1960s Timeline

July 3, 1962 - Alcatraz, the Federal prison on an island in San Francisco Bay, will begin closing next year. James V. Bennett (pictured), director of the Bureau of Prisons, said today that the first transfer of prisoners will begin when the new Federal prison at Marion, Ill., is completed next year. Federal authorities regard Alcatraz as obsolete and unworthy of expensive overhaul. “It would cost a lot of money to put it in tip-top shape,” Mr. Bennett said, “and we have serio

July 2, 1962 - Time seems to be running out for Alcatraz Prison, the place where time stands still. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said of the island prison in San Francisco Bay: “I would lean toward closing it.” Representative Emanuel Celler, Democrat of Brooklyn, said: “I think, in view of the fact that it is so isolated and costs so much to operate, the prison should be closed and its inmates moved to another place inland.” Both Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Celler cited the eas

June 17, 1962 - The finding of a plastic bag containing personal effects has strengthened the belief that three convicts who fled Alcatraz Prison last Monday night drowned in San Francisco Bay. James V. Bennett, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said the contents of the bag had been traced to the three escapees. Frederick T. Wilkinson, assistant director of the Bureau of Prisons, who was sent to San Francisco to investigate the escape, said he tended to believe that

June 13, 1962 - Three convicts who dug escape hatches with spoons through cell walls on Alcatraz Island were aided by the erosion and debilitation of the Federal penitentiary. This was indicated today by prison officials while an intensive search continued for Frank L. Morris, 35-year-old Louisiana bank robber; John W. Anglin, 32, and Clarence Anglin, 31, bank-robbing brothers of Florida. A force of 200 armed soldiers was swarming over Angel Island, two miles north of Alcatra

June 12, 1962 - The search for three escaped Alcatraz convicts — Frank L. Morris (left) and brothers John (right) and Clarence Anglin (center) — was joined today by agents of the FBI, the Coast Guard, the California highway patrol, sheriff’s deputies, and policemen of various cities in the area. No trace of the fugitives was found. Warden Olin D. Blackwell, who abandoned a fishing trip to return to the prison, was asked if the men might still be on the island. “I just don’t k

🚨June 12, 1962 - Three Alcatraz convicts used spoons to dig and cut their way out of the island penitentiary in San Francisco Bay early today. Whether they escaped to the mainland, drowned, or found hiding places along the island’s waterline was not determined. Helicopters, patrol boats, and roadblocks were used in the search, which covered the Golden Gate, bay islands, and the hilly Marin County shoreline north of Alcatraz. The missing convicts were Frank L. Morris (picture