The ceiling was a good 30 feet high, but using a network of pipes they climbed up and eventually pried open the ventilator at the top of the shaft. At the same time, they were looking for a way out of the building.They also built wooden paddles and converted a musical instrument into a tool to inflate the raft. More than 50 raincoats that they stole or gathered were turned into makeshift life preservers and a 6x14 foot rubber raft, the seams carefully stitched together and “vulcanized” by the hot steam pipes in the prison (the idea came from magazines that were found in the prisoners’ cells). There, taking turns keeping watch for the guards in the evening before the last count (see the crude “periscope” they constructed for the lookouts), they used a variety of stolen and donated materials to build and hide what they needed to escape. They made their way down this corridor and climbed to the roof of their cell block inside the building, where they set up a secret workshop.
Behind the cells was a common, unguarded utility corridor.Once through, they hid the holes with whatever they could-a suitcase, a piece of cardboard, etc. Using crude tools-including a homemade drill made from the motor of a broken vacuum cleaner-the plotters each loosened the air vents at the back of their cells by painstakingly drilling closely spaced holes around the cover so the entire section of the wall could be removed.The group had begun laying plans the previous December when one of them came across some old saw blades.We were aided by inmate Allen West, who didn’t make it out of his cell in time and began providing us with information. Here is their story.Īs the days went by, the FBI, the Coast Guard, Bureau of Prison authorities, and others began to find more evidence and piece together the ingenious escape plan. The fate of three particular inmates, however, remains a mystery to this day. Nearly all were caught or didn’t survive the attempt. Escape seemed near impossible.ĭespite the odds, from 1934 until the prison was closed in 1963, 36 men tried 14 separate escapes.
#IMATE CELL SERIES#
The redesign included tougher iron bars, a series of strategically positioned guard towers, and strict rules, including a dozen checks a day of the prisoners. In the 1930s, Alcatraz was already a forbidding place, surrounded by the cold, rough waters of the Pacific. Its eventual inmates included dangerous public enemies like Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly, criminals who had a history of escapes, and the occasional odd character like the infamous “Birdman of Alcatraz.” But it was in 1934, the highpoint of a major war on crime, that Alcatraz was re-fortified into the world’s most secure prison.
Located on a lonely island in the middle of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz-aka “The Rock”-had held captives since the Civil War. In its heyday, it was the ultimate maximum security prison.
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