up next on a second look, you've seen the tv show and you've seen the movie but what really lies beneath the old prison in alcatraz island. plus, only three prisoners made it off the rock without being captured. we talk to the relatives of two of them all straight ahead on a second look. hello everyone i'm frank somerville and welcome to a second look. tonight we take you to one of the most notorious prisons and most popular tourist spots in american history that of course would be alcatraz county.

alcatraz has renewed attention in a fiction tv show. that's not the only part of the show that's pure fabrication. so is this high tech headquarters underneath the prison it simply does not exist. nor does elaborate series of caves and abandoned equipment. so what's really under the prison on alcatraz island. bob mackenzie set out to answer that question in 1997. >> seen from the bay it's a beautiful place imposing and mysterious. but get closer and the grimness of alcatraz asserts itself. the abandoned hopes and seeding anger of thousands of prisoners seems to have seeped into the rock and poisoned the place forever. today the island is a favorite outing for tourists but usually they find it more sobering than amusing. in the 1800 century it was a

fortified army barracks. from the turn of the century on it was a federal prison. the meanest prison in the system its inmates the men considered most dangerous and likely to attempt escape. though the island was riddled with caves, tunnels and holes and a thousand places to hide it was considered escape proof. surrounded by treacherous water and currents. large parts of island are still closed to tourists. naomi grift started our tour. >> this was to store am -- ammunition between the battery. >> lovely place for a picnic. >> oh, yes, lovely. >> and where are you taking me.

>> we're going to the north. >> it's slimy in here. >> well bunker oil was stored down here. >> reporter: beneath one of the cell blocks, naomi led me to underground cells the bars were removed years ago. >> this was what a solitary cell they put people down here in winston cup of those. >> there's a -- >> there's no lighting or anything down here. totally in the dark. >> that's correct. >> oh, brother. that's solitary all right. >> yes. >> through a maze of underground tunnels, we were taken to a tunnel. >> this was the bowl of the outhouse. >> and it went right into the ocean. >> right to the ocean. >> if anybody ever found this they could have made it out

through there. >> and escaped. >> wow, it would have been a messy escape wouldn't it have. >> it would have. >> naomi thank you for taking me through all those escapes. it certainly earned that reputation for 30 years. in 1992 george watson looked back at the history of alcatraz and the prison that made the island notorious. >> reporter: the evolution of alcatraz has been as spectacular as it was predictable. it was obvious that sooner or later the prison fortress would become into a fortress. and for good reason. the island is remote, wind swept, fog shrouded and miles

from land. it sounds awful but for builders it was beautiful and escape proof. even from the beginning alcatraz was part prison. when the first troops arrived in 1859 military convicts were among them. alcatraz was designated the official prison for the department of the pacific. during the civil war the army transformed the rock into the most heavily armed fortress west of the mississippi. but the giant cannons never fired a shot in anger. the anticipated attack by the south never happened. and by wars end alcatraz was obsolete as a force but as a prison it was still ideal for all but the prisoners. >> well after years of civil war this room was converted from a gun room into jail cells for military prisoners. 14 wooden wall ceils were in this space -- wall cells were

in this space. afterward it was converted into a solitary confinement section. there were nine confinement cells in this space. vertical. the men would have to stand up inside these cells. it was just enough room for their knees to hit the wall. >> reporter: members of both world wars had the misfortune to call alcatraz home. it would become the toughest prison in the system gaining notoriety when its new tenants included the most powerful gangsters in the prison. >> machine gun kelly will serve life in prison will be one of the first tenials. alcatraz is ready. the prohibition era of the 1920s produced a collection of gangsters that were as renowned and colorful as they were

dangerous. their imprisonment at alcatraz enhanced their designation or so the rock was perceived. a lot of perception was derived from the movies. cameras not even movie cameras were ever allowed on alcatraz. the list of criminals sent to alcatraz was impressive. but the life they were to lead reflected the fact that they were just common criminals with just a measure of fame. >> this is d block the isolation wing here on alcatraz. this was home to some of the most infamous prisoners on the island. they included robert and al capone. the first prisoners arrived by train under the greatest

secrecy. railcars carried the shackled prisoners to the dock. then they were marched solemnly in silence to what must have been the most forbidden sights they have seen. prisoners stayed in their cells 23 hours a day they were allowed out for three 20 minute meals. they were not allowed books, radio or newspapers. their mail was heavily censored. five by 9-foot cells became the sum of their existence. time weighed heavy in this bleak damp place they called the rock. still to come on a second look, the history books show two escape attempts. and a bit later the second escape ended in mystery. a mystery that remains unsolved until today.

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it's been said that desperate men will do desperate things. some of them had a plot to

escape and it led to one of the bloodiest battles in u.s. history. we look back at two deadly days that helped cement alcatraz as a deadly place. >> reporter: it carried a simple but chilling mandate, the rock was supposed to be a place of punishment. no more, no less. >> we look forward to great things from the use of alcatraz prison. mr.attorney general. alcatraz is ready. >> the inmates sent here were the worse of the worse. two dangerous and encorrigible to get along in other prisons. alcatraz officials simply locked them up. there was no pretense of prehabilitation, isolation was the key. at the end of the day after working in the factory the inmates would climb these

stairs and go through a metal detector. once they passed through these doors they were entering one of the most forbidden places on earth. but even the tightest security can be overcome by desperate men who feel they have little or nothing to lose. that's what happened back in alcatraz in 1946. the result was the deadliest escape attempt in the history of the rock. as many as 12 inmates took part in planning the outbreak but only three were involved in the bloody shoot out that followed. a long term convict marvin hubbard. >> it came to be known as the battle of alcatraz. the fighting lasted for three days. the battle began right after lunch here at the door to the mess hall. hubbard were on mess hall duty.

they overpowered a guard and took his keys. they were able to open most but not all can cells. their main objective was to get to the gun gallery. once there he used a steel bar to spread the bars just enough to slip through. once in the gallery, coy overpowered the guard there. the unmanageable was now fact. the prisoners had guns. >> it was a -- affair. only two died if you can use the word only. when you consider they had as many as six men in one cell a cell being eight by 9 feet. you had the kind of characters outside the cell who had no morals whatsoever. just opened fire on them. >> guards crouched and ran

along the cat walk. exchanged gunfire with the guards. the 12 men who instigated the -- across the bay in san francisco, thousands of people watched the fighting on alcatraz from the safety of the city's hills. >> scene of the bloody battle of alcatraz. the grim federal island surrounded by current swells of -- murderous mutiny. uncle sam inprisons the most hardened places in the country. a lighthouse opens up in violence and sudden death. each battle had 15 guard wounded and two deaths.

the men were found dead, shot to death in cell block c. prison officials allowed the media to photograph the fingerprinting of the dead men. two other inmates were later executed in san quentin's gas chamber for their part in the riots. the lingering mystery of the three men who escaped from alcatraz 50 years ago and were never heard from again. how the 1962 escape of fred morris and the anglin brothers help seal the fate of the prison on alcatraz. and the, anglin's sister says what may have happened to her brothers.

when they built it prison officials called alcatraz escape proof and they were right. 50 years ago in june of 1962

three all disappeared from the block. the mystery has remained. did they survive the treacherous currents of san francisco bay and live out their lives in freedom? george watson examined that very question in 1992. the decision has clothed alcatraz has been made in 1961. the rock was simply too expensive to maintain and operate and it wasn't really needed anymore. but nobody ever said anything about decaning concrete and the ingenious incredible escape that took place in the summer of 1962. >> has its name for inpregnable escape. a break to freedom through the caves through which the rock is riddled and to the san

francisco area. >> reporter: the presumed master mind of the escape was joined by cl era nce and john anglin. the escapers dug around the fence in their cells creating a hole big enough for the men to crawl through. the hole opened on to a utility corridor where they could climb the pipes to the top floor. they could get to the roofs where they encountered the possibility of freedom or death. no one knows for certain what happened once they made the water but one thing is for sure. they got off the island. the escapers left behind everything they used to break out. today all of it is still being held as evidence. at the time of the escape it was thought they dug through alcatraz' walls through spoons. they had spoons all right but

they also had an array of tools. their crowning achievement had to be the heads they fashioned to fool the guards into thinking they were asleep in their cells. the heads were made from cement shavings, paste, soaps, cardboard, paint and human hair. they worked beautifully. >> i had to feel on the heads and it fell on the floor. it, i can still see it. where are they going. just thinking my first reaction was shock. i was shocked to find these guys weren't there. >> security blunder by the guards contributed greatly to the success of the escape. there was painting going on in the top floor of the cell block and in order to protect the

tkpwhreusing -- protect the -- to protect the grills. it was not the only breach of security. >> well security probably did fall off quality wise. sure. if the certain prison practices had been followed a little more stringently for example, making the men change cells more frequently they would have never had the time to do the work that they did. you can be sure that when those men are working on those vents, they were on their best behavior to prevent a transfer of cells. >> joline babiack used to live on alcatraz. her father was the acting warden during the escape. she lived on the old military parade ground. she remembers what happened. >> prisoners probably left after we had all gone to bed or

after we left the parade ground. but we were playing out and we all went to bed no one knew about the escape which had been in place for seven months. and the alarms went off at 7:15 and that's the first time i knew something was wrong. >> reporter: so the escapers had a seven hour head start before their disappearance was discovered. the the officials sat dumbfound. did frank morris and clarence and john anglin get off the rock and live to tell about it? >> i don't think so. i would say they're famous for disappearing. tkpw -- if you look at the

circumstantial evidence, it was unprobable. that indicates the kind of personality that can't stay out there. the guards figured they were boastful, loud mouths they would have been caught within days. >> two more convicts escaped in december of 1972. one man actually made it to san francisco where he was captured half dead from from hypothermia. the toughest time a convict could do passed to history. members of the anglen family travel to the rock to visit the place their brothers escaped from in 1962. [ sports announcer ] here's another one, alyson dudek.

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tonight on a second look we've been remembering the escape of three men from alcatraz prison. rita williams traveled with members of the family of those

men. who say they made it to the city and possibly even send a message to the family. >> reporter: it was big news. >> it appears to be the first successful escape in the history of the maximum security prison. the men in the walls could not hold frank morris and john and clarence englan. >> two of the three escapees are brothers. >> we want to go out there where they were at to see what it was like. >> reporter: the anglin family looked at the side by side cells trying to imagine clarence and john inside the five by 7-foot space. >> no wonder they wanted to get out. cheer up honey. that was in the past. >> it's unreal. >> i know it. >> reporter: they saw the vents in the cells.

the escaping prisoners enlarged then crawled through and the pipes the prisoners crawled to. >> they cut the nuts on the outside of the rim that held those bars that's all they had to do was shove the whole thing over. >> reporter: then they sprinted in the darkness across the roof down a pipe over a fence and down to the water. what happened once there is open to debate. did they drown? their homemade life vests and parts of raft came ashore but no bodies. or did they make it across the cold dangerous water to land. >> the water being so cold, the tide swiftly the possibility is they drowned. >> reporter: they spent a decade researching the escape and is convinced the men tied the homemade raft by rope to the prison boat hitching a ride to san francisco and to freedom. >> there's no question in my

mind. they were too brilliant to get down to the water and then ask each other what do we do now? drown? >> i know they made it. i always knew they made it but today i just have more of a feeling. >> although the family have no proof john and clarence anglin survived and are alive now 30 years later they say an excon has reported seeing the two on a ranch the two own in brazil. >> the first christmas my mom got a christmas card and my oldest sister got one. and j.w.s girlfriend got one and it was signed joe and jerry. no one knew a joe and jerry. >> it's hard to tell. because you just have them on your mind and you wonder if they are really alive or if you just want to think they are. i don't know that they made it.

i've never heard from them myself directly but i hope they did. and i just wish them well. and that's it for this week's second look. i'm frank somerville. we'll see you again next week.

jay, should i get rid of this? the hat, the jacket, or the cane? actually, yes. just yes. we're having a yard sale for our social studies class to raise money for unicef. the point is for us to learn about global altruism. no, the point is for us to raise more money than miss cooper's class so we get a pizza and a pool party. your cynicism makes me sad for our world. ease up, delgado. i've seen you with a pizza. ugh. i hate garage sales. bunch of shady characters going through my stuff. why can't i just write a check? ay, relax, jay. it's just a couple of people in the driveway. yeah, that's where it starts. then it's, "it's just a local call." "can i use your bathroom?" "my mother needs to lie down." no, it just stinks. he did write a check. shh! the less he knows, the better. you're not even here anymore. but it's my stuff. where's mom? luke, take me to mom. and move slow. i'm still drunk -ing my coffee. mom! what's the problem? uh, tell luke not to sell my stuff?