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## The 14 Attempts: Alcatraz in Statistical Context
The June 1962 escape was the culmination of Alcatraz’s history as an escape destination. Understanding it in context requires knowing the full record.
Alcatraz operated as a federal penitentiary from 1934 to 1963 — twenty-nine years. In that time, thirty-six inmates were involved in fourteen escape attempts. The outcomes across those attempts are documented:
Twenty-three of the thirty-six were recaptured. These were men who made it out of secure confinement but were caught before leaving the island or before reaching the mainland, or who were caught shortly after reaching the mainland.
Six were shot and killed. This includes men who were shot while attempting to scale the perimeter, while in the water, or during active attempts on the guard force.
Two drowned. These are confirmed drowning deaths — men whose bodies were recovered and whose cause of death was established.
Five are listed as missing and presumed drowned. This is the category into which Morris and the Anglin brothers fall, along with two men from an earlier escape attempt in 1937. The two from 1937 — Ralph Roe and Theodore Cole — escaped in December and were never found, their case remaining open until the FBI’s investigation concluded probable drowning.
The comparison between the 1937 and 1962 cases is instructive. Roe and Cole escaped into severe weather, with rough water and poor visibility. Their case generated similar initial uncertainty and a similar eventual conclusion. Their names are less well-known because their escape did not involve the technical sophistication of the 1962 attempt and because their case predated the mass media infrastructure that would have amplified it in the way the Eastwood film amplified the 1962 story.