The real-life version of "Prison Break", the most famous prison break in American history - Alcatraz Prison Break

I believe that many people have seen a classic American drama called "Prison Break". Potato Boy today to talk about a real prison escape event - Alcatraz Island prison break. This is the most famous jailbreak in American history.

Rock Island becomes Prison Island

Alcatraz Island is a very famous prison in the United States, located on a small island in San Francisco Bay, California. The island, which is called Alcatraz Island, is less than 0.08 square kilometers in size, and is surrounded by very steep cliffs on all sides, no sandy beaches, and the surrounding water is particularly deep. It is also 24 km from the nearest seaside, which is a suitable place to build a prison, right? It's like a rock in the sea, and a prison is built on top of this rock, so this island is also called "Giant Rock Island".

The place started out as a military base, but in 1906, San Francisco struck a massive earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, and many buildings collapsed. Moreover, when a fire broke out in the indoor prison, the prisoners began to be evacuated. But it's a mess outside, and there are a lot of felons in this prisoner, you can't just put them in the right place. So 176 prisoners were rushed to the island so that they would not be in any danger and would not be able to escape. Later, because of this matter, I felt that this island was too suitable for building a prison. So in 1912, the U.S. federal government built a huge prison on this island. Since then, the name of the island has also changed, from "Rock Island" to "Prison Island".

Prison Island becomes Alcatraz Island

And then back to the 1930s. The Great Depression in the United States, a large number of armed and violent criminals appeared all over the United States, all organized. It is very unsafe for these people to be held in ordinary prisons. Because their criminal organization may come to rob the prison, for example, if you lock up the boss inside, his little brother will come to save him. So the leaders of some criminal organizations were imprisoned on this island. For example, the famous American gangster boss Al Capone. This guy was the founder of the Chicago Crime Syndicate, so it wouldn't work to go to a regular prison. Locked up on this island, he had no way to sail the boat to rescue him.

So a lot of people on this island are black-headed bosses. In addition to these, there are also those who can be especially escaped from prison, and generally prisons cannot be closed. As long as he closes him, he runs, and he keeps running. So put him on the island, he can't run, just like Schofield in Prison Break, he is bound to be locked up. Since then, the island has no longer held ordinary prisoners, only such violent criminals, or people who often escape from prison. From that time on, the name of the island changed again, from "Prison Island" to "Alcatraz Island".

High level of security

Since this place is where demons gather, the level of security is also the highest. There are 600 rooms in the prison, all of which are not connected to the outer wall, which means that there will be no windows in the prison to see outside. Moreover, all the fences in the prison, including the fence of the door, some railings inside, and all the things used for blocking, are all made of special materials, and they cannot be knocked on with ordinary tools. There is also the fact that all the pipes in this prison that connect to the outside world are blocked with cement.

There are also guard towers around the prison, which are not called guard towers, but gun towers. The people above were all holding guns and aiming inside the prison. You can see all the rooms above this watchtower. The watchtower is also surrounded by an iron fence, and it is certainly not possible to enter from the outside. They buried this tear gas in the prison's dining room and ceiling, and they could be controlled remotely. In the event of a riot, tear gas began to erupt from the moment the watchtower was controlled.

The living environment is superior

Although this island is called Alcatraz Island, the guards are also very strict, and isolated from the land, but in fact, the environment on this island is very good. Because they only accept the most evil people, the occupancy rate is very low. The 600 rooms were never full, one for everyone, and the food was exceptional. Why? This has to do with the warden. The prison's first warden, James Johanston, believed that the main reason for the prisoners' revolt was that the food was not good. (PS: hahaha!) Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? ）

These people are all people who have committed the most heinous sins, people who are particularly fierce, and if the food is not delicious at all, they will certainly riot. So be sure to make it particularly tasty and manage enough. Nutritious and have everything, and as long as you're doing well, there are books to read, and there are 15,000 books on them, and you can read them as you please. You can also be given musical instruments, and you can learn whatever instrument you want. You can also draw, you want paper, pencil, dye, etc., you can give it to you. If you behave well, you can watch a movie once a month. All in all, as long as you behave well, you can live comfortably here. So many ordinary prisoners in other prisons have applied to come to this island. What they value most is a room for each person. It is said that many prisoners in ordinary prisons say that they are threatened by other inmates in the same room, so it is too important for them to have a room by themselves. You can do whatever you want inside, you can draw, you can play the piano, you can do whatever you want. How did the good living environment of Alcatraz Island Prison advertise it? It's not propaganda, it's that some people who have been locked up in the past few years have gone out, and then told others when they were locked up in other prisons, saying that it was actually very good here.

Jailbreak records

Ever since the prison was built, it has been considered a prison where escapes are unlikely. The island itself is surrounded by cliffs on all sides, and the surrounding water is very deep, and even the surrounding water is full of sharks. Its environment is particularly unique, the water is particularly cool, there are seals and sharks, sharks are mainly great white sharks. There are records in the surrounding waters that 11 people were killed by shark attacks. Plus it's surrounded by lighthouses, patrol boats, and watchtowers. It seems that jailbreaking is unlikely.

In fact, since the prison was built, more than 30 people have tried to escape, of which 23 have been captured, 6 have been killed, and 2 have drowned. But in 1962, about 60 years ago, three people managed to escape from prison. It cannot be said that it was a successful escape, but that it disappeared from this prison. In fact, there were 4 people who escaped from prison together, but one was arrested.

Jailbreak foursome

Of the four, one was Frank Morris, one was brother, one was John Anglin, one was Clarence Anglin, and the other was Alan West. Potato Boy first briefly introduces these four people.

Frank was a particularly intelligent man who was abandoned by his parents at the age of 11. Even his parents are alive, but they don't want him. Since then he has been orphaned and has also begun to commit crimes. Arrested at the age of 13 for drug possession and firearms, later arrested for car theft and continued robbery, and later sentenced to 10 years for bank robbery. After being released from prison, he was arrested for trespassing and was finally sent to Alcatraz Island. The biggest reason this man was sent to Alcatraz was because he often escaped from prison and succeeded many times. So later, before going to prison, a measure of his IQ was made, and his IQ was as high as 133, which was the top among the prisoners.

The Anglin brothers were peasant children, and the two were only one year apart. When I was young, I didn't want to farm and came to mix with society. Since the age of 20, he has been committing crimes non-stop, mainly robbing banks. The last time, when two people were 27 and 28 years old, they were arrested for robbing banks, one sentenced to 15 years and the other to 20 years. The two men were also sent to this Alcatraz Island for several escapes.

The last West had been committing crimes since he was 16 years old, and had been arrested a total of 20 times before the age of 28. So most of my life is spent in prison and in the process of being arrested. The man also escaped from prison several times and was eventually sent to Alcatraz.

In addition to the common denominator of these four people who often escaped from prison, there is also a common denominator, that is, they were all about the same age, they were all born in the era of the Great Depression in the United States, and in that era, it was all kinds of crime, bank robbery, and so on, which were very common things. These four people knew each other before they entered this Alcatraz Island, not in society, but in prison. Then there was another thing that caused the four of them to escape from prison together, and that was the four of them' cells next to each other.

Well planned and prepared

In December 1961, they began planning to escape from prison. The leader and mastermind of this escape is Frank, the oldest and the most intelligent. First of all, the four of them spent about half a year in prison to start preparing tools and materials. Tools mainly include glue, spoons, soap, toothpaste, tissue, hair, towels, raincoats, vacuum cleaners and so on. It seems that I don't know what it is for, and the potato boy will tell you that it has a very important role.

The first was that little by little they stole more than 50 raincoats from the prison, and they cut the raincoats into a rubber boat. Glue this piece together to create this rubber boat. With a length of 4.3 meters and a width of 1.8 meters, it should be able to hold 4 people. Not just the glue, they used heating to make the raincoat melt and stick together. Such a big boat, it is very difficult to blow up, if you want to blow for a few hours, it will certainly not work. They are actually pumped by this bellows of the accordion. As mentioned earlier, there are musical instruments in prisons, and there are musical instruments when they perform well. This Frank behaved very well, so he asked for an accordion, in fact, to cheer this up.

How did they know they could make this kayak with a raincoat? Later, it was found that this Frank always went to the library, that is, the library in the prison, and he could go if he behaved well. He always went to see a magazine, and then took this magazine out, and found that this magazine had once been published in this wild survival (PS: hahaha ~ how can you put this kind of book in prison), and there is a plot that says that if you are washed away by the water, something like a raincoat can be covered, it is not breathable, it can form a float that can float in the water. He may have associated himself with this, saying that it could be made into a kayak at sea. So they made four life jackets out of fragments of raincoats, and a waterproof bag that could hold some personal belongings. Then the oars were made of collected planks, so that the tools for moving at sea were complete.

So how do you get from your cell to the beach? This requires digging holes in the cell. They stole small metal spoons from the kitchen, and it was useless to have a spoon alone. Because their walls are all concrete, you can't dig with a spoon. So they stole a vacuum cleaner motor, put this spoon on this motor, connected to the electricity in the house, and formed an electric drill. Oh, there is a vent under the pool, and they turn this vent so large that people can climb out. The vent is a maintenance corridor, which is the place where the circuits and waterways in this prison are repaired. It's very similar to the structure in Prison Break.

Finally, there is a problem, that is, the electric drill they made themselves is particularly loud to run, and it will be exposed, after all, it is modified by the vacuum cleaner. But all the good performers in this prison get musical instruments, and there is a fixed time slot every day for them to play. This time period is the noisiest in the whole prison, and they take advantage of this time to drill the wall.

The stroke of genius – disguise

In fact, you don't have to drill a big place, just expand the mouth a little, and one person can go out. So in fact, the time they drill the wall is not very long, and they don't have to earn it every day. A few days before leaving, the four of them drilled their own mouths wide, and everyone had to drill, because everyone had a room, which was completely different from "The Shawshank Redemption", and the man dug for more than ten years to dig out a passage. And drilling too early is easy to spot.

In fact, in addition to these, they also did a very important thing. Now it seems that this matter is definitely a stroke of God. They are afraid that after going out, when they are checked at night, they will find that there is no one in the house, and the prison guards will immediately sound the alarm, and you will not be able to run. They are different from the one in Prison Break, where you just have to climb over the wall to break the prison. But they not only have to climb over the wall, but also cross the sea to escape the prison, which takes longer. So it's better not to be noticed all night.

So how can you escape this round? They made four dummies of soap, toothpaste and concrete, as well as tissue and collected hair, and painted them with the color of human skin. Where did this dye come from? Because people who perform well can also paint, one of the four of them is good and asks to paint, so there is dye. Then before leaving, put your head on the bed and put a towel on it so that it was as if you were sleeping.

Jailbreak begins

After everything was ready, on the night of June 11, 1962, they began to escape from prison. Everyone was carrying life jackets and oars, and Frank took the boat, and of course, before it was inflated, climbed out of the mouth. Of the four, only West was able to climb out of this mouth. Why didn't he climb out? It was because he drilled this hole when he drilled it, because it was drilled a few days in advance, and he was afraid of being discovered, so he used cement and pasted it again. He thought that when he went out, he would rip the cement open and he would finish it, but when he went out, he found that the cement had solidified, and he couldn't open it. At night, he couldn't make a sound, and then he drilled the hole. He took a little bit of pickpocketing, and he didn't open it for several hours. When he went out, he found that the three men had long since disappeared.

The original escape route of these people was like this, after going out of this mouth, they walked along this maintenance pipe, and there was a staircase at the end to lead to the roof. After climbing up to the roof, they walked to the top of the kitchen roof. There was a chimney in the kitchen, down the chimney to the ground, then down the cliff from the ground to the sea, and finally blew the boat up. After going down, get on the boat and run away, this is the idea.

Later, when West climbed out, he found that the three men were gone, and he also went up the original route, and when he went up to the roof, he found that the sun was about to rise, and in the morning, he went back to the same road and went to sleep.

Start the hunt

Because the dummies managed to fool the prison guards who were checking the rooms, they actually found that the men had escaped from prison when they were named the next morning. Every morning at eight o'clock, all prisoners were required to stand at the door of their cells and be named. The three men did not come out, and the prison guards went to the house, saw that they were all sleeping with their heads buried, and touched them with batons. The head fell to the ground, frightening the warning.

Later, the prison guards were quite frightened, and these heads were too realistic, and the facial features, silhouettes, and colors on them were exactly the same as those of real people. Later, some experts looked at it and said that these heads were too realistic and may trigger the uncanny valley effect.

After finding that the three people were missing, the prison guards found a hole in West's room by the way, so West truthfully explained the causes and consequences, how they planned, how they escaped, and when these people left, and actively cooperated with the police to hunt down these three people. So in the end West was not punished.

After determining that the three people escaped from prison, the police sounded the alarm and began a search for the whole island, and immediately sent patrol boats to search for a large area at sea. In fact, these police searches were not only found late, but in fact, the large-scale search was also slightly late. Because on the day they escaped, the prison warden was not there and went on vacation. At that time, there were no mobile phones, and no one could contact the warden at the first time, and it was only after a long time that they were contacted, and then they began to search for a large scale.

Results of the search

Later, after 10 days of searching on the island and at sea, only one oar was found at sea. This oar was exactly the same as the one they had left in prison, the one that West hadn't taken out, which meant that they had made it. Two life jackets made from raincoats were also found, one found in the bay and one found outside the bay. Floating on the surface of the sea, these life jackets are not damaged. There is also the discovery of this waterproof bag made of raincoats, the waterproof bag is full of related items of the Angel brothers, there are some photos of them and photos of relatives and friends, which is very precious to them. By the way, there was also a piece of paper full of contact information from relatives and friends. Everything that was found, very well-preserved and exquisite, was evident from this that it took time to prepare.

In the end, the hovercraft was not found, but some fragments of the raincoat were found, and it was speculated that the hovercraft should have broken, and then it was scattered by the waves, and it became these fragments.

Infer death

If the hovercraft breaks, their chances of escaping from jail are low. Because the wind and waves in the surrounding seas are particularly large, especially if they walk at night, even in June, the water temperature in that bay is only 10 degrees, as long as they fall into the water for 10 minutes, their muscles begin to spasm, no longer controlled, and then due to low body temperature will trigger shock, and eventually people will be drowned or frozen. Another is that sharks are nocturnal animals, and if they are slightly injured in the process of escaping, they may be targeted by sharks. There is another thing that caused the police to think that they should not have escaped, that is, even if they successfully swim to the other side, the other side is not a place where there are no people, the other side is a very prosperous place, full of people, day and night. If a few fugitives swam to the opposite side in prison uniforms, they would be found at once, and there would be police patrols for a long time. In fact, after a long visit, no one saw anyone wearing prison uniforms or suspicious people ashore. So the police deduced that they should have been swallowed up by the sea.

So a month after the escape, a Norwegian ship passed by the nearby sea and found a floating corpse 25 kilometers outside the bay, which they saw from a distance, and the body seemed to be wearing a prison uniform. Then he reported the matter to the U.S. police, who heard about it and immediately went to look for it, but they did not find it. But the Norwegian ship said they only saw one person. So the police deduced that it should be Frank, because Angelin was brothers and the two men should have been together all the time. This further deepened their speculation that the three men were buried in the sea.

Although the police believe that the chances of them being buried in the sea are very high, the search has never stopped. A national wanted notice was also issued, and a lot of news was received after the wanted warrant was issued. Everywhere in the United States, it is said that there are people who look like them. The police went everywhere, and it turned out that it was not the three of them.

The death inference was overturned

Six months after the escape, another man on Alcatraz Island escaped, and this man was named John Scott. He didn't have a boat, he didn't have any tools, he just swam over. But when I arrived on the other side, due to low body temperature, I was already in shock, unconscious, and was found by a small boy passing by, and immediately called the police. The police went to see that this was a prison breaker and arrested him. He was sentenced to 30 years for robbing a bank, and he was also together when he first escaped from prison, and there was a man named Parker. Because of their good performance and working in the canteen, they agreed to hide in the kitchen at night and did not return to the cell. The police did not find out, and then they went from the kitchen to various places, and finally found a window, broke this window, jumped off the cliff, and began to swim. As a result, Parker broke his foot when he jumped off the cliff, did not swim far, and could not swim to the rock. He just stopped there. And Scott swam out and swam to the other side. Since Scott swam to the other side, the police suddenly felt that the trio might swim over. Because they have boats, and life jackets. Scott had nothing, and it was half a year later, in December, when it was coldest, and he swam over, and the police felt that the trio might have swum too.

As soon as this matter was reported, the American people felt that it was possible. So a lot of people began to challenge this thing and start swimming. They couldn't get to the island, so they got their own boats and went near the island, jumped off the boat and started swimming on the opposite side. See if you can swim to the other side. However, it is all daytime swimming, because there are sharks at night. In the end, I interviewed the people who challenged these challenges, and most of the challenges were professional swimmers, because the wind and waves in this sea were too big for the average person to swim. Professional swimmers have said that if it is a professional athlete, it is possible, and it is really difficult for the average person. There are two main reasons, one is that the water temperature is too low, the second is that the wind and waves are large, and the water flow is too strong, and the physical strength of normal people is not enough to fight against this water flow. Professional athletes due to good physical condition, this physical strength is also particularly good, long-term training, so they are possible. Normal people are almost impossible.

And when they came to that conclusion. Suddenly, the police remembered that when they were investigating this incident, they also went to the prison to interrogate some prisoners, and said what impressions and understanding do you have about these prisoners? As a result, the prisoners said that the Angolin brothers were particularly good in health, were sports wizards, and could exercise anything. He can play baseball and run very fast. Later, the police checked on the Angel brothers and found that they were born on the seashore, and it is likely that they are really swimmers. The likelihood of the Brothers' successful escape from prison suddenly increased.

In fact, shortly after Scott's escape, the prison was closed. And since 1972, this place has been opened to tourist areas, under the national park pavilion, everyone can spend money to visit the island. There is a very good movie called "Brave Dragon", which was made here.

Friends and family speak up

Later, this matter has not made any progress for more than 50 years, that is, I don't know whether these people have successfully escaped from prison. It wasn't until 2013 that San Francisco police suddenly received a letter stating that the man's name was John. The Anglin brothers, one named John and the other Clarence. This John said in his letter that the three of us had successfully escaped from prison and had lived together for some time. He said if you're willing to report on me on TV, I'll tell you where I am. And I can go back to prison. But only for a year at most, but you have to promise me to treat me.

That is to say, if you want to know where I am, if you want to solve this case, you must report it on TV and treat me. The police may have thought it was a fake thing and left it alone. Then this real John's nephew, the child of John's sister, said that he knew that the three men were indeed alive, and that he knew that the three men had been living together since they came out, until 1975, which was 13 years. Later, to prove his words, he provided the police with a photo in 2016 of only two people, his two great uncles, John Angel and Clarren. This photograph was also taken in 1975 in Brazil. Later, the police sent the photo to the forensic doctor, and experts in various fields went to identify it, and the expert judged from the person's signs that it may be true. That is to say, from the appearance and appearance, it should be consistent with the information they had for this prisoner.

He said that this Uncle John should still be alive, Uncle Claus should be dead, and Frank didn't know at all. In fact, this incident can perfectly explain why they have not been discovered since, because they went to Brazil, lived in Brazil all their lives, and never came back.

Then his nephew's mother, the sister of the Angelin brothers, also confirmed to the police that three years after the two of them escaped from prison, every Christmas, they sent a greeting card to their mother, which did not have a stamp on it, but signed the Angelin brothers. That is to say, both of them survived.

Later, the police released some information, confirming that when the police investigated in the past six years, they suspected that they had fled to Brazil. Why? Because Brazil happened to encounter a coup d'état at that time, and Brazil was particularly large and crowded, as long as the most wanted criminals in the United States fled to Brazil, they basically disappeared from the world. They could just forge passports and run out, not that Brazil would accept the fugitives, but no one in Brazil took care of them at the time. In fact, not only the United States, but also fugitives from all over the world fled to Brazil at that time. Later, some people said that it was in Brazil, because there were relatively few Americans in Brazil, because that place in Brazil was particularly poor, and Brazilians were running to the United States, and no one was running to Brazil, especially during the coup, people who were doing serious business ran back, and there were people who ran there. So at that time, there were very few Americans seen in Brazil. And the Anglin brothers in Brazil have been seen and said to be in that kind of land.

Success factors

Now the police have analyzed that there are several conditions for their successful escape. The first is careful planning and preparation, not only high IQ but also skillful mind. The boats, life jackets, oars, and dummies made are all particularly good and have artistic value. So I suspect that the life jackets and oars that were found at sea were deliberately thrown there by them, making the police think that the ship had sunk and that they had died in the sea. The boat was most likely cut by themselves, and the most important thing was his waterproof bag, which the photo should have been deliberately thrown at sea. Let the police think that I have left such an important thing behind, and I should have died in the sea.

The second condition for the success of the escape is their good physical condition, escaping from Alcatraz requires huge physical strength and energy, but they usually eat very well, they are full and sleepy, and reserve a lot of energy. Then there were the movies, the books, the instruments, the drawings, and so on. These good conditions are the biggest guarantee for their escape from prison.

To this day, san francisco police are still tracking down the fugitives, and if they were still alive, the Anglin brothers would be around 91 and Frank would be 95. Under U.S. law, all criminals are no longer investigated by the age of 99.