Alcatraz_ A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years - Michael Esslinger [231]
Scott enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve on July 13, 1944, and entered active duty in June of 1945. He left the U.S. Air Force with an honorable discharge on December 28, 1946. He also enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program on September 24, 1949, and was honorably discharged on November 2, 1949. He experienced minor disciplinary problems while in the Air Force, but was discharged because it was discovered that he had a prison record. The highest rank he attained was that of private.
Scott’s first arrest occurred in February of 1949, and he was charged with possession of stolen merchandise. During the years following, he would be arrested on various other charges including burglary and armed robbery. On the weekend of December 15, 1956, J. Paul Scott and his brother Don R. Scott forcibly entered the National Guard Armory at Danville, Kentucky with accomplice Earl Morris, and stole two .45 caliber submachine guns and three .30 caliber rifles, with a sizeable quantity of ammunition. On January 6, 1957 J. Paul Scott and the same two accomplices entered the Farmers and Traders Bank of Campton, Kentucky, armed and carrying acetylene cutting equipment. While in the bank, Scott was struck in the mouth and the arm by two bullets fired by a bank guard. Meanwhile, Morris was perched outside of a window and Don Scott was on the roof of the bank, standing guard. As the robbers fled from the bank they engaged local officers in a gun battle, which resulted in the wounding of a Wolfe County Sheriff.
Scott began serving his sentence at the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, where he received two disciplinary reports, one for attempted escape and one for a homosexual act. In March of 1959 he was transferred to Alcatraz, and there his disciplinary reports would include an escape from the island.
The Alcatraz Escape Files of Parker and Scott
The following report was written by Warden Blackwell to the Director of the Bureau of Prisons on December 20, 1962, describing the events from his perspective:
Date: December 20, 1962
To: Director, Bureau of Prisons
From: O.G. Blackwell, Warden
Re: Escape Attempt, December 16, 1002 - John Paul SCOTT 1403-AZ and Daryl Parker 1413-AZ
On Sunday, December 16, 1962, the two above inmates were missed from their detail in the Culinary unit, at 5:47 p.m. We have definitely established that both of those individuals were accounted for on the official 5:20 p.m. count and again counted by the lieutenant on duty, Mr. Harold Robbins, at 5:30 p.m.
The alarm was sounded, immediate search of the area was instituted, and the entire escape procedure was placed into effect. At 6:10 p.m. our boat officer spotted Parker clinging to a rock some 100 yards off the northwest end of the island, known as "Little Alcatraz." At approximately 7:20 p.m. inmate SCOTT was spotted clinging to a rock off Fort Point, which is located almost directly under the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge. SCOTT was spotted by two teenagers who reported to the Presidio MPs. They reported to the scene and called for a fire department rescue team, rescued SCOTT from this rock and took him immediately to the Letterman Hospital for emergency treatment. For the first thirty minutes several doctors worked with SCOTT and stated that they were very much uncertain as to whether he would live or die. He was suffering from numerous cuts and bruises and from severe shock as a result of extreme lowering of body temperature, caused by the cold water of the Bay, which normally runs from 52 to 54 degrees, the year around. PARKER, of course, was returned to the institution,