The story of the most violent, yet failed, escape attempt from Alcatraz

(Patria) - The island prison of Alcatraz, surrounded by the cold waters and strong currents of San Francisco Bay, had a reputation as a place from which escape was impossible.

But that doesn't mean numerous prisoners didn't hope they would be the exceptions who would escape punishment, writes Punkufer.

Prisoner Bernard Coy arrived at Alcatraz in 1938, after being sentenced to 25 years in prison for bank robbery.

Marvin Hubbard, Joseph Cretzer, Sam Shockley, Miran Thompson, and Clarence Carnes joined him in planning the escape.

Carnes was the youngest prisoner in Alcatraz's history, convicted at just 18 years old to 99 years in prison for kidnapping.

Joseph Cretzer was a member of the Cretzer-Kyle gang, a criminal group that robbed banks. Convicted of murder, he had already escaped from prison once before being caught and sent to Alcatraz.

Coy devised the plan after carefully observing the guards and tracking their routine. He noticed that the gun gallery did not have a protective net, only bars, and decided he would squeeze through them.

To achieve this, he had to lose weight, so he ate just enough to survive. In the early afternoon of May 2, 1946, Hubbard began to distract guard Bill Miller, which Coy used to attack him from behind.

After beating Miller and taking his keys, they freed Carnes, Thompson, and Cretzer.

Coy used pliers and a pipe to widen the bars so he could pass through, having previously greased himself to slide in more easily.

Meanwhile, another guard returned, but the prisoners met him and choked him until he passed out.

They then took weapons and ammunition and moved on to the next phase of the plan – hijacking a prison boat to escape the island.

Coy, with a pistol, forced another guard to release more prisoners. Many immediately returned to their cells, but Shockley joined the escapees.

The prisoners held nine guards hostage and took their keys, but none opened the door to the recreation yard – the one they needed to carry out the plan to the end. Miller had carefully hidden the key in the cell where he was held captive.

The escape attempt was discovered very quickly, and sirens sounded across the bay, alarming the residents of San Francisco who gathered on the shore to watch the unfolding chaos.

The police called the Coast Guard and the Marines for help. When they realized they wouldn't be able to carry out the plan, the prisoners decided to break through with weapons.

Coy began shooting at the guard towers, and Cretzer fired into the cell with the hostages, fatally wounding Miller. External forces retaliated and attacked the cell block, and the island flashed with explosions.

In the ensuing shootout, 14 guards were seriously injured, and Officer Harold Stites, who had already thwarted an escape in 1938, was killed trying to save the hostages.

Explosions hit the cell block, damaging pipes and causing flooding. By the morning of May 4, after almost 48 hours of siege, the rebellion was suppressed.

The bodies of Coy, Cretzer, and Hubbard were found, and the three surviving prisoners, realizing they had no way out, returned to their cells and surrendered.

Although the most violent, this escape attempt was just one of a total of 14 attempts during the prison's 29 years of operation.

Thompson and Shockley were later executed in the gas chamber of San Quentin prison for the murder of guard Miller.

Carnes, who was believed to have tried to prevent the guards' murders, avoided the death penalty but had his sentence extended by an additional 99 years.

In June 1962, three prisoners – brothers John and Clarence Anglin and Frank Morris – managed to escape the island on a raft, and what happened to them later is unknown.

Of the total of 36 prisoners who attempted to escape, 23 were recaptured, six were killed, two drowned, and five are still on the missing list.