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Of the 36 inmates who staged 14 escape attempts over the 29 years that Alcatraz served as a federal penitentiary, twenty-three were recaptured, six were shot and killed, two drowned, and five are listed as "missing and presumed drowned."

Frank Morris

Frank Lee Morris was born in Washington, D.C. He was left by his mother and father during his childhood, and orphaned at age 11, and spent most of his formative years in foster homes. He was convicted of his first crime at age 13, and by his late teens had been arrested for crime

John and Clarence Anglin

The Anglin brothers, John William and Clarence were born into a family of thirteen children in Donalsonville, Georgia. Their parents, George Robert Anglin and Rachael Van Miller Anglin, were seasonal farm workers; in the early 1940s, they moved the family to Ruskin, Florida, 20 m

Allen West

Allen Clayton West was born in New York City. He was imprisoned for car theft in 1955, first at Atlanta Penitentiary, then at Florida State Prison. After an unsuccessful escape attempt from the Florida facility, he was transferred to Alcatraz in 1957 and became inmate AZ1335. Whe

As soon as the four inmates were assigned adjacent cells in December 1961, they began formulating the escape plan together, though always under the leadership of Morris, the chief mastermind and unilateral orchestrator of the plot. It helped to ensure their mutual trust that they already knew each other from their time in an Atlanta prison years before. Over the subsequent six months, the men widened the ventilation ducts beneath their sinks using discarded saw blades found on the prison grounds

The escape was not discovered until the morning of June 12, 1962, due to the successful dummy head ruse. At the time of the escape, Warden Olin G. Blackwell was on vacation in Lake Berryessa in Napa County, California, and he did not believe the men could have survived the waters and made it to shore. In a joint effort, multiple military and law-enforcement agencies conducted an extensive air, sea, and land search over the next 10 days. On June 14, a Coast Guard cutter picked up a paddle floatin

West was the only conspirator not to participate in the actual escape; he could not get his ventilator grill unstuck to leave his cell in time, so the others were forced to leave him behind. He fully cooperated with the investigation into the escape and was therefore not charged for his role. West was transferred to McNeil Island, Washington, when Alcatraz was deactivated in 1963, and later, back to Atlanta Penitentiary. After serving his sentence, followed by two additional sentences in Georgia