The dummies were made from soap, concrete powder and stolen paint. One of the Anglins worked in the barber shop and he swiped some hair to paste on the dummies’ heads for an extra touch of realism. For the next eight months Morris and the Anglin bothers left their cells at night to drill out the ventilation shaft and to collect the items they needed for their escape. Unsolved Mysteries, NBC 1989
Now the escapees had to figure out how to quietly inflate their huge raft. Frank Morris came up with an ingenious idea. He had received a small accordion or concertina for use during the daily music hour. ibid.
Then remnants of the escapees’ raft began to surface. And so too did a controversy on whether or not the men survived. ibid.
But nobody ever saw either Ralph Roe or Ted Cole again. They were written off as drowning in the turbulent freezing current-twisted waters in the Bay. Great Crimes & Trials s2e24: Alcatraz, BBC 1994
Perhaps the only escape attempt to succeed came in June 1962. Three bank robbers gauged out their cell ventilators to make holes large enough to climb through. The authorities said they used spoons stolen from the mess hall as tools. Frank Morris and the bothers John and Clarence Anglin had prepared thoroughly. Morris was the mastermind. ibid.
On a clear, cool night in the summer of 1962 three prisoners did make it off the island. And then vanished without trace. The escape had taken months of detailed planning and preparation. Escape From Alcatraz: Real Story, 1998
West cast himself as the brains behind the plot. ibid.
They opened up a workshop on top of the cell-block where they began to make fake heads. ibid.
The prisoners had collected over fifty raincoats. ibid.
Almost three kilometres away and directly in their line of sight on a clear, moonlit evening was the deserted shoreline of Angel Island. ibid.
These winds might have been strong enough to counteract the tidal effects. ibid.
Six months later during a stormy night in December 1962 two inmates broke out of the cell-house. ibid.
In all likelihood Morris and the Anglin brothers succumbed to hypothermia. ibid.
It was a perfect plan. On the night of 11th June 1962 three prisoners broke out of Alcatraz. They made it to the shore of San Francisco Bay and into a cold and treacherous sea. Almost every detail of the epic escape was uncovered, but half a century on one intriguing question remains: did they drown in the notorious dark waters of San Francisco Bay or did they make it out alive? Alcatraz Breakout: New Evidence, TVDB 2012
At the allotted time the dummy heads were put in place and the three escapees said goodnight to Alcatraz. ibid.
More than fifty rubber raincoats to make the inflatable raft. ibid.
They were never seen again. ibid.
West couldn’t break through his cell in time to join the others. ibid.
The makeshift inflatable raft was never found. No cars were reported stolen. ibid.
Could they have kept clean after breaking the Rock? ibid.
The fugitives may have beaten the odds after all. ibid.
Officials claimed a raft was never found; just a day after the escape an FBI record indicated clearly that a raft was recovered from Angel Island. ibid.
Footprints were spotted leading away from the raft. ibid.
The day after the escape police departments in the Bay area were on the lookout for a stolen car. According to the government memo a driver was forced off the road by three men in a blue Chevy. ibid.
The Anglin brothers – they reportedly went to a family funeral dressed as women. ibid.
The three escapees survived the journey across the Bay. ibid.
Alcatraz, the world’s most notorious prison. Built to incarcerate America’s most dangerous men. An inescapable fortress, or so they thought. Now, inmates and guards reveal the secrets behind the Rock’s most infamous escape. Codes and Conspiracies: Alcatraz, Discovery 2014
The prison suffered from 14 attempted escapes involving 36 inmates. And of these attempts one may have been successful. ibid.
June 11th 1962: three inmates break out slipping into the Bay on a makeshift raft. They are never seen again. ibid.
36 men tried to escape in 14 documented attempts. Did any of them reach freedom? 23 were caught, 6 were shot and killed, 2 drowned, but 5 are still listed as missing, presumed dead. Alcatraz: Defying the Rock, PBS America
Over the decades there were at least fourteen separate escape attempts by at least 36 different inmates. Secrets of the Underground s1e1, Discovery 2017
It’s one of America’s greatest mysteries. What happened to the men who escaped from Alcatraz? Mysteries of the Missing s1e7: The Men Who Beat Alcatraz, Discovery 2018
Against the odds, three men escape from the most secure prison in America: Alcatraz … Did the world’s most wanted men escape to a new life? ibid.
80 coconuts and GPS floats were launched off Alcatraz Island; over 90% were carried into the safety of the shore. ibid.
The greatest prison break in US history because its most notorious cold case. The escape from Alcatraz in 1962 forced the government into a merciless manhunt. And it put an unknown family from Florida in the national spotlight until they ultimately went into self-imposed exile. But now the Anglin family are finally ready to share their secrets. Alcatraz Escape: The Lost Evidence, History 2019
‘We’re doing this to prove that they actually did get off that island, that they actually did survive that crossing.’ ibid. family
John and Clarence [Anglin] who along with their older brother Alfred robbed an Alabama bank in 1958 using a toy gun. ibid.
‘They didn’t swim. They didn’t paddle. There were speedboats leaving the island that night.’ ibid. family #2
Labour’s policy in the prisons has been even worse. All the Fabian pamphlets about the necessity of penal reform were torn up as soon as Lord Mountbatten wrote his report on prison security following the rash of highly-publicised prison escapes in 1965. Mountbatten’s recommendations were followed to the letter. Many of the smaller privileges and comforts so much looked forward to in prisons were instantly abolished. Instead were introduced the horrors of the maximum security wings and increased pounding by warders. The Parole Board, presided over by the ubiquitous Lord Hunt (who has failed to solve so many of Labour’s problems from Biafra to the B Specials) is a fraud and a farce. Under Labour, even more than previously, the prisons have been regarded as institutions for turning recidivists into vegetables and vice versa. Paul Foot, Law and Order, article April 1970, ‘Law and Order’
Long before Alcatraz there was Devil’s Island. And it’s still the most notorious prison of them all. For a hundred years it was a brutal penal colony where thousands of men went to die. They call it the perfect prison because escape was impossible. Or was it? Legend says that a handful of men did manage to escape. Could it really be done? Mystery Investigator: Olly Steeds: Devil Island, Discovery 2010
In upstate New York two convicted killers pull off the surprise of the century ... and sparks a massive man-hunt. Who are these killers? How did they pull off such an audacious escape? Prison Break: Killers on the Run, ID 2015
Emerging from a man-hole cover a block outside the prison walls. ibid.
Three weeks after their escape, Richard Matt was shot dead by police. David Sweat was shot and captured two days later. ibid.
Nazi occupied Poland: In April 1944 with the outcome of World War II hanging in the balance two Jewish prisoners lay hidden near the outer fence of Auschwitz concentration camp. On 10th April 1944 they abandoned their hiding place and cut through the fence … ‘They escaped in order to warn the world that Auschwitz was a killing mechanism.’ 1944: Should We Bomb Auschwitz? Professor Michael Berenbaum, historian, BBC 2019
One of the greatest moral questions of the 20th century: 1944: Should we bomb Auschwitz? ibid.
‘Auschwitz should have had the most outrageous response while it was happening, and that’s a moral failure on the West.’ ibid. Barenbaum
Why was the greatest crime of the 20th crime of modern history allowed to proceed unimpeded for almost two years? A million Jews perish there by gas. It wasn’t because of lack of evidence. ibid.
‘Some of the groups would be frightened and disorientated, others would be almost relieved.’ ibid. prisoner eye-witness escapee
Rabbi Weissmandl: An appeal for help but also a rebuke for those who refuse … He demanded that the Allied Air Forces bomb Auschwitz. He was the first to do so. ibid.
June 1944: A month after the deportations from Hungary began, 109 trains had arrived at Auschwitz, with an average of 2975 Jews per train. ibid. caption
‘The first thing was – you breathe in and there’s a very strange smell. It was sort of sweetish and burning.’ ibid. on arrival at Auschwitz