Letters From Alcatraz - Michael Esslinger [236]
An inventory list submitted by Officer Irvin Levinson, representing contraband items that were found in the kitchen basement following the escape of Parker and Scott.
By all accounts, Scott very nearly died in his quest to reach the shore. Open-water swimmer Lisa Johnson would later state that Scott really couldn’t take credit for “swimming to shore, ” but that actually he “was carried” by the three-knot-per-hour tide. Even Scott himself admitted that he hadn’t anticipated how violent the ocean currents could be. In fact, they were so powerful that Scott was washed onto the rock at Fort Point and lay naked except for his socks, after his clothing had been ripped from his body by repeated banging against the rocks. When Scott was revived at Letterman, he was shaking so convulsively that he could not speak. His body temperature had dropped to 94 degrees, or 4.6 degrees below normal. He was lucky to have been spotted in his near-death state. John Paul Scott’s spectacular but futile swim from Alcatraz Island to Fort Point destroyed once and for all the official position that escape from this Federal prison was impossible. As the press snapped photos of Scott wrapped warmly in knit army blankets when he was being taken from Letterman at 10:45 p.m. for his cruise back to Alcatraz, he gave them a coy smile. He had come the closest of any escape artist yet to breaking the Rock.
Scott sustained several cuts and bruises from the sharp rocks when he washed up at Fort Point.
Both inmates would be transferred from Alcatraz following its closure in 1963, and Parker would make another unsuccessful escape attempt in March of 1967, while imprisoned at Atlanta. He built a makeshift ladder nearly thirty feet in length, but his attempt ended when a tower officer opened fire on him, forcing him back down. Parker was later paroled on August 20, 1974.
Scott would also continue to build his resume of crime. In May of 1963 he was transferred back to Atlanta, where he was again found with contraband materials for an escape. His record states that he worked in the hospital as an X-Ray Technician, and was finally paroled on July 10, 1968.
Scott got married for a second time on January 20, 1970 in East Point Georgia, to Margie Morgan, a middle-aged widow. A later arrest report would indicate that Scott resided with his wife “in a very comfortable, spacious, ranch-style home. ” The report went on to say, “he himself built this home and has resided there since 1970. Estimated value is over $50,000 dollars.” It was also documented that he owned four other homes, but had placed them in his wife’s name. Scott also re-enrolled at Georgia State University for a short period. He later took a job as a lab technician at Clayton General Hospital in Riverdale, Georgia, and was described as a model employee. He then started his own business, and built and sold several homes. But despite his successful integration back into society, his skeletons still haunted him.
Scott’s driver’s license, issued during a short stint of freedom in 1974.
The following is a case report filed by the U.S. Attorney following another bank robbery in which Scott participated:
Details of the Offense reveal that at approximately 3:18 p.m. on September 5, 1975, Ronald Coleman Anderson, J. Paul Scott and Leon Johnson entered the Hearon Circle Branch of the Spartanburg Bank & Trust Company located on the Asheville Highway, Spartanburg, S.C. All three were dressed in coveralls, dark ski masks and brown jersey gloves. All were carrying pillowcases. Anderson was armed with an AR-l6 rifle, Scott was armed with a Model 10 shotgun, and Johnson was armed with a .22 handgun. During the course of the robbery, two deputies of the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office appeared at the drive-in window in a marked car, and were observed by the bank robbers. The robbers fled the bank, and shooting ensued outside the bank between the robbers and one of the deputies, with no injuries being sustained to either of the deputies, the robbers, or either of their vehicles. A chase ensued which