On June 12, 1962 three prisoners escaped from Alcatraz penitentiary, a supposedly inescapable prison. For context, this maximum prison was located on Alcatraz Island which is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean.
The three escapees (John Anglin, Clarence Anglin, and Frank Morris) had all arrived at Alcatraz between 1960 and 1961 and were assigned to cells next to each other. While twiddling their thumbs in jail, the three decided to come up with a very calculated escape plan that would allow them to make it off the island.
You’re probably wondering how they pulled this off. Each cell in the prison had a small vent in the wall with an unguarded utility corridor on the other side of it. For about 6 months, the 3 prisoners had slowly made small holes around this vent until the vent was able to come all the way off. The corridor led to a landing area on top of their cells which was like their secret hideout. It was here that they made and collected all of the materials they would need for their escape.
On the night of June 11, 1962, the 3 prisoners made their escape. Before leaving, they placed dummy heads of themselves in their beds so it would appear they were asleep.
Once it was time to go to bed, the prisoners opened their cell vents, made it through the corridor, and climbed up to the roof of the prison through another vent in the landing area. From here they climbed down the 15 ft fence to the island. The inmates then used their raft and life vests which they made from raincoats issued by the prison to sail across the water. These 3 prisoners were never seen again.
Another question you may be wondering is how they were able to complete all of this at a maximum security prison. As previously stated, the prison was on an island surrounded by ocean… it was thought of being unescapable. The prison staff were a lot more relaxed with basic prison rules because they figured none of them would be able to escape anyway.
Many experts believe that they did not survive because of how dangerous the water conditions were. Since they had a very ghetto raft, it is highly unlikely that it lasted in the ocean. None of their bodies or the raft were found and no one connected to them on the mainland had heard from them. No one knows if the 3 prisoners survived the prison escape or not and unfortunately we will probably never know for sure.
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