Alcatraz: Three Men Who Vanished from the Prison No One Was Supposed to Escape

At 7:15 a.m. on 12 June 1962, an Alcatraz guard made the routine inspection of the cells. Three beds appeared occupied, but the men in them had been gone for hours. What remained were fake heads made from plaster, flesh-coloured paint, and real hair. The heads rested on pillows so the guards would believe Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin were still asleep.

Alcatraz stood on a rocky island in San Francisco Bay, about 2.4 kilometres from the shore. The federal prison was built for dangerous prisoners and men who had already escaped other prisons. From 1934 until it closed in 1963, 36 inmates attempted 14 escapes. Almost all were recaptured or died. The three men who vanished in June 1962 were the only ones whose bodies, final testimony, and certain fate never appeared.