If Frank Morris & The Anglin Bros Resurfaced (And Other Alcatraz Q's)

Factual Questions
1

This Tuesday I toured the Alcatraz penitentiary in San Francisco Bay.

Following my tour, I met a guy in the bookstore by the name of Darwin G. Coon, who had been a prisoner on The Rock from 1959-1963. (He was autographing his book.) I asked him if he thought Frank Morris & the Anglin brothers escaped. He said “Hell yes! I helped them get tools for their escape.” ( :eek: ) He said in his book that those guys were born & raised in the Florida Everglades, and they probably went there and just disappeared.

A Wikipedia article mentions that Morris & the Anglins are officially listed as “missing & presumed drowned.” So what would happen if some 80ish-year-old man (I think that’s about how old Morris would be) showed up at a TV station in Boca Raton and said “I’m Frank Morris. I’m ready to tell my story.”? Would he be arrested on escape charges and sent back to prison? Are there still active warrants for his arrest?

Some other Alcatraz questions:

The tour pointed out that The Rock was for prisoners already in the penitentiary system. It was used for “incorrigibles”; that is, prisoners who frequently attempted escapes, prisoners who caused a lot of trouble in prison, etc. But did anyone ever go directly from freedom to Alcatraz? Say, due to the severity of their crimes?

Conversely, did anyone ever go directly from The Rock to freedom? I read a book by Leon “Whitey” Thompson, who was on The Rock when he was released on a technicality. I assume that this was rare. If you were on The Rock when your sentence was up, were you set free? Or did you get sent back to regular prison in advance of your release date?

Finally, I noticed that Alcatraz was in pretty bad disrepair. It seems that during the few years that Native Americans occupied the island some of them did a pretty thorough job of trashing the place. Much of the island still bears the scars: graffiti, smashed toilets in the cells, smashed concrete everywhere, etc. Inside the penitentiary the dust, broken glass, rust, fences with missing sections, etc. gave the place a very derelict appearance. I suppose this is for the sake of authenticity (or maybe the National Park Service just doesn’t feel like spending the money on the upkeep), but it seems to me that sprucing up the place to its mid 1940’s appearance (when The Rock housed Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, the Birdman of Alcatraz, etc.) might make for a slightly more appealing experience. Does the National Park Service have any plans to restore The Rock, or are they just going to let it sit in the bay and rot until it’s no longer safe for tours?

TIA

2

That’s a pretty impressive tour, isn’t it? :slight_smile:

If Morris did turn up, he’d still be an escaped prisoner and would be sent back to jail. However, it’s likely that after all these years someone would grant clemency, and he’d certainly get a big book deal for his memoirs…

I don’t know about going from freedom to the Rock, but plenty were released from it (though I don’t know if there was a halfway house). If their sentence ended, or they got parole, then they were free men.

IIRC, the penitentiary itself was being kept up. It was just the outbuildings. I’m sure it’s due to finances, though I think they’d keep as much running as possible. It is, after all, a big tourist draw, so they’ll want the income.

3

HeyHomie:

I believe Al Capone did, and a few others - not for the severity of their crimes, but because their criminal celebrity would make them likely to create problems in an ordinary prison.

Incidentally, I took that tour in January 2003, and the ex-con then signing his book in the bookstore was “Whitey” Thompson, whose book you mention having read.

4

AMC was showing he Clint Eastwood version of the famous escape…forget the title, but it stirred some memories. The reason that the convicts were able to enlarge the vent openings in their cells (and thus get access to the roof) was that the contractor who built the prison mixed the concrete with salt water. That made the concrete soft and crumbly, enough so they could dig it with spoons. I suspect that is why the place is falling down. Really, I don’t see why SF doesn’t demolish the place-you could build some very nice condos on the rock!
Anyway, a few years ago, a professional marathon swimmer made the swim from Al;catraz to the mainland-he very nearly didn’t make it! Even for such an athlete in top physical shape, it was almost impossible. So I doubt very much that any of these guys made it.
Incidentally Robert stroud (the so-called “Birdman”) was a vicious criminal and pedophile-he certainly deserved the worst!

5

Capone didn’t go directly from Alcatraz to freedom. With about a year of his sentence to run he was transferred to Terminal Island, also in California. Accounts of his release differ, but it’s possible he briefly passed through another jail on the east coast as part of that process.

6

ralph124c wrote

“Escape From Alcatraz”. Good movie.

It’s possible, I suppose. They have a cool audio portion of the tour at Alcatraz, narrated in part by some former prisoners. One of them speculates that they used more than just spoons. When I was there, I looked closely at the wall and the grate. It’s pretty damn solid looking, and also pretty small. I don’t know how big Morris and the Anglins were, but it would’ve taken a lot of carving beyond just the grate for me to fit out. I wasn’t able to scrape, but I did give it a good kick, and it sure felt solid. It was quite a remarkable feat that those guys pulled.

I swim that distance (about a mile) twice a week. And I’m far from being in shape, let alone athletic. Of course, I’m in an indoor pool which is dramatically different. But I can’t believe it’s crazy impossible to do. Also, there are regularl triathalons where athletes swim a mile in similar water. There was one in Montery just a month ago.

One important point is that the guys made a boat from some rain jackets. The boat was found (I think) at Angel Island.

Call me romantic, but I like to think they made it. Yeah, I know they were hardened criminals, but I still think that sort of accomplishment is cool.

7

It’s federal property, not belonging to the City and County of San Francisco. And they won’t demolish it because it is such a tourist draw.

As far as swimming between Alcatraz and the mainland, I coulda sworn that every year there is an “Escape From Alcatraz” triathlon that starts with a swim from the island to San Francisco. It’s not just the distance or the current, it’s also the really fricking cold water of the bay (between 50-60 degrees) that make the swim treacherous (less so with a wetsuit). And the sharks, too. Forgot the sharks.

8

bonzer:

I was referring to the matter of his arrival, not his departure. If I recall correctly, he did not come to Alcatraz from another prison.

9

Actually, I think he did serve time at another prison before The Rock. Atlanta, I think. Anyway, I heard that he had more guards on his payroll than the warden did, thus necessitating a trip to San Francisco…

10

Yes, he spent 1932-4 in Atlanta Penitentiary, whereupon he was transferred to Alcatraz as one of the first batches of prisoners to arrive on the island.

11

[sub]And, yes, cm I did misread your post. Apologies.[/sub]

12

My mother knew the daughter of the warden of Alcatraz, who one day swam from there to shore. Of course, she was a good swimmer, and chose a warm calm day, at the turn of the tide, and had friends in a boat keeping up with her in case of any trouble.

I can’t quite vouch for this, it’s a little remote for certainty. But the tide part counts; when the whole Bay is filling, or emptying, through the strait, the current moves right along. That’s one of the reasons the authorities felt free to write up the men as “missing and presumed drowned.”

13

I think there are regular swims from Alcatraz to the mainland, a friend of mine participated in a triathalon that included one. It’s not too far, people regularly also swim from Marin County to San Francisco. Timing is important, since as MaryEFoo mentioned, tidal flow can be really high.

The shark danger is way overhyped.

As far as restoration, I know of no plans to restore, and the money just isn’t there anyway. The National Park Service has had to layoff 30 people in the GGNRA in recent years.