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... escape and shots were fired at Boarman, Brest, and Hamilton, who were swimming away from the island. Hunter and Brest were both apprehended. Boarman was hit by gunfire and sank below the water before officers were able to reach him; his body was never recovered. Hamilton was initially presumed drowned. However, after hiding out for 2 days in a small shoreline cave, Hamilton made his way back up to the industries area, where correctional officers discovered him. # 8: August 7, 1943 - Huron "Ted" Walters disappeared from the prison laundry building.
He was caught at the shoreline, before he could even attempt to enter San Francisco Bay. # 9: July 31, 1945 - In one of the most ingenious attempts, John Giles was able to take advantage of his job working at the loading dock, where he unloaded army laundry sent to the island to be cleaned - over time, he stole an entire army uniform. Dressed in the uniform, Giles calmly walked aboard an army launch to what he thought was freedom. He was discovered missing almost immediately. Unfortunately for Giles, the launch was headed for Angel Island, not San Francisco as Giles hoped. As Giles set foot on Angel Island, he was met by correctional officers who returned him to Alcatraz. # 10: May 2 - 4, 1946 - Known as the "Battle of Alcatraz" and the "Alcatraz Blast out, " six prisoners were able to overpower cell house officers and gain access to weapons and cell house keys - in effect, taking control of the cell house. Their plan began to fall apart when the inmates found they did not have the key to unlock the recreation yard door.
Shortly thereafter, prison officials discovered the escape attempt. Instead of giving up, Bernard Coy, Joe Cretzer, Marvin Hubbard, Sam Shockley, Man Thompson, and Clarence Carnes decided to fight it out. Eventually Shockley, Thompson, and Carnes returned to their cells, but not before the officers taken hostage were shot at point-blank range by Cretzer (encouraged by Shockley and Thompson). One officer, William Miller, died from his injuries. A second officer, Harold States (who stopped the third escape attempt), was shot and killed attempting to regain control of the cell house. About 18 officers were injured during the escape attempt.
The U. S. Marines were eventually called out to assist, and on May 4, the escape attempt ended with the discovery of the bodies of Coy, Cretzer, and Hubbard. Shockley, Thompson, and Carnes stood trial for the death of the officers. Shockley and Thompson received the death penalty and were executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin in December 1948. Carnes, age 19, received a second life sentence. # 11: July 23, 1956 - Floyd Wilson disappeared from his job at the dock.
After hiding for several hours among large rocks along the shoreline, he was discovered and surrendered. # 12: September 29, 1958 - While working on the garbage detail, Aaron Burgett and Clyde Johnson overpowered a correctional officer and attempted to swim from the island. Johnson was caught in the water, but Burgett disappeared. An intensive search turned up nothing. Burgett's body was found floating in the Bay two weeks later. # 13: June 11, 1962 - Made famous by Clint Eastwood in the movie Escape from Alcatraz, Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin vanished from their cells and were never seen again. A fourth man, Allen West, believed by some people to have been the mastermind, was also involved; however, he was still in his cell the next morning when the escape was discovered. An investigation revealed an intricate escape plot that involved homemade drills to enlarge vent holes, false wall segments, and realistic dummy heads complete with human hair placed in the beds so the inmates would not be missed during nighttime counts.
The three men exited through vent holes located in the rear wall of their cell. They had enlarged the vent holes and made false vent / wall segments to conceal their work. Behind the rear wall of the cells is a utility corridor that had locked steel doors at either end. The three men climbed the utility pipes to the top of the cellblock, and gained access to the roof through an air vent that was blocked by bars that the men had previously bent. They then climbed down a drainpipe on the northern end of the cell house and made their way to the water. It is believed they left from the northeast side of the island near the powerhouse / quartermaster building.
They used prison-issued raincoats to make rugged life vests and a raft to assist in their swim. A cell house search turned up the drills, heads, wall segments, and other tools, while the water search found two life vests (one in the bay, the other outside the Golden Gate), oars, and letters and photographs belonging to the Anglins that had been carefully wrapped to be watertight. But no sign of the men was found. Several weeks later a man's body dressed in blue clothing similar to the prison uniform was found a short distance up the coast from San Francisco, but the body was too badly deteriorated to be identified. # 14: December 16, 1962 - John Paul Scott and Date Parker bent the bars of a kitchen window in the cell house basement, climbed out, and made their way down to the water.
Parker was discovered on a small outcropping of rock a short distance from the island. Scott attempted to swim towards San Francisco, but the currents began pulling him out to sea. He was found by several teenagers on the rocks near Fort Point (beneath the Golden Gate Bridge) and was taken to the military hospital at the Presidio Army base suffering from shock and hypothermia before being returned to Alcatraz. Alcatraz Federal penitentiary was officially closed on March 21, 1963. After the Federal penitentiary was abandoned, Native Americans inhabited the island from November 1969 to June 1971.
On October 12, 1972, Alcatraz became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and is currently managed by the National Park Service. Today, Alcatraz Island is a large tourist attraction. You can visit the island by taking a short ferry boat ride across San Francisco Bay. Tours are given daily to anyone who wishes to get one and who is willing to pay a small price. Many people are still skeptical about the idea of a true escape from the prison.
The only one who can decide the truth of this ongoing debate is the mind of the beholder. It just depends on what one considers successfully escaping the prison and what one chooses to believe. The mystery remains unsolved
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Research essay sample on San Francisco Bay Correctional Officers
