Frank Morris was a career criminal who became one of only three people to ever successfully break out of Alcatraz on June 11, 1962 — but he may have drowned in the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay before he made it to freedom.
Public DomainFrank Lee Morris was a highly intelligent career criminal who masterminded the daring 1962 escape from Alcatraz.
In June 1962, Frank Lee Morris and fellow inmates Clarence and John Anglin pulled off one of the most famous prison escapes in history. They broke out of Alcatraz, the notorious, high-security prison in San Francisco Bay.
Their escape came after months of careful planning, in which the men carved through the walls of their cells, crafted papier-mâché heads complete with real human hair, and constructed a makeshift raft out of rubber raincoats. On the night of June 11, 1962, Morris and the Anglin brothers put their plot into action.
Whether they survived the dangerous waters surrounding Alcatraz Island remains a mystery, but Frank Morris has gone down in history for his part in the escape. That’s because Morris and the Anglins were the only three people to ever successfully make it out of the prison.
Frank Morris wasn’t just another criminal. When he entered the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as the “Alcatraz of the South,” in the 1950s, it was clear he wouldn’t settle into a quiet prison life. He had been sentenced to 10 years for bank robbery — but no one realized just how hard it would be to keep him behind bars.
Frank Morris’ Life Before Alcatraz
Frank Lee Morris was born in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 1, 1926. His life took a rough turn early on when he became an orphan at age 11, and he spent his childhood moving between foster homes. By the time he was 13, he had already been convicted of his first crime.
According to FBI records, he was sent to the National Training School for Boys, a juvenile detention center, in 1940. Two years later, at the age of 16, he made his first escape from the facility and fled to Miami, though he was eventually caught and returned.
FBIFrank Morris before his infamous escape.
Frank Morris spent nearly the entirety of his teenage years and adulthood behind bars, though guards had a difficult time making sure he remained in custody. He escaped from a Florida prison in 1950, was arrested for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution in 1956, and attempted to escape again just two months later.
When he wasn’t in prison, Morris was committing burglaries, stealing cars, and robbing banks. In 1956, he was sentenced to more than a decade behind bars and sent to Louisiana State Penitentiary, but he escaped from there just a few years later, even though it was called the “Alcatraz of the South” for its tight security.
When he was recaptured in January 1960, he was sent to Alcatraz. He arrived there on Jan. 18, 1960, and became inmate #AZ-1441. Finally, he was somewhere he’d never be able to escape — or so authorities thought.
The Infamous Alcatraz Escape Of 1962
Alcatraz was supposed to be escape-proof, but Frank Morris had other ideas. When John Anglin was placed in a cell next to Morris’ later in 1960 and his brother, Clarence Anglin, followed in early 1961, they started plotting. The three men knew each other from previous prison stays in Florida and Georgia, and they joined forces with another inmate named Allen West to figure out how to leave the island in December 1961.
FBIFrank Morris (left), Clarence Anglin (center), and John Anglin (right).
Frank Morris soon took the lead. He reportedly had an I.Q. of 133, which would have put him in the top two percent of the population. His intelligence seemingly allowed him to see things in ways other people could not. For instance, using ideas he got from magazines he read in his cell, he came up with the plan to gather rubber raincoats issued by the prison, seal them together using glue and steam from the building’s hot water pipes, and inflate the makeshift raft using a musical instrument he converted into a pump.
The men also widened the vent holes in their cells using a drill they created from the engine of a broken vacuum cleaner. Morris would play his accordion during the inmates’ daily music hour to cover the sound of the machine.
Within six months, the group had made impressive progress. On the night of June 11, 1962, it was time for them to make their escape. They placed realistic dummy heads they’d crafted in their beds, crawled through the vent holes, and climbed a network of pipes to reach the prison roof. West wasn’t able to make it out of his cell in time, so Frank Morris and John and Clarence Anglin continued without him.
FBIOne of the dummy heads left behind by the Alcatraz escapees.
The three men crossed the roof of the penitentiary, slid down the bakery smokestack, hopped over a fence, and made it to the beach without detection. There, they launched their raft — and became the only prisoners to ever escape from Alcatraz, even though 33 other men tried throughout the facility’s 29-year history.
However, although Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers made history that night, they were never seen again.
Did Frank Morris Survive His Escape From Alcatraz?
On the morning of June 12, 1962, prison guards discovered Morris and the Anglins were missing, and a massive manhunt began. The FBI launched one of the largest searches in history, but it turned up little. Bits of the raft were found floating in the bay, but no bodies were ever recovered. Morris’ plan was to steal clothes and a car once they reached shore, but despite the high-profile nature of the case, no such thefts were ever reported.
Most people assumed the men had drowned in the rough, frigid waters of San Francisco Bay. However, there were several reported sightings of Frank Morris throughout the years.
On Feb. 16, 1967, according to a report by the FBI, a man claiming to be a former classmate of Frank Morris said he had seen him while driving in Silver Spring, Maryland. “When pressed for details, [redacted] would not further identify himself,” the report read. “He explained he had known Morris for 30 years as he attended school with him. He also indicated he had served time in jail with Morris and for this reason did not want to become further involved… He seemed very positive that he had observed the Subject.”
Then, in 2011, a Georgia man named Bud Morris, who said he was Frank Morris’ cousin, alleged that he’d met up with the infamous inmate in a San Diego park shortly after the break-out. Bud said he’d delivered envelopes full of money to an Alcatraz guard eight or nine times before the escape, presumably a bribe for him to look the other way when Morris and the Anglins tried to flee.
Nadine E./UnsplashAlcatraz Island is home to the notorious federal maximum-security prison that operated from 1934 to 1963.
“That’s when I told him I didn’t think we should associate no more,” Bud told local channel WXIA-TV. “I had a family and I didn’t want to get tangled up in nothing.”
Two years later, a letter surfaced suggesting that Frank Morris and the Anglins did, in fact, make it out alive. In 2013, San Francisco Police Department’s Richmond station received correspondence claiming to be from John Anglin. The letter read: “My name is John Anglin. I escape from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. I’m 83 years old and in bad shape. I have cancer. Yes we all made it that night but barely!”
The note also claimed that Frank Morris had passed away in 2008. The FBI examined the letter, but could not determine whether it was genuine. Ultimately, none of these reports were deemed credible, and the men are presumed dead to this day, though the U.S. Marshals Service still has a warrant out for Frank Morris’ arrest.
As such, Morris’ fate remains a mystery, but his escape from Alcatraz Island has made him a legend. Whether he survived and built a new life for himself or was lost to the waters of San Francisco Bay, we’ll likely never know.
After reading about Frank Morris and his role in the 1962 Alcatraz escape, go inside 11 more infamous prison escapes. Then, learn about the time Native American demonstrators took over Alcatraz.
