Jim Quillen was a fellow inmate who had been sentenced to serve time in D Block after a failed escape in the kitchen basement area. With the assistance of a few other inmates, Quillen had attempted to escape through a narrow tunnel housing steam pipes which were thought to lead down to the prison powerhouse. The temperatures in the tunnel were unbearably hot and when the inmates reached the end of the cellhouse, they would unfortunately find that the tunnel was sealed with a five-foot block of cement. A fellow prisoner had meanwhile revealed their plan to the administration and they were sent to serve time first in isolation and then in segregation.
Jim Quillen
Quillen would later describe some of the events that Stroud incited, such as inmates draining the water from their toilet and using bedding and other flammable items to start a fire in the bowl. Once the fire had reached a sufficient temperature, the inmate would flush the toilet and the cold water would shatter the porcelain. The sharp, heavy pieces would then be thrown out of the cells and over the tier railings, presenting a hazard to the correctional staff, and sometimes even shattering the outside windows. By the early morning hours on April 27 th, water was flooding over the upper levels, and massive pools had saturated the lower cellblock floors. The block was fogged with smoke from smoldering fires as the chilling bay breeze ripped through the cellhouse, intensifying the cold, and the inmates were left alone in their wet cells with no warm place to rest.
By daybreak the correctional staff had started to assess the damages, and they set up a desk at the end of the block to hold hearings with Warden Johnston. On the morning of April 28 ththe hearing board convened, and met with each and every inmate who had caused destruction to his cell. The board was comprised of Associate Warden E.J. Miller, Captain H.W. Weinhold, Lieutenant N.W. Morrison, Dr. Roucek, and the Warden himself. Quillen later recalled that Stroud’s cell was found completely intact with his bed nicely made, and that he was angered that Stroud had used the other inmates to get back at the administration.
Warden Johnston punished the inmates harshly, ensuring that each one was penalized for their collective rebellion against the administration. It was decided that the inmates would remain in their own cells until proper repairs could be made. Since many of them had destroyed their sink and toilet, they were forced to use a tin bucket to relieve themselves. It was left to the correctional staff to determine how frequently the buckets would be emptied – usually only once a day – and the inmates were completely at their mercy in this regard. In addition, the inmates who had been involved, received nineteen days in isolation and were forced to pay for all damages before they were allowed to transfer out of Alcatraz. This would require each inmate to remain on good behavior, integrate back into the general population and secure a paying job in the industries. It was a severe punishment delivered directly by Warden Johnston himself. Quillen later commented that the inmates long resented Stroud for using them as pawns in his own futile cause.
Clarence Victor Carnes
Clarence Victor Carnes – A life in pictures. He would spend nearly his entire adult life in maximum security prisons.
Clarence Victor Carnes, born on January 14, 1927 in rural Oklahoma, was a full-blooded Choctaw Indian and like many of the other inmates he was exposed to a troubled and poverty-stricken childhood. His father struggled to support his family through the Great Depression years and tried to create a stable life for his children, but was largely unsuccessful. Carnes would become what was later described as...“natural fighter,” and he developed into a gang leader during his early teens. He was constantly in and out of trouble and at only fifteen years of age he would participate in an armed robbery that would change his life in a matter of seconds.
Carnes’ fate was sealed when he and a school friend attempted to hold up a small gas station in Atoka, Oklahoma. Carnes threatened station attendant Walter Weyland with a stolen revolver, but Weyland refused to take the youths seriously. He apparently attempted to disarm Carnes and the struggle ended with a fatal gunshot wound to the attendant’s chest. Carnes and his accomplice were quickly apprehended and placed in the county jail, where they were to await trial on charges of first-degree murder. But only hours after their capture they somehow managed to overpower the jailer and escape, taking with them his stolen pistol. Within hours they were recaptured and in October of 1943, Carnes was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Then on February 3, 1945, while incarcerated at the Oklahoma State Reformatory in the city of Granite, Carnes and two accomplices escaped from a hard labor chain gang at work in a rock quarry. Carnes and his accomplices made it to town without being detected, stole a vehicle and kidnapped the owner. The trio then crossed the state line into Shamrock, Texas, wrecked the stolen vehicle and made their way back into Oklahoma in another stolen car, leaving their kidnap victim behind. They were quickly apprehended and on March 19, 1945 Carnes would receive an additional ninety-nine years for kidnapping under the Federal Lindberg Act. Carnes was sent to the State Reformatory in McAlester, Oklahoma, and later to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas. He soon became a serious disciplinary problem at Leavenworth and was recommended for transfer to Alcatraz by the Warden. Carnes arrived at Alcatraz on July 6, 1945 at only eighteen years of age. Many who knew him described him as being out-of-place on the Rock. He was quiet, easy going and rarely got involved in altercations. Carnes was also very fit and did not back down when trouble came his way. It is likely that these traits appealed to Coy when he recruited him for the prison break.
Preparations for the Escape
The famous escape of 1946 did not happen spontaneously; on the contrary, it was the fruit of careful planning by the group of inmate conspirators and particularly by Bernie Coy. He was the architect of the scheme, who studiously watched the habits of the guards, meticulously selected his accomplices from among the pool of prisoners, and arranged for all of the necessary tools and supplies to be constructed and secreted around the prison.
Early Planning Stages
In late 1945, Bernie Coy had earned his way to a job as the library orderly, which gave him special privileges to move about the cellhouse freely. This job assignment also allowed him to provide his own special “reading privileges” to other inmates in return for “special favors,” whenever the need would arise. Another advantage was his new ability to venture into D Block, in order to deliver reading materials. D Block was strictly off-limits unless an inmate had a specific reason to enter. Former inmate James Quillen later stated that Coy was thus able to study activities within the cellhouse discreetly, and to identify potential systemic weaknesses that could offer a future prospect for escape. Coy’s assignment as a library orderly proved to be a choice position, as it also provided additional opportunities to interact with the correctional officers, and to study their individual work habits. In addition to his primary assignment, he was also allowed to take an additional job as a cellhouse orderly, fulfilling these duties in the afternoon. Coy was well liked by the correctional officials, and was said to have an easygoing attitude. He was respectful toward inmates and guards alike, and as Correctional Officer Bergen recalled, he was a “mature con” that “got on well with most everyone.”
However, behind this mask of innocence, Bernard Paul Coy actually had no intention of finishing out his time at Alcatraz. During his sentencing in 1937, he had stated that “murder meant nothing” and that no prison could hold him. True to his vow, Bernie embarked on an intense study of procedural operations at the prison, exploring the systemic frailties that he believed would ultimately grant him freedom. Coy recognized that the West End Gun Gallery had one weak point that could possibly be penetrated if he acquired the necessary tools. He noticed that at the top of the gallery, the bars encasing the upper tier ran from the back wall, curving downward until they reached a horizontal cross-member several feet from where the bar-base was anchored. The bars were parallel and spaced approximately five inches apart, and he decided that if he could force the bars and separate them far enough to accommodate his body, he could gain access to the gallery, secure weapons, and take hostages. It was a brazen plan, and it seemed to have great potential.