No One Was Ever Supposed To Escape Alcatraz – But These Guys Did

Few prisons have the history and legacy that Alcatraz has earned. The Rock was meant to be the ultimate sentence, as prisoners found themselves surrounded by crashing waves in the middle of the San Francisco Bay to serve out their sentences. What if it were possible to escape, though?

What was once thought as the impossible might not have been so out of the question after all when a group of prisoners made off into the night in 1962. It wasn’t until a strange note arrived decades later that the story of what happened that night finally became clear.

The San Francisco Police Department received a long-awaited clue

It was January 2013. Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, commonly referred to as ‘The Rock,’ had been shut for five decades, but there were unanswered questions that had been at the back of many people’s minds. Whatever happened to the three prisoners that braved an escape? Although years had passed, the police weren’t the only ones with the prisoners on their minds.

The San Francisco Police were about to get a long-awaited clue as a letter arrived. The note claimed to be from “John Anglin.” He had “escaped from Alcatraz” all those years ago “with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris.” Officers were forced to believe that the three men had drowned all those decades ago, but was that really true?

The police didn’t know whether the note was real or a fake

For many years, everyone believed the three men had passed. They disappeared into the night, and they wouldn’t have been the first prisoners to lose their life to the water. There was a good reason that Alcatraz was referred to as ‘The Rock’ - it was in the middle of the crashing waters. It’s practically impossible to leave without a boat.

Some skeptics didn’t believe the note and put it down to people playing a prank. However, some couldn’t shake the note from their mind. The police decided to keep the letter a secret. An expert examined the note and discovered there could be some truth in the words, so the case was reopened by the FBI in January 2018.

The worst of the worst ended up at Alcatraz

There were aspects of the note that seemed to match up with the story that the police knew about the prisoners and their escape. There were specific details about the escape that no one outside of the force and those involved could have known. It was this that led the FBI to open the cold case almost 60 years later.

Alcatraz was once home to some of the most dangerous criminals of the time. Gangsters, criminals, high-risk prisoners, train robbers, people who had taken other people’s lives - you name it, and the chances are they were at Alcatraz. You had to be really bad to get sent here. Of course, many of the prisoners spent their time planning an escape.

Plenty of prisoners tried to escape over the years

Amazingly, some prisoners were brave enough to try their luck escaping The Rock. It’s believed that a few dozen prisoners tried to escape over the years, but none of them were ever lucky enough to see freedom. It’s reported that six prisoners were shot and had their lives ended before they even made it out of the prison.

Some were lucky enough to make it into the water, but that was the easy part. Here, they were either shot by the guards, pulled under the water, or they disappeared. Twenty-three prisoners were simply recaptured and led back to their cells before they got their taste of freedom. Alcatraz wasn’t going to let anyone leave that easily.

Four prisoners carefully planned their escape

Allen West. Frank Lee Morris. Brothers Clarence and John Anglin. These four men were determined to make it out of Alcatraz. The prisoners worked together to conjure the ultimate plan to get their taste of freedom once again. The four men were in cells near one another, meaning they had plenty of time and the means to create their plan.

All they needed to do was wait for the right time before they set the wheels in motion. It turned out that the Anglin brothers already knew Frank Morris, as the three prisoners had been shackled together while they were all serving time in Atlanta. They had nothing to lose and potentially everything to gain.

Clarence and John had a close relationship throughout their lives

Clarence and John Anglin were born in Georgia, but their family wasn’t one for sticking around. The family would regularly move from place to place, thanks to their work as seasonal farmworkers. The brothers’ parents wanted to ensure they always had money to put food on the table, even if that meant they never got to settle in one place.

Clarence and John were two of the family’s 13 children. However, the brothers had a special bond. Every year, the Anglin family headed north to help in cherry-picking season. Here, Clarence, John, and the others would swim in the freezing and dangerous Lake Michigan. This meant they were strong swimmers from a young age - something that would come in helpful.

The brothers pulled off several bank robberies

They were close brothers, meaning that Clarence and John made brilliant partners in crime. They knew everything about the other and knew they would never leave each other behind. By the time they were young adults, Clarence and John had made a name for themselves as bank robbers. The brothers would target banks under the cover of night.

Amazingly, the pair always avoided interacting or injuring anyone throughout their crimes. Their stealth-like skills meant Clarence and John went undetected for years. They robbed banks across the state until one wrong move meant they were finally caught. The brothers’ life of crime came to an end in 1956, and they were quickly sent to the Atlanta Penitentiary.

Frank Lee Morris had been committing armed robberies for years

Frank Lee Morris wasn’t new to a life of crime. In fact, the criminal mastermind broke the law for years before he was sent to life on The Rock. Frank was an orphan by 11 and was moved between foster homes. His tragic upbringing forced Frank to fend for himself - even if it meant breaking the law.

By 13, Frank was convicted for his first crime. That didn’t deter Frank, as he continued to perfect his criminal skills. Frank started to pull off armed robberies until the authorities caught up with him. He was sent to Florida and Georgia before he eventually ended up at Louisiana State Penitentiary, often referred to as ‘Alcatraz of the South.’

Frank’s escape from prison meant that he was sent to Alcatraz

Of course, you don’t become one of the top criminals of the time by following the rules. The guards turned their backs one too many times, as Frank managed to pull off an unimaginable escape from Louisiana State Penitentiary. Amazingly, Frank avoided the law for a year, where he quickly fell back into his old life of crime.

It was like he’d never been away. The police eventually caught up with Frank and sent him to real-life Alcatraz, hoping he’d never escape again. It was here that Frank rekindled his friendship with the Anglin brothers and became the ringleader of the group. It didn’t take much convincing to get Clarence and John to agree to his escape plan.

The Anglin brothers had also tried to escape before they were sent to Alcatraz

Although Frank was the only one to escape prison, it didn’t mean the Anglin brothers ignored the thought. Clarence and John had tried unsuccessfully to escape from Atlanta Penitentiary, but they had never had any success. Their escape plans didn’t go unnoticed. The police eventually decided that the brothers were high-risk prisoners and agreed to ship them off to Alcatraz.

Little did they know that this would lead Clarence and John right into Frank’s mastermind plan. The three men all knew how to fool the guards. Plus, they had experience trying to get out of prison. Alcatraz would just be tougher than any of their previous escape attempts. They soon recruited Allen West and all put their heads together.

Alcatraz was a factory as well as a prison

Perhaps you wonder how Frank, Clarence, John, and Allen were allowed to come up with all of these plans? Just because they had pulled off robberies didn’t mean that they were dangerous criminals. In fact, these four prisoners were some of the few non-violent criminals sent to Alcatraz. This nonviolent behavior meant that they often slipped under the guards’ radar.

As if that wasn’t enough, Alcatraz was a factory as well as a prison. This meant that the prisoners were tasked with making the likes of shoes, clothing, and furniture. The four men followed the rules and did everything they were asked. However, they also used this time to collect all of the resources they would need to escape.

The prisoners needed to make fake dummies to leave behind

There was a good reason Frank, Clarence, John, and Allen needed to collect resources. The main aspect of the four men’s plan revolved around making it look like they were still in their beds as they escaped Alcatraz. This meant they all needed to make fake human-like dolls they could leave behind to fool the guards.

If they noticed that the men were missing, they would instantly raise the alarm and hunt them down. The prisoners knew this meant the guards would open fire to ensure they never made it out of Alcatraz. The four prisoners hoped the dummies would fool the guards to give them as much time as possible to get a headstart.

The Anglin brothers were in charge of making the dummy heads

The prisoners needed to work together if they stood a chance of making it out of Alcatraz. This meant each person had their own tasks. Brothers Clarence and John were tasked with crafting the dummy heads they would leave behind. This was one of the most important aspects, and the brothers had to be sure that they didn’t get caught.

They used supplies they could find around the prison - mainly toilet paper, wax, and soap. These created the shape of the heads, while leftover hair found on the floor of the barbershop helped to add the finishing human touches to the heads. Amazingly, the brothers soon crafted the four heads without any of the guards noticing.

The prisoners worked together to tunnel out of their cells

Although leaving the heads was an important aspect, there was still plenty more to consider before they reached freedom. The prisoners needed to tunnel out of their cells and would have to get creative if they stood a chance of going undetected. They used everyday items, such as spoons from the cafeteria, to craft tools like wrenches and picks.

The four men would then chip away at the walls whenever they got an opportunity. 5.30 pm through to 9 pm were the only hours of the day that the men were left unsupervised. They all had to remove the vents in their cells and chip away at the openings until they were large enough to squeeze through.

Alcatraz had started falling down thanks to years in the middle of the bay

Alcatraz was supposed to be the prison to end all prisons, as it was virtually impossible to escape. However, things weren’t quite what they seemed. It turned out that all of those years of being exposed to saltwater meant that Alcatraz was actually starting to crumble around the prisoners. The pipes were some of the first things to go.

The constant leaking meant the prison was falling down faster than it could be repaired. By the time the four prisoners planned their escape, Alcatraz was almost tumbling down. This meant chiseling away at the tunnels was even easier, as a lot of the concrete foundations would crumble away at the slightest touch. Everything was in their favor.

Music hour gave the prisoners a cover as they dug out the tunnels

Amazingly, the guards never heard the banging or tunneling. In the 1960s, prisons across the nation were rolling out a reform program that meant prisoners were allowed to listen to music for a few hours a day. It was common for all of Alcatraz to be filled with noise - the perfect cover for Frank, Clarence, John, and Allen.

It turned out that Frank Morris had another skill to bring to the table: he knew how to play the accordion. The instrument was loud and intrusive - perfect for covering any noise of hammering and chiseling. The other inmates would take this opportunity to work on their tunnels while Frank masked the sound as best as he could.

Luck appeared to be on the four men’s side throughout the escape plan

By chance, the four men discovered the utility corridor was practically left unguarded. If they could get into their tunnels, the prisoners could get into the corridor and climb the three floors they needed to access the roof. There was just one problem that stood in the way: the men would have to somehow climb up a large shaft.

It seemed like a small price to pay, but there was another problem. It appeared that most of the shafts had been cemented shut. That was until luck was on their side once again, and the men found an access point that they could pry open if they used one of their homemade wrenches to help.

The prisoners had thought of everything they needed to escape

By the time spring 1962 had arrived, Frank, Clarence, and John had carved out holes large enough for them to squeeze through. The tunnels would have been a nightmare for anyone with a fear of small spaces, but the men were willing to do anything to get their freedom back. The tunnels were just large enough to fit their bodies.

That was all. As well as carving the holes in their cells, the men also needed to work on a raft to use once they made it out the other side. It had taken many months, but the prisoners had been able to gather everything they needed to stitch a raft from leftover cuts from raincoats made in the factory.

The three prisoners had to wait for Allen’s signal to go

Everything was in place. All Frank, Clarence, and John needed was to wait for Allen to catch up. He was still working on the hole in his cell and would signal the others once he had made a tunnel large enough. Then, when the rest of the group got the signal, they would wait for the perfect opportunity.

It might have taken months of planning, but it looked as though everything was falling into place at last for the prisoners. It was June 11, 1962, when Allen finally gave the signal that he was ready. Although the four men had planned for any possibility, it looked as though their plan had a few flaws after all.

The first part of their plan appeared to be going well

Allen sent his signal, and the three men were all ready. Apparently, none of the group was confident the plan would work. All they knew was they couldn’t spend the rest of their lives behind bars, trapped in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. They would either make it to freedom, or they would lose their lives trying.

The lights went out, and Frank, Clarence, John, and Allen started the first stage of their plan. They all knew that they had to keep steady and focus on the plan if it was going to work, so they placed the dummies into their beds and made their way through the tunnels as fast as they could.

Allen had misjudged the size of his tunnel

Everything was going to plan. Sadly, that didn’t last long. Frank, Clarence, and John all made it out of their cells. Unfortunately, Allen had been a little ahead of himself when he sent the signal to say he was ready. It turned out Allen had misjudged the size of the tunnel, and it was too small for him to escape.

To start, Frank went back to try and help Allen squeeze his way to safety. However, there was no way that the group could get the concrete to budge. They were left with a tough decision to make. In the end, the prisoners agreed that they had to leave Allen behind and continue on with their plan.

Leaving Allen behind could have saved everyone’s lives

They might have all been prisoners, but the four men had become friends throughout their time behind bars. It was tough to decide they had to leave one of them behind. However, they weren’t left with many other options. Sure, they could have tried to break the concrete away and widen the hole, but it would have been noisy.

It could also have meant everyone was caught, and no one made it to safety. Leaving Allen behind at least meant three of the prisoners might be able to make it to freedom. In the end, it could have saved their lives. Having one less man on the raft meant there was less weight - and the raft could float easier.

Getting through the tunnels was just the start of the plan

The rest of the group carried on with their plan as Frank, Clarence, and John all squeezed through their tunnels and made it to the utility corridor. That was just the beginning of it all. The prisoners then had to climb up 30 feet of plumbing before they made it to the roof where they would run along to freedom.

Of course, this was without alerting the guards before making their way down another 50 feet of piping and landing on solid ground once again. It was a long way to go, but making it outside Alcatraz was just the beginning. Once here, Frank, Clarence, and John had to sneak past the guards and inflate their homemade raft.

No one realized the three prisoners were missing until the following morning

Amazingly, they pulled off every aspect of their plan and made it to the shore around 11.30 pm. The best bit? None of the guards had seen anything. That was the last night Frank Morris and Clarence and John Anglin were ever heard from again. The guards didn’t discover the three prisoners were missing until the following morning.

Everyone in the prison was woken up to the sound of sirens as the guards warned the prison there had been a security breach. Most of the people in Alcatraz were confused about the noise. No one believed that anyone had managed to escape out of The Rock without giving themselves away, but the impossible had seemingly happened.

Allen made it out of his cell only to find that the others had gone

It appeared Allen hadn’t given up hope of getting out of Alcatraz with his fellow prisoners. Apparently, he continued to dig away at the tunnel throughout the night and eventually made the hole large enough to climb out. Allen claims that he ran through the utility corridor and up to the roof as he hoped to catch his three friends.

Sadly, Allen says as soon as he got to the roof, he knew everyone else was gone. Allen was left with another tough decision. He could try and brave the waters and risk losing his life, or he could head back to his cell and spend his life behind bars. Although he wanted out, Allen decided to head back.

Allen West decided to cooperate with the officers

Apparently, Allen headed back down to his cell, where he crawled into bed and waited until the morning. He was one of the many that was startled awake to the sound of the sirens as officers searched high and low for clues about what happened. In the end, the police learned that Allen West knew something about their escape plan.

Allen decided that it was best for him to cooperate with the officers, so he told them all about the men’s plan to escape. However, no one knows if Allen told the whole truth. He claimed in his testimony that Frank, Clarence, and John were heading to Angel Island, where they planned to steal clothes and a car.

There were plenty of holes in Allen’s tale of events

It was all the officers had to go on, but there were holes in Allen’s story. The prisoner claimed the group planned on going to Angel Island, so why were there no reported robberies in the two weeks following their escape? This meant either Allen was lying or the three prisoners had never made it out of the bay.

There was a chance Frank, Clarence, and John had been heading somewhere else. However, something else didn’t add up. Allen claimed he was the one who had thought up the entire plan. If that was the case, why had he been stuck behind? Nothing seemed to add up, but it was all the police had. They needed the FBI.

Some of the prisoner’s possessions turned up in the water

Officers continued to search the bay for any sign of the three prisoners. It was during one search that they spotted something in the San Francisco Bay. Some of Frank, Clarence, and John’s possessions were floating in the water. If the prisoners had fallen off the raft, then the authorities knew there was no way they would have survived.

The bay waters are always around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, no matter the time of year. Experts have tested the effects of cold water on people extensively, now believing people can only survive for 20 minutes before it’s too late. To top it off, the three men wouldn’t have been used to the temperature, thanks to the insulation in Alcatraz.

They searched for 17 years until the case was finally dropped

Many days passed, and the authorities gave up hope of finding what happened to the three prisoners. That was until a month after their escape. A Norwegian freighter claimed to have seen a body in the water. They said the body was around 17 miles away from the Golden Gate Bridge and wearing clothes like prisoners from Alcatraz.

Unfortunately, by the time the authorities made it to the area, the supposed body was gone. Authorities never found any evidence that the men had made it to shore and never discovered their bodies in the water. The FBI searched for 17 years until they finally called it off and concluded that Frank, Clarence, and John must have drowned.

The Anglin family had evidence that Clarence and John could have survived

Just because the authorities had closed the case didn’t mean there had been no clues over the years. The History Channel released a documentary in 2015 that showed Clarence and John might have survived the escape after all. The Anglin family had apparently been receiving handwritten Christmas cards from people who claimed to be the two brothers.

Experts examined the handwriting and agreed it matched the prisoners, but they could never prove the date things were sent. The Anglin family also had an incriminating photograph. It was taken in 1975 in Brazil and featured two men. Forensic experts analyzed every inch and agreed that it was “more than likely” to be Clarence and John in the picture.

One of Clarence and John’s brothers claimed they were both alive and well

As if all of the other evidence wasn’t enough, it turns out that one member of the Anglin family might have been holding onto something else all these years. Robert Anglin was one of the brothers’ siblings. Robert claimed that he didn’t just know that Clarence and John were alive, he had been talking to them, too.

He was just about to pass away when Robert confessed he’d spoken to the missing brothers between 1963 and 1987. Even though the family said they’d heard from the missing prisoners, they claimed they had never tried to locate them. After all, Clarence and John were wanted criminals. If they were found, all of the Anglins would be in trouble.

The letter handed in to the police explained where the three men had been

The letter handed into the San Francisco Police Department was yet another clue in the long list of evidence. Many of the officers thought this could be the closure that they had been looking for all these years. The letter was supposedly written by John Anglin and claimed that the three “barely” made it through the night on the water.

John also explained that Frank passed away in 2008 while Clarence had lost his life in 2011. Sadly, many parts of the note were illegible. However, the officers were able to pick out key elements of the letter. John claimed that he had spent the rest of his life living around Seattle, Washington, and North Dakota.

John was now living with health conditions

It was the last part of the letter that got officers talking. The person behind the note claimed to be John and said he’d been living in Southern California. If this was true, he could have been within a few hours of the prison he escaped from all of those decades ago. John could even see Alcatraz from the shore.

The person behind the note said that he had been living with poor health for the last few years, thanks to an ongoing battle with cancer. Now, John apparently hoped that if he turned himself in that he would be entitled to medical treatment while behind bars. It was an unconventional offer that none of the officers expected to read.

John Anglin wanted to bargain with the police in return for his confession

He might have been on the run for decades, but it looked like John still wanted to be in control. He wrote that he had an offer to make. John apparently wanted the police to make a television announcement to agree to the terms. Here, the officers had to say that John would only receive one year behind bars.

He also wanted to receive any medical treatment he needed for his cancer. Only then would John reveal where he was hiding. Before the officers could agree to the terms, they had to test the note to see if it was the real John Anglin or an imposter. They also needed to analyze the letter for any more potential clues.

The results were in, and they were inconclusive

A lab was tasked with finding anything they could from the letter. Experts hoped the note’s author could have left some vital clues, including DNA samples or fingerprints that could be lifted and tested. Handwriting experts were also called in to compare the writing in the letter to samples they had left from all three prisoners before they escaped.

After several years of tests, local news outlets reported that the results were inconclusive. This meant the experts had no idea if the person behind the letter was really John Anglin or an imposter. The author’s identity was still an utter mystery, but it didn't stop people from theorizing about the true identity of the person behind the note.

The Marshals Service have changed their story over the years

There have been several stories about the three prisoners who escaped from Alcatraz. Former US Marshals reported there was a chance Frank, Clarence, and John could have made it to safety and started new lives. After the letter was publicly released, that all changed. A representative of the Marshals said they didn’t believe the note was really from John.

Doubts or not, the Marshals have said that they will continue to examine the letter and follow any further leads in the future. However, there’s another layer to it all. The prisoners would now be well into their 90s, meaning there’s a good chance that even if they did escape, they could have lost their lives naturally by now.

The Marshals believe the criminals would have returned to a life of crime

It wasn’t until a source spoke to a local news station that the public got to learn about the letter from John Anglin - or an imposter. The story soon hit the headlines, forcing the Marshals to open up about the letter and release a statement. They are the only organization that has been working on the case all these years.

People working on tracking down answers to Frank, Clarence, and John’s escape know more about the story and escape than anyone else - apart from the prisoners involved. The Marshals claim that they believe the three prisoners would have returned to their old ways and continued to break the law, and they wouldn’t have been able to become law-abiding citizens.

A new investigation showed evidence that the prisoners might have survived

The Alcatraz escape story quickly got a lot of attention, thanks to the letter. It also meant researchers delved deeper into the investigation once more to see if there was anything that could have been missed all these years. Their findings apparently showed something very interesting. Leaving Alcatraz after midnight meant that the tide would have been in their favor.

The Marshals also reported that there is a high chance the three men could have survived the journey. Perhaps it all makes sense that the organization has kept an open warrant for their arrest all of these years? In 2009, the Marshals confessed that they never give up looking for people - no matter how much time has passed.

A former guard doesn’t think the prisoners could have survived

Back in March 2018, Jim Albright agreed to give an interview about the escape. Jim was the last guard to leave the prison and took part in the interview on the 55th anniversary of Alcatraz’s closing. People wanted to know what an insider thought. Did Jim believe there was any way Frank, Clarence, and John could have survived the escape?

Jim stated, “I believe they drowned,” as the former guard thinks there is no way the prisoners would have made it across the treacherous water. In fact, Jim believes that the person behind the letter was actually someone desperate for medical treatment. He thinks they merely took on the role of John in a bid to get some help.

They would all be senior citizens if the men are still alive

There is a good chance that we will never find out what happened to Frank Lee Morris, Clarence Anglin, and John Anglin the night they escaped from Alcatraz. After all, if they drowned, then their bodies would be long gone. If they made it to the shore, then they have been gone for so long that anything could have happened.

Plus, law enforcement officers could never track down the person behind the now-famous letter. If they are still alive, then the prisoners would have aged quite a bit. Frank would now be 96 years old while Clarence would be 91 years old, and John would be 32 years old. Sometimes, we simply never get an answer to the question.