This small island was once a fort, a military prison, and a maximum security federal penitentiary. In 1969, the Indians of All Tribes occupied Alcatraz for 19 months in the name of freedom and Native American civil rights.
A newly arrived convict told my former neighbor that he was very tough. Lt. Ordway replied, “I’m Double Tough!” The name stuck.
After tucking believable papier-mâché heads with real hair into their beds to fool nighttime guards, the trio used vent holes in the rear of their cells to access utility pipelines and gain access to the jail’s roof. From there, the escapees climbed down a drainpipe and made for the water, where they had makeshift life vests made out of jailhouse raincoats and a raft waiting for them. From there they took to the rapids, never to be heard from again.
