subject: Escape at Alcatraz Island during Prison Times [print this page] Escape at Alcatraz Island during Prison Times
Alcatraz is the America's most unpopular maximum security prison. In its construction, it was designed to be unbreakable and escape proof. In many years no one managed to escape but it is reported that in 1962, there were three prisoners who did manage to escape in the cool summer night. They went out and no one was able to trace them there after .No one up to date knows if the prisoners after they escaped managed to survive or not. The prisoners managed to escape by use of the available materials in the prison to help them break and run away.
Alcatraz prison
In 1850, the American government had given out an order that the president wanted the Alcatraz Island to be a base for the American army. When it was built, it was fortified with more than one hundred cannons. This fortification made it to be themost armed base in the West Coast. It never managed to fire weapons in this base and so it was eventually changed into a prison. In 1909, the fortress was broken down converting the fortress to a prison. Prisoners were used for labor in the construction of the prison in 1909-1911. The prison's name was later changed to be "The Rock" though it was a nickname. When Alcatraz was handed to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, there were renovations done on it. For example, fitting with iron bars and guard towers all round the island was a necessity.
Prisoners were transferred to Alcatraz prison if they did not follow rules in the prison they were in or if they had cases of escape attempt. The regulations and structure of the Rock were used to teach prisoners firm adherence to rules. If a prisoner showed any improvement, he would be allowed to go back. Averagely, prisoners would spend 5 years in this prison. As compared to other prisons, the living standards in Alcatraz were favorable. Inmates could even ask to be transferred to Alcatraz due to the good conditions for instance one would be able to have one man cell among other privileges. There were four basic rights given to the prisoners which included: food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. Those who were disciplined enough to follow the rules put in place, got privileges. For example, working, visiting one's family and accessing of the prison library was some of the privileges. At leisure time, inmates were allowed to engage in painting and music. The prison was in operation until 21st 1963 the month of March when the government discovered that it was too expensive to maintain and so it was immediately closed.
The Escapees
In the period, no one would imagine of any form of escape to occur.Frank Lee Morris, John and Clarence Anglin, and Allen West became the heroes who managed to come up with a plan of escape. At that moment, Frank Morris, was thirty-five years old. He was the originator of the plan. Morris was a victim of narcotics and robbery then and way back in his teenage. It was recorded that he had attempted to escape from almost every prison that he had gone through. His ability is attributed to his high IQ of 133 thus he was very clever. He was taken to Alcatraz the year 1960 the month of January. John and Clarence Anglin were bank robbers. These men were physically strong and good swimmers, though not as intelligent as Morris. John on the other hand had a third grade education and went to Alcatraz 1960 the month of October. Clarence was a fifth grade drop out and was taken to "The Rock" in January 1961. Allen Clayton West was taken to the prison in 1957 due to his many cases of escape attempts. In addition to his escape attempts, he was a well known car thief. He was a very aggressive individual and everybody in the prison knew about it.
The Escape Plan
The plan that the four inmates used to be able to escape took several months for it to be established. Morris had always thought of the idea of escape and so finally he was able to make out that the fan in the vent on top of their cell was not replaced from the time it was removed. He thought of a plan and approached Anglins and West about the new discovery and the two inmates were more than ready to help him.They decided to come up with holes next to the vent at the back of their cells which would help them pull out the vent and create a big hole which they would be able to fit and thus go through it. After moving out through the hole, they would then crawl behind the cell and find themselves in the corridor. In this corridor, there were several pipes which run up to the vent where the fan was. The fact that the fan was not replaced, if they managed to remove the bars together with the grills then they would be able to reach up the roof. They would then look for a pipe one at the roof to help them go down. After reaching the ground the only barrier would be the few fences and the bay of San Francisco.
Implementation of the plan
As a first step, they removed the vent so as to be able to reach the corridor. They chipped at the concrete using spoons. Their use of spoon proofed to be slow and so they tried other tools like matches, nail clippers, and a dime. When they were all unfruitful, Morris came up with a better tool. He cut the spoon into two and removed the blade of the nail clippers. He used the blade to remove some shavings from the dime. He finally utilized the shavings and approximately fifty matches to fix the blade to the handle of the spoon(broken). West on the other hand also came up with a drill from a vacuum's motor and a bit which he stole from the prison workshop.It was a noisy drill and so they were forced to use it when people were out for recreation so as to balance the noise from the two ends. When the hole had been big enough they made every effort to cover it so as to hide their plans from their other inmates. They utilized a cardboard which they painted it to appear as that of the wall. On the side of West, his hole was a bit bigger and might have created suspicion from the guards, so Anglins was forced to close it by using concrete.
