The 1962 Alcatraz Escape: Did Morris and the Anglins Survive?

No escape from Alcatraz is officially recorded as successful. The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which ran the penitentiary from 1934 to 1963, counted 14 separate attempts involving 36 men. Most were caught or killed, and a handful were never found. Three of those men, who vanished in June 1962, are the reason the question still gets asked.

This page sets out what the official record says, how the best-known attempt worked, and where the legend runs ahead of the evidence. For a case-by-case account of the other attempts, see the page on escape attempts from Alcatraz.

The official count

According to the Bureau of Prisons history of the island, the 14 attempts broke down roughly like this:

• 23 men were recaptured.
• 6 were shot and killed during their attempts.
• 2 drowned.
• 5 were listed as missing and presumed drowned.

That makes 36 in all. The two names usually given for the earliest “missing” case are Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe, who got out of a workshop building in December 1937 during fog and were never seen again. The 1962 trio makes up three of the five missing. Sources differ slightly on how the missing men are grouped, so treat the split above as the Bureau’s tally rather than a forensic finding.

The word “presumed” matters. Nobody was ever proved to have drowned, and nobody was ever proved to have survived.

Why the water was the real wall

The island sits about 1.25 miles from San Francisco’s shoreline, according to the National Park Service. The distance is short on a map. In practice the bay water is cold year-round, and strong currents run through the Golden Gate and across the channel. A swimmer who was fit, wet and exhausted could be swept off course within minutes.

That is why so many attempts that got past the cell house ended in the water. One of the few documented cases of a man reaching the mainland shore is John Paul Scott, who left the island in December 1962 and was found on the rocks near Fort Point, cold and close to collapse, then returned to custody. Beating the walls was one problem. Surviving the bay was another.

The 1962 attempt: Morris and the Anglin brothers

The best-documented plan involved Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin, with a fourth inmate, Allen West, who was part of the preparations. The details below come from the FBI case summary and National Park Service material.

1. Digging. The men enlarged the ventilation openings at the back of their cells, reportedly using sharpened spoons and a motorised drill made from a vacuum cleaner part. The cell walls were old and damp, which softened the concrete around the grilles.
2. Hiding the work. They covered the holes with panels and used accordions to muffle noise, according to accounts of the case.
3. Dummy heads. On the night of 11 June 1962 they left papier-mâché-style heads in their beds, made with soap, toilet paper and real hair collected from the barber shop, so a guard glancing in would see sleeping shapes.
4. The route out. Behind the cells ran a utility corridor. From there the men climbed to the roof and went down to the shoreline, where they inflated a raft made of stitched raincoats.

West’s opening was not finished in time, so he stayed behind. The three others were never seen again.

What happened to the three men

The FBI investigated for years. A paddle and pieces of the raincoat material turned up around the bay, and a few items washed ashore, but no body was identified as any of the three. The FBI closed its case in December 1979, concluding that the men most likely drowned. The U.S. Marshals Service, however, kept the case open and has continued to treat it as a fugitive matter.

That split is worth stating plainly. The investigators’ conclusion was “probably drowned”. It was not “confirmed dead”.

Legends that outrun the record

Claims that the men reached Brazil, or that a family received a postcard, have circulated for decades. They have not been verified by the agencies involved, and this site does not treat them as established. A fair summary:

• Documented: the escape route, the tools, the dummies, the recovered debris.
• Unproven: survival, or death, of the three men.
• Unreliable: second-hand stories, anonymous letters and television reconstructions.

Why the 1962 escape did not close the prison

It is tempting to assume the escape shut the penitentiary, but the closing decision rested mostly on cost and the state of the buildings. The page on why Alcatraz closed in 1963 covers that in detail. For the men who were held there, the overview of famous Alcatraz inmates gives context.

Frequently asked questions

Did anyone successfully escape from Alcatraz?

Not according to official records. The Bureau of Prisons lists no confirmed successful escape. Three men who left in 1962 were never found, so their fate is officially unresolved, but investigators believed they drowned.

How many escape attempts were there at Alcatraz?

The Bureau of Prisons counts 14 attempts by 36 men between 1934 and 1963. Twenty-three were recaptured, six were shot, two drowned and five were never accounted for.

Who were Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers?

They were three inmates convicted of bank robbery and related offences who disappeared from the island on the night of 11 June 1962. Their escape is the most thoroughly studied in the prison’s history.

Could a person really swim from Alcatraz to shore?

It is physically possible over a short distance, and organised swims across the bay are held today with support boats. Without that support, cold water and currents made it extremely dangerous.

Where to read more

The National Park Service’s pages on Alcatraz history are the best starting point for sourced detail. For related reading on this site, the full list of escape attempts and the account of the 1946 riots and strikes fill in the other cases.