List of Alcatraz escape attempts

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Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay was the site of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary between 1934 and 1963. There were a total of 14 escape attempts from the prison made by 34 prisoners during this time.^[1] Two men tried twice, making for a total of 36 individual escape attempts; fifteen were caught, eight gave up, seven were shot and killed, two were confirmed to have drowned and five are listed as "missing and presumed drowned".^[2] Faced with high maintenance costs and a poor reputation, Alcatraz closed on March 21, 1963.

Most notable were the violent attempt of May 1946 called the "Battle of Alcatraz" and the possibly successful June 1962 attempt by Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin, which was marked by careful planning and execution.