Escape from Alcatraz. 5th grade A.

Alcatraz island and prison.

Alcatraz is (or was) a high security prison in the USA; concretely in the bay of San Francisco. It is located on an island, very far from the shore (about 3 kilometres) The water is usually cold (between 4 and 18 º C, depending on the time of year). This prison became very famous because three prisoners could ran away from there. Their names: Clarence Anglin, John Anglin and Frank Morris. The escape from Alcatraz took place in 1962, and from the very moment in which happened it became one of the most legendary escapes in History. Here we will explain how this could happen.

Frank Morris    Clarence Anglin     John Anglin.

STEP 1: To be in prison.

For escaping a prison, first you have to be inside there. Anglin Brothers (John and Clarence) were bank robbers. Frank Morris also was bank robber. They have tried to escape from many other prisons; for this reason they were locked in Alcatraz: a place from were was tecnically imposible to flee. Well. Tecnically.

STEP 2: To draw up a plan.

The genius at work was Frank Morris. He was a very smart person, and he drew up an amazing plan, which I detail here:

1. 

   Fake heads used for deceiving guards.

   To make tunnels from the cells to the roof of the prison. This is something that the prisoners did with spoons and metal scraps stolen from different places of the jail.
2. To make puppets for deceiving prison guards. Once out of their cells, the prisoners needed to deceive guards, making them think that they were still sleeping on their beds. For this they created paper puppets at human size. They even used human hair in order to make them more realistic.
3. To make a raft, oars and lifejackets. Once with accesss to the roof of the prison, they built up a makeshift workshop. There they made a raft and lifejackets with rubber raincoats stolen from other prisoners. They carefully stitched and sealed those raincoats, making them waterproof.
4. To make a pump for inflating the raft and the lifejackets. Frank morris, once more, had a brilliant idea. He modified a concertina (a type of acordion) in order to make a pump. With it they could inflate the raft and the lifejackets quickly.

STEP 3: To escape.

Frank Morris cell. Under the 
wash basin, the hole.

June, the 11th. The sun is setting in San Francisco bay. Prisoners have dinner in the common hall, and then they go to their beds. When everybody is sleeping, Fran Morris and the Anglin brothers start their plan. First they place the puppets in their beds. Then they escape by the tunnel, digged in a ventilation grid under the wash basin. Before leaving, they put a false grid painted in cardboard, for deceiving the prison guards. 

At 10:00 the three prisoners reach the roof of the prision. There they take the lifejackets, the raft and the oars. Then, they climb down by a 15 meters pipe, they cut through the wire fence and they reach the water. 

STEP 4: To not be caught again.

One of the lifejackets found at the shore.

Next morning the prisoners get up. Well, not all the prisoners. There are three convicts who seem to be still asleep. Guards enter the cells and discover the puppets. Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers have escape! The alarm rings and an intensive manhunt starts. The police looks for the prisoners in all San Francisco bay and surroundings; but they never found them. They only found some of their rubber equipment in Angel Island; but nothing more. The official version: they three men drowned in the water. The reality: their bodies were never found. So, we do not know if they survived. But one thing is crystal clear: Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers escaped from the safest prison in all the USA.