San Quentin State Prison Escape Attempts
According to "San Quentin, Marin's oldest institution,
boasts a colorful history" by Nels Johnson, a journalist for the Marin
Independent Journal, there have been many escape attempts from the prison. Due
to bad conditions at the prison, 685 inmates escaped the prison between 1852
and 1877. Almost a third of these escapees were later captured. The biggest
escape the prison would ever face happened in July 1862. A group of almost 200
inmates burst forth from the prison after a guard opened a gate for a work
crew. Most of the escaped inmates gave up right away, but 70 inmates decided
they'd continue their escape attempt. These inmates took hostages and stole
from homes. After the searching was over for the escapees, 26 inmates were left
unfound and had escaped San Quentin State Prison. On January 16, 1935, four
inmates snuck into the warden's home on the prison grounds and beat him
unconscious. They also took six other people hostage. The inmates then took all
the hostages with them and fled the prison in the Warden's car. The inmates
soon gave up their escape attempt after one of the inmates was killed. In 1976,
inmates tried to escape by digging a tunnel, but the tunnel was 50 feet short
of making it to the bay. The tunnel was discovered before the inmates could complete
it. On August 9, 1979, one of the best known escapes happened. On this day,
three inmates built a kayak and launched it from the prison. As the inmates
floated away, they waved to the guards on watch. Soon after escaping, the kayak
sank, and the inmates were forced to swim to shore. Months later, the inmates
were captured (3-4). Images below courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle.