Letters From Alcatraz - Michael Esslinger [237]
Scott was again arrested in June of 1976 with Morris Lynn Johnson, one of the FBI’s ten most wanted fugitives, in eastern New Orleans. In the following report, Scott described his plight in his own words, and recounted the story of yet another attempted escape:
In February of 1977, I received a 25-year sentence for Bank Robbery in Columbia, South Carolina. I was first confined at the USP Atlanta, Georgia, however, on March 15, 1977, I was notified that I was being transferred to the USP, Leavenworth, Kansas. I was to be transported on a Federal Bureau of Prison bus.
I was confined in a Jackson, Miss. County Jail during the night of Friday, March 18, 1977. Another inmate gave me a full-length hacksaw blade. On Saturday, March 19, 1977, I smuggled the hacksaw blade on the prison bus. There were about 25 other inmates on the prison bus. I was handcuffed and had leg irons on. I sat by myself in the right hand side near the middle of the bus. I had made up my mind that I would try and escape, since on Friday I had also obtained a paperclip and a ballpoint pen cartridge.
During the morning ride thru Louisiana I was able to pick the lock on first my handcuffs and then my leg irons. It took me about one hour to cut through the bar on the bus window. I had ripped a piece of my shirt and used it to get a good grip on the hacksaw blade. No one knew what I was doing until I had finished cutting the bar and had kicked out the window. No other inmates helped me in any way.
I was able to kick out the window and escape thru the hole I had cut in the window bar. The bus came to a stop but I still fell when I escaped thru the window. I ran approximately 100 feet from the bus, but stopped when the bus guards started shooting at me. They must have fired about five or six times, however, I was not hit. I was placed back in the bus, and they radioed ahead to FCI about my escape and capture.
Scott remained a violent and incorrigible inmate until his death at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida on February 22, 1987. His bold escape from Alcatraz with Daryl Parker remains as one of the most notable incidents ever to occur in the history of the island prison.
An excerpt from Parker’s inmate record in 1982, showing that he still maintained his passionate desire to escape from prison.
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The Fall of an Icon
Perhaps one of the greatest ironies of Alcatraz was that the frigid and treacherous waters of the San Francisco Bay, which had proved to be the ultimate deterrent to escape for nearly three decades, finally contributed to the downfall of America's super-prison. Immediately following the escape of Morris and the Anglins, the prison fell under intense scrutiny due to its deteriorating structural condition and the diminishing security measures that resulted from governmental budget cuts. These developments should not be credited to the escape, as many of the decisions were already in process before the attempt was made. In a January 1963 structural report, the following conditions were described:
In August of 1961, a state-of-the-art Control Center was built in the Armory to enhance prison security.
The cellblocks which are located over the basement areas are considered unsafe for occupancy during a severe earthquake. For minor earthquakes and normal loadings the supporting structures are considered safe at this time, although further deterioration will result in an unsafe condition.