RISE MAGAZINE Volume 2 | Page 61

Team Assignments

Each team member oversaw a different part of the plan, but they all had to also to find a way to get out of their cells on the night chosen for the escape. The Angling brothers were responsible for making the fake heads to leave behind in the empty bunks.

The heads were created roughly but efficiently from soap wax, toilet paper and actual human hair picked off the floor of the Alcatraz barber shop. Morris had the job of fixing up an instrument similar to an accordion so that it would inflate life vests and a raft.

Digging Tools

The crew also worked together to create tools to dig out of their cells and unscrew the bolts from the vents. It’s hard to believe, but they managed to make picks and wrenches from items they snagged around the prison like wood from the workshop and cafeteria spoons.

Each day the team would work from 5:30 PM to roughly 9 at night, chipping away at their cells and trying to make holes big enough to fit through. To speed along the process, they removed the vents in their cells and used the picks to make the holes bigger.