John Paul Scott

John Paul Scott (born in 1927 in Leitchfield, Kentucky, died February 22 1987 in prison in Tallahassee, Florida) was the only inmate of Alcatraz to conclusively reach the San Francisco shore by swimming. Scott was convicted of bank robbery and the possession of unregistered firearms in Lexington and sentenced to 30 years in prison. [ [http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/sfoeat14.htm San Francisco Genealogy including picture] ]

Escape from Alcatraz

John Paul Scott was shipped to Alcatraz Island in 1959 and became #AZ1403. On December 16, 1962 he tried to escape from the island together with Darl Lee Parker, a convicted bank robber and hijacker (sentence 50 years). The two bent the bars of a window in the kitchen of the cellblock, roped down, and made it to the water. They then attempted to swim to the San Francisco Shore. For that purpose, they made water wings from stolen rubber gloves. The escape was noticed at 5:47 p.m. [ [http://www.notfrisco2.com/alcatraz/escapes.html Escapes from Alcatraz1934 to 1962] ] Parker had to give up after a short time and was recaptured 25 minutes after the escape was discovered on the rock formation Little Alcatraz, which lies 100 yards from Alcatraz Island.

Although the Coast Guard was searching the bay, they failed to find Scott. At 7:40 p.m., the Presidio Military police got a call from two teenagers who found an unconscious person at Fort Point beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. That person was John Paul Scott, suffering from hypothermia and exhaustion. After recovering in the Letterman General Hospital, he was returned to Alcatraz.

It seemed impossible to escape from Alcatraz by swimming: The seasonal water temperature in the Bay is about 8°C (46°F) in December and there is a current of up to 3 knots (5,4 km/h). Citing these facts and myths of "man-eating" sharks and razor-sharp rocks, prison officers scared prisoners from trying to escape. When Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin disappeared half a year earlier, the prison officials stated that they had drowned (although the FBI just called them missing). Due to Scott's escape, this line of reasoning was shaken. For the first time it was proven that a prisoner swam approximately three miles to the shore [ [http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/sfoealce.htm San Francisco Genealogy] ] . Many people considered that Morris and the Anglin brothers might have escaped.

After Alcatraz

After the closing of Alcatraz, Scott was transferred to Leavenworth, later on to Marion, Illinois, where he made another escape attempt. He died 1987 in the Federal Correctional Institution, Tallahassee, Florida.

References

External links

* [http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/escapes2.htm alcatrazhistory.com]
* [http://www.bop.gov/about/history/alcatraz.jsp Bureau of Prisons]