toilet paper and soap to patch the walls and hide the holes. And The night of the escape, they left incredible sculptures of heads almost identical to their own on the pillows made from the same paper mache. During the evening’s head count, no one noticed that three inmates weren’t in their beds.

Yes, we said three. Unfortunately for Allen West, one of the originators of the plot, his careful planning didn’t account for him not being able to fit through the hole he made in his cell wall. As he sat in his cell, Morris and the Anglin brothers were running across rooftops after popping open a ceiling vent.

Step 5: Don’t jump in the water

You should be excited to get out of the prison and jump straight into the water, but there is a 2 km swim separating you from the shore. Chances are you’ll die of hypothermia, drown, or get eaten by sharks. That’s why the Angling brothers built a raft out of raincoats stolen from the prison factory. Once the group was on shore, and no one had noticed the escape, their only challenge was to survive the Ocean.

Step 6: Hide

Official versions say the group died at sea. But a few years later, the Anglins’ mother began receiving Christmas cards, including photos of the brothers. In 2018, a man sent a letter to San Francisco police claiming to be John Anglin, now 83 and suffering from cancer, stating that he agreed to be jailed again if he could get treatment. It said Morris, the mastermind behind the escape, died in 2008 and his brother Clarence passed away in 2011. Authorities did not believe the letter, but if it was true, that means the group managed to escape and hide for nearly 60 years.

We may never know what happened to the three men, but they were true geniuses in their own right. Unfortunately, there are other, more recent criminals who have the ability to avoid justice. Have you heard of Ted Bundy? He killed dozens of women and eluded police for years. But we’ve come up with some tips to help you survive such a fearsome predator.