The in-escapable

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In the icy cold waters of San Francisco Bay their floats the notorious Island of Alcatraz. It is no more part of pop culture for being just an island than it is for having a prison on it. No. Alcatraz was so notorious because it had some of the world’s most dangerous and violent criminals inside the walls of the prison. The prison had incredible security and was renowned for being inescapable, except when it was broken out of. In 1962 four men devised and perpetrated a brilliant almost fantastical escape, the only traces of their making it out are the mysterious gifts received by the families, personal belongs left on the shore, and that their bodies that were never found.
The masterminds behind one of the most notorious prison escapes are brothers John and Clarence Anglin, and Frank Morris. Those are the three that made the escape. There was also a fourth man who contributed to the planning but ran into problems and never made it out. The most crucial part to their escape was the preparation. According to (nbcnews.com) the four men spent six months digging around the air vents in their cells. They used stolen spoons too chip through the walls, and after months of mindless chipping away they broke through the half foot walls of masonry to fall into a small non traffic room. Once the wall was penetrated they would climb through an air vent to the roof. This is where the fourth man ran into problems. According
Bethune 2 to (historicmysteries) the fourth men’s air vent access was blocked and he had to abort. So to save himself from worst punishment he opened up about the escape. This is how law enforcement learned how the escape was planned out and executed.
After six long months June 11 was the night. They had to wait fo...

... middle of paper ...

...nvinced they are dead. The evidence that they did survive is just greater than the evidence that they did not survive. So the mystery still remains. The June 11, 1962 Alcatraz escape will go down in history as one of the most notorious unsolved prison escapes ever to hit the books.

Works Cited

Leff, Lisa. "Escape from Alcatraz: 50 Years Later, Mystery Remains." Msnbc.com. Nbc.com, Nov.-Dec. 2012. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. .
Macgowon, Doug. "The 1962 Alcatraz Escape." Historic Mysteries. Alcatrazhistory, 7 June 11. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. .
Nolte, Carl. "Alcatraz Escapees' Family Convinced Brothers Alive." SFGate. SFgate.com, n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. .

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