Living Alcatraz inmates

Factual Questions
1

How many inmates are living as of Jan 2019? The prison closed in 1963 with 1576 inmates registered, a few being repeats. I’ve done some research and found between 13 and 25 living inmates:

575 TIPPETT, ELLIS MATTHEW 24 Oct 1917
697 LOPEZ, ERNEST BARRAGAN 7 Apr 1921
700 LUCAS, CECIL STANLEY 6 Apr 1921
819 BULLOCK, JAMES Albert 29 Aug 1925
832 KOVALIK, GEORGE MICHAEL 7 Oct 1919
874 MEDINA, ROBERT VICTOR 1 Oct 1926
932 GILLIAM, JAMES SAMUEL 2 Apr 1928
935 CARIGNAN, HARVEY LOUIS 18 May 1927
946 TASSOS, CHRISTOPHER 7 Sep 1916
996 SOBELL, MORTON 11 Apr 1917
1051 BUTTERFIELD, DWIGHT RICHARD 21 Oct 1929
1077 FRAZIER, KENNETH DOUGLAS 4 Mar 1931
1163 MIRANDA, RAFAEL CANCEL 18 Jul 1930
1259 BAKER, WILLIAM GARNETT 25 Jan 1933
1265 TIBLOW, SAMUEL 11 May 1927
1271 POST, RAYMOND LOUIS 4 Feb 1925
1355 SCHIBLINE, ROBERT JAMES 23 Aug 1931
1361 GILLIAM, JAMES SAMUEL 2 Apr 1928
1417 CHAMBERLAIN, KENNETH WAYMAN 29 Mar 1935
1431 SUNDAY, RICHARD BENJAMIN 7 Aug 1931
1456 CRYMES, VIRGIL ALLEN 25 Feb 1928
1543 NEAL, JAMES RAYMOND 19 Dec 1936
1552 MCHENRY, EDWARD ELMER 15 Feb 1938
1563 PUMMILL, WALTER HAROLD 2 Jun 1933

2

Between these inmates, the 13 I can find links for that describe them as living are Tippett, Tassos, Sobell, Butterfield, Tiblow, Schibline, Chamberlain, Sunday, Crymes, Neal, Pummill, Carignan and Miranda. Right now this leaves Christopher Tassos (102 in Daly City, CA) as the possibly the oldest former inmate and James Neal, (82 in Burleson, TX) as possibly the youngest.

3

Of course, Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin aren’t going to make any noises about where they are living.

4

Dwight Butterfield is my grandpa and he just passed away at age 89.

5

I visited Alcatraz a bit over a year ago, and William G. Baker was there selling his book and talking to folks. The line was a bit long, or I’d have struck up a conversation as I was curious about what the prison health care was like there. He seemed pretty lively then, and I didn’t find an obit for him when I looked just now.

Condolences about Grandpa Butterfield.

6

Some years ago, I bought a book from Darwin E. Coon, while waiting in line for the Alcatraz tour. I just looked him up and he died in 2011.

7

Morton Sobell died about a month before this post.

8

Whitey Bulger almost made the cut. The Bulge was murdered in prison last fall.

9

I’ve been there twice, and both times there was a former con selling books. I wonder if that’s a thing, that they have former cons there selling their books every day. Obviously their days of being able to do this are coming to an end.

I struck up a conversation with one, his name escapes (heh) me. I asked him if he thought Morris & the Anglin Brothers made it. He responded, “Hell yeah! I helped them get some of the tools they used to escape!”

10

I know he’s dead now and don’t want to hijack but Whitey Bulger also said Alcatraz was his favorite prison and went on the Alcatraz tour shortly after his escape when he was the most wanted man in America, that guy had some big cajones on him.

There are even pictures of him on the tour posing as an inmate with his girlfriend.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008778/amp/James-Whitey-Bulger-posed-tourist-Alcatraz-prisoner.html

11

I visited there in 1994. The youngest guard ever at Alcatraz, Frank Heaney, was there selling a book of his experiences at the prison (which I bought and had signed). By my reckoning he’d be 92 if he’s still with us.

12

I will add that when I toured Alcatraz, and saw the facilities and listened to the schpiel about how grim and stark the whole facility was, I recall comparing it to the Max security prisons I worked in and found myself thinking “I’ve seen worse. Great view, from time to time at least.”

13

I’ve seen a documentary that featured the guard’s children that were raised on Alcatraz. Surprisingly they remembered living there fondly.

Many of those now grown children should still be alive.

14

Sorry for your loss. On June 14th, I mailed a letter to your grandpa, Dwight, to ask him a few questions about his time on Alcatraz. I wish that I sent the letter a few days earlier! God bless him

15

And by the way, Jerry Wayne Clymore AZ_1339 is still alive. He is not mentioned on this original list

16

As an update, the following 8 inmates have since died or were found to have been dead: RAFAEL MIRANDA (d. 2 Mar 2020), DWIGHT BUTTERFIELD (d. 15 Jun 2019), KENNETH FRAZIER (d. 26 Feb 2019), MORTON SOBELL (d. 26 Dec 2018), EDWARD MCHENRY (d. 16 Jan 2017), RICHARD SUNDAY (d. 7 Aug 2016), CECIL LUCAS (d. 14 Jan 1995), RAYMOND POST (d. 5 Jan 1991). Additionally, I found a 2015 obituary for one of Christopher Tassos’s relatives that mentioned that they had been preceded in death by him. This should bring the known list to around 16-17 inmates and should look like this as of Mar 2020.

575 TIPPETT, ELLIS MATTHEW 24 Oct 1917
697 LOPEZ, ERNEST BARRAGAN 7 Apr 1921
819 BULLOCK, JAMES Albert 29 Aug 1925
832 KOVALIK, GEORGE MICHAEL 7 Oct 1919
874 MEDINA, ROBERT VICTOR 1 Oct 1926
932 GILLIAM, JAMES SAMUEL 2 Apr 1928
935 CARIGNAN, HARVEY LOUIS 18 May 1927
946 TASSOS, CHRISTOPHER 7 Sep 1916 Possibly alive ???
1259 BAKER, WILLIAM GARNETT 25 Jan 1933
1265 TIBLOW, SAMUEL 11 May 1927
1339 CLYMORE, JERRY WAYNE 10 Jun 1934
1355 SCHIBLINE, ROBERT JAMES 23 Aug 1931
1361 GILLIAM, JAMES SAMUEL 2 Apr 1928
1417 CHAMBERLAIN, KENNETH WAYMAN 29 Mar 1935
1456 CRYMES, VIRGIL ALLEN 25 Feb 1928
1543 NEAL, JAMES RAYMOND 19 Dec 1936
1563 PUMMILL, WALTER HAROLD 2 Jun 1933

17

I think it’s a riot that there was a guy named “Crymes” imprisoned in Alcatraz. It’s like he was born into it.

18

snicker I love the Dope =) Wonder what the other tourists think if they heard you musing something like that out loud )

Reminds me of a joke between mrAru and myself - when we are in traffic with some idiot doing something really absurd, one of us will comment something about preferring to drive in Beirut and the other will reply ‘at least you can shoot back there’

19

If you ever visit San Francisco and do the Alcatraz tour, I highly getting recommend the audio tour. Most audio tour narration is pretty dry, but this one uses interviews with former inmates and guards to tell you about the history of the prison. I have no idea how long ago those interviews were recorded or how many of those interviewees are still alive. Since I first did that tour nearly 15 years ago I would have to assume many of the voices on that recording are no longer with us.

20

I lived in San Francisco during the Indian takeover of Alcatraz and I voted for a mayoral candidate (Tony Serra) who pledged to eliminate city taxes by converting the former prison into a no-limits resort, a sex-drugs-rock’n’roll theme park. (He lost, more’s the shame.) But I didn’t get around to touring. Jails never appealed to me.

Decades later, MrsRico and I visited Halifax, Nova Scotia and toured its old fortress/prison. What can I say? The vibes were horrible. We both felt totally creeped-out. I blame bodily emissions of prisoners, centuries of sweat, piss, pheromones, the body chemistry of fear, hate, and stress, soaked deep into the walls.

My question for visitors to Alcatraz and other old prisons: Have you felt extreme discomfort there? The followup: Are thrilling chills just masochistic pleasure? Who gets off on shivers?