This account is the primary source for the intended route and the post-landing plan. It came from a man who had reason to cooperate with investigators — he was facing potential additional charges — and who had reason to embellish his own role. The basic elements of the escape plan that West described were corroborated by the physical evidence found in the workshop and in the bay, which supports the accuracy of his account of the preparation even if his self-described centrality to it is questionable.
He was placed in isolation as an accessory to the escape. He was not ultimately charged or tried for his participation, and he was eventually transferred to other federal institutions.
West was later convicted of stabbing a fellow prisoner in 1972. He died on December 8, 1978, of peritonitis — a complication of abdominal surgery — while serving a life sentence at the Florida State Prison in Raiford. He was forty-nine years old.
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## What Was Found in the Bay
The search that followed the June 12 discovery produced physical evidence that complicated every clean narrative about whether the escape succeeded or failed.
On June 14, 1962, two days after the discovery, a Coast Guard cutter operating near Angel Island recovered a wooden paddle approximately 200 yards off the island’s southern shore. The paddle matched the description of the improvised paddles made in the workshop. The same day, a waterproof plastic-wrapped packet was recovered from the bay containing photographs — photographs of the Anglin brothers’ friends and relatives.
The packet was significant. It was identified as belonging to the Anglins. It was floating in the bay, not washed up on the shore of Alcatraz or on Angel Island. For investigators focused on whether the escape attempt had produced any travel across the bay, this was evidence that something had reached the water and moved. The packet could not have been in the water if the men had never launched.