Impossible escapes
Podcast editor ELLIE CAWTHORNE discusses an episode that reveals how numerous inmates tried – and failed – to break out of the notorious US prison of Alcatraz
Perched atop a lump of rock surrounded by the treacherous waters of the Pacific, Alcatraz doesn’t sound like the kind of place you’d have much chance of escaping from. But, as Ashley Rubin revealed in a recent episode of the podcast, that didn’t stop people from trying. In fact, the Californian prison’s 29-year history witnessed 14 escape attempts.
But did anyone actually pull off this seemingly impossible feat? “Well, it depends on your definition of ‘escape’ and your standard of proof,” explains Rubin. Indeed, most attempts were aborted or thwarted before the would-be fugitives had made it out of the prison walls. Yet there were still a hardy few that made it to the deadly waters beyond.
In 1945, one man was able to sneak aboard a ferry to nearby Angel Island, where he was then caught. Thirteen years later, two inmates absconded from their work duties and jumped into the ocean, using garbage bags as flotation devices. Ingenious perhaps, but unsuccessful – one escapee was picked up by the police, while the other drowned. “One inmate did make it to shore alive in 1962,” says Rubin. “But he was so hypothermic and exhausted he had to be hospitalised, after which he was returned to his cell.”
Perhaps the most famous attempt (immortalised in the 1979 Clint Eastwood film Escape from Alcatraz) was launched by Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers in 1962, and relied on some impressive creativity. After fooling the guards with papier-mâché heads left in their beds, the men used spoons to carve a hole in their cell walls. On reaching the water, they launched a handmade lifeboat fashioned from rain jackets. What happened after that remains a mystery: the prisoners vanished and no bodies were ever found.
“Because of the creativity involved and the mystery that surrounds it, the escape attempt has really captured the collective imagination,” says Rubin. While many believe the prisoners simply drowned, others claim they made it to freedom. The US Marshals Service still lists Frank Morris as a wanted man.
Either way, it all adds to the prison’s dark allure – an allure that captivates people to this day. “There’s something simultaneously horrifying and compelling about places like Alcatraz,” says Rubin. “We can’t help but wonder how we ourselves would fare in there.” And for any strong swimmers at home wondering whether they would make it out alive, there’s the annual Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. Although, if history is anything to go by, it doesn’t sound all that much fun…
Listen now
You can hear this episode at historyextra.com/alcatraz-pod