The Alcatraz Prisoners Who Escaped: Frank Morris, Clarence Anglin, and John Anglin
FBIFrank Morris (left), Clarence Anglin (center), and John Anglin (right), the three men who escaped from Alcatraz.
For decades, Alcatraz was considered inescapable. The prison sat directly in the middle of San Francisco Bay with rough winds, chilly water, and other dangerous conditions that made any attempt to flee virtually futile.
So, when three inmates successfully escaped the prison in 1962, it shocked the entire country. Today, the case remains one of history’s most infamous prison escapes — and one of America’s biggest mysteries.
FBIA dummy in Clarence Anglin’s cell meant to fool the security guards.
Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers lived in adjoining cells, and it didn’t take them long to begin planning their daring break for freedom. On June 12, 1962, prison guards discovered dummy heads in the three men’s beds during their routine morning check.
A search of the prison revealed that the inmates had escaped from their cells through the air vents the night before. They then climbed onto the roof, shimmied down a pipe, made their way to the water, and deployed a makeshift raft they’d crafted from rubber raincoats.
FBIThe vent through which the three inmates escaped.
That’s where their trail ended, however. Bits of rubber and an oar washed up on a nearby island in the days after their escape, but no sign of the men was ever found. They likely drowned, but there are theories that the Alcatraz prisoners survived and carried out the remainder of their lives in hiding.
