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 nine at night, chipping away at their cells and trying to make holes big enough to fit through. They removed the vents in their cells to speed along the process and used the picks to make the holes bigger.
The Props
The team started putting their strategy into action bit by bit, making sure every step of the way was planned to perfection. It was complicated, and some would even say ingenious. They would not only escape the virtual fortress of Alcatraz but also make look-alike dummies to leave in their place.
Getting out of the prison was not enough; the gang had to find a way to escape the island and avoid the guards. Prison guards back then did not have the same compassion as today; their orders were to shoot on sight, and any escape attempt was a deadly gamble.
Team Assignments
Each team member oversaw a different part of the plan, but they all had 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. This was imagination at its best. Morris had the job of fixing up an instrument similar to an accordion so that it would inflate life vests and a raft.
Bad Foundations
The gang was quite fortunate that the prison was already old and in bad shape, with weak, crumbly walls. If this were a new building, the escape plan would be almost impossible to execute. The saltwater that ran through the pipes for showering and washing dishes was slowly destroying the pipes and leaking into the prison walls.
Over the years, the salt wore down the cement and eventually caused it to crumble. The prison authorities also kept the water slightly warm to keep prisoners from getting used to the cold temperatures out in the icy waters of San Francisco Bay.
The Noise
You are probably wondering how so much banging and chipping could be going on without anyone being the wiser. The truth is that the escapees cleverly used prison reform to their advantage. In the 1960s, it was decided that inmates should be allowed an hour of music each day. Nothing could be heard over the disharmony that ensued.
Morris also played his accordion as loudly as possible whenever he could, and the racket was enough to conceal any noises made by banging or the chipping of cement. The holes in the back of the cells led to an unguarded utility corridor full of pipes that were going up and down.