June 1962 Alcatraz escape
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Alcatraz, with Angel Island (the fugitives' intended destination) in background
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| Time | Approximately 10:00 PM (UTC-7) |
|---|---|
| Date | June 11, 1962 |
| Location |
Alcatraz Island San Francisco, California, United States |
Coordinates: 37°49′36″N 122°25′24″W / 37.82667°N 122.42333°W
The June 1962 Alcatraz escape may have been the only successful escape from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in that facility's history. On the night of June 11 or early morning of June 12, inmates Clarence Anglin, John Anglin and Frank Morris tucked papier-mâché heads resembling their own likenesses into their beds, broke out of the main prison building via an unused utility corridor, and departed Alcatraz Island aboard an improvised inflatable raft to an uncertain fate.
Hundreds of leads have been pursued by the FBI and local law enforcement officials in the ensuing years, but no conclusive evidence has ever surfaced favoring the success or failure of the attempt. Numerous theories of widely varying plausibility have been proposed by authorities, reporters, family members, and amateur enthusiasts. In 1979 the FBI officially concluded, on the basis of circumstantial evidence and a preponderance of expert opinion, that the men drowned in the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay before reaching the mainland. The U.S. Marshals Service case file remains open and active, however, and Morris and the Anglin brothers remain on its wanted list.
Recent experimental and computer-simulated evidence has suggested that the ultimate outcome of the attempt may have depended on the exact time of the men's departure aboard the raft. A 2015 documentary presented circumstantial evidence in support of a longstanding rumor that two of the men—the Anglin brothers—had survived and fled to Brazil; but a government expert concluded that the one piece of physical evidence, a 1975 photograph, did not support that conclusion.
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