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Sunday, October 6, 2013

Another Escape from Alcatraz?

Who wouldn't want to receive a postcard like this? 

 This postcard caught my attention when the I saw that the note on the back told of an escape.

I knew of only one escape that was so famous around that time, so I did a little research.  The are numerous good sites that cover the history of Alcatraz and go into great detail about the 1962 escape by Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers on June 11, 1962. When I saw the post mark on the card as April 8th, 1962, I decided to dig deeper.
 
Interestingly, Alcatraz was actually preferred by some inmates, and saw requests for transfer to the island. The reason for this was that one of the wardens believed poor conditions caused riots. Under his rule the food was good and plentiful, there was a 15,000-volume library with numerous magazines subscriptions, and the cells were all one to an inmate. Surprisingly, this made Alcatraz comparatively better then most other maximum-security prisons. 

Despite the “wonderful” conditions, I guess there still is no place like home, and numerous escapes were planned and attempted. Few succeeded because the water was cold and land was out of reach for the untrained swimmer, however, this one escape still has the federal government scratching its head. 

Well, I am scratching my head because there is no documented escape in April of '62. How odd is it that the writer refers to an escape so close to the BIG one? Maybe he was just entertaining his readers and talk of escapes from "the rock" were frequently on peoples mind?

This isn't the first time I have come across a prison escape mystery to solve. Take a look at these found photos. It seems everyone was into arts and crafts and paper-mache in prison

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