Criminal

An illustration of scissors, glue, a needle and thread, crumpled paper, dummy heads, and various other implements used to escape from Alcatraz.

The Escape

Episode #77

2017-10-20 23:45:09

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In 1962, brothers John and Clarence Anglin, along with fellow incarcerated person Frank Morris, managed to escape the one prison in America that was supposed to be inescapable: Alcatraz. Alcatraz is surrounded by icy waters, so the men would’ve needed a raft in order to escape the island. When no evidence of the raft or the three men was found, the FBI concluded that the men had drowned and closed their case. But more than 50 years later, their 82-year-old sister, Marie Anglin Widner, and U.S. Marshal Michael Dyke believe that the brothers’ escape was actually a success.

Marie’s son, David Widner, has written about this escape in a book called Escaping Alcatraz: The Untold Story of the Greatest Prison Break in American History.