An escape-proof prison? Is there really such a thing? The architects who drew up the plans for Alcatraz thought so. Razor wire, electric fencing, motion sensors, dogs, riflemen and towers — combined with the island's own freezing waters and stiff currents — were thought to be enough to prevent any inmate from ever successfully escaping. Nonetheless, inmates are a resourceful bunch, and they have nothing but time to occupy themselves with. Time to dream up and contemplate a plan, time to look for loopholes in the system, and time to put that plan into motion.
If an escape plan is to be successful, it must be well thought out. The inmate must determine how to get out, how to get the tools and supplies necessary, who to let in on the plan, when to attempt the escape, and where to go when he gets out so that he can avoid capture.
During the nearly 30 years that Alcatraz was in operation as a federal penitentiary, there were 14 escape attempts. During those attempts, eight inmates were killed. Six of them were shot, and two others drowned. Another five were never accounted for, although many believe they too drowned in the frigid waters that surround the island. The other 23 inmates were recaptured, although two were later put to death.
The first attempted escape occurred on April 27, 1936. However, this escape attempt did little more than prove that prisoners are also very desperate men. The man behind the first attempt was Joe Bowers. He had left his job incinerating trash and tried to climb the fence at the edge of the island. After refusing to climb down, he was shot and fell nearly 100 feet. He subsequently died from the injuries he sustained in the fall.
The next attempt was somewhat better planned, but not much. Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe, while working in the mat shop, filed the bars in the window. On Dec. 16, 1937, they climbed out the window and made their way to the bay. A storm was raging at sea, and it is speculated that they were swept out to sea. They are listed as missing and presumed dead.
Less than a year later, on May 23, 1938, three inmates, James Limerick, Jimmy Lucas, and Rufus Franklin, attacked and killed Royal Cline, an unarmed correctional officer, in the woodshop. They then made their way to the roof, hoping to disarm the officer in the roof tower. During the attempt, Limerick and Franklin were shot. Limerick died, and Franklin and Lucas received life sentences for the murder of Cline.
On the night of Jan. 13, 1939, inmates Arthur "Doc" Barker, Dale Stamphill, William Martin, Henry Young and Rufus McCain found a way to saw through the bars and then bend the window bars to escape to the shore. Corrections officers found the group at the water's edge. McCain, Young and Martin surrendered and were taken back into custody, but Barker and Stamphill refused to surrender and were shot. Barker died from the gunshot wound.
