The Man Who Beat Alcatraz; The Story of Kentucky's John Paul Scott

 

For nearly three decades, Alcatraz stood as the unbreakable fortress of American incarceration. Surrounded by the treacherous, ice-cold waters of the San Francisco Bay and fortified with the nation’s tightest security measures, “The Rock” was believed to be escape-proof. But in December 1962, a prisoner born in Springfield, Kentucky, would prove otherwise—if only for a fleeting moment.

John Paul Scott, inmate AZ-1403, was not as widely known as Al Capone or “Machine Gun” Kelly, but he carved his own place in criminal history by accomplishing something thought impossible. He didn’t just escape from Alcatraz—he swam to freedom.

A Kentucky Beginning

John Paul Scott was born on January 3, 1927, in the small town of Springfield, Kentucky, nestled in the heart of Washington County. His early years are not heavily documented, but by the time he reached adulthood, Scott had drifted into a life of crime. He was convicted in Lexington, Kentucky, for armed bank robbery and illegal possession of firearms. The nature of his offenses and his repeated escape attempts earned him a 30-year sentence and a ticket to Alcatraz—the last stop for the country’s most troublesome federal inmates¹.

Life Inside the Rock

Arriving at Alcatraz in 1959, Scott was assigned to culinary detail in the prison's basement area beneath the main kitchen. While this may have seemed like a mundane assignment, it provided him the opportunity to observe the infrastructure of the prison more closely—and it was here that the seed of escape was planted.

Scott began working alongside another inmate, Darl Lee Parker, and over time, the two hatched a bold plan. Using a concoction of stolen tools, strings coated in abrasive powder, and pure ingenuity, they gradually sawed through the iron bars of a basement window. With each shift, they concealed their work by covering the window with cardboard and strategically placed grease².

The Great Swim

On the cold evening of December 16, 1962, Scott and Parker made their move. Slipping out of the kitchen basement, they descended to the rocky shore of the island and entered the bay’s frigid waters.

Unlike other escapees before them, they had fashioned flotation devices out of prison-issued rubber gloves, which they inflated and wore as water wings. The water temperature hovered around 54°F (12°C), and the tides were strong—conditions many believed impossible to survive³.

Just minutes into the swim, Parker lost consciousness and was pulled back to the shore by currents, where he was recaptured. But John Paul Scott kept going. With determination fueled by desperation, he continued to battle the waves, the tide, and the cold.

To the shock of both prison officials and the broader public, Scott made it.

A Shocking Discovery

Around dawn the next day, a teenage boy bicycling along the waterfront at Fort Point—located beneath the Golden Gate Bridge—spotted something strange: a shivering, semi-conscious man lying on the shore. The boy alerted the authorities, and the man was soon identified as none other than John Paul Scott.

He was suffering from hypothermia and exhaustion, but he was alive. The Coast Guard transferred him to Letterman General Hospital at the Presidio, where he was treated and stabilized before being returned to Alcatraz⁴.

This marked the first—and only—known instance of a prisoner successfully swimming from Alcatraz to the mainland.

The Aftermath

Scott’s escape stunned prison officials and reignited national debate over the viability of Alcatraz as a maximum-security facility. His successful swim shattered the myth of its natural defenses and exposed vulnerabilities in the prison’s infrastructure. Just three months later, in March 1963, Alcatraz was permanently closed, citing rising costs and concerns over outdated security systems⁵.

Scott, meanwhile, was transferred to other federal prisons including Leavenworth and Marion. His life behind bars continued for several more decades until his death on February 22, 1987, at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida⁶.

Legacy

While Scott’s escape was short-lived, his story remains a testament to human endurance, cunning, and the will to survive. Though other inmates—including the famous Anglin brothers—vanished during escape attempts, none were ever confirmed to have reached the mainland alive. Only John Paul Scott achieved that feat.

He may not have remained free, but for a brief moment, the boy from Kentucky defied the odds and beat Alcatraz.

References

1. Wikipedia contributors. "John Paul Scott (prisoner)." Wikipedia.
2. "The Alcatraz Escape That Worked." Blue Ridge True Crime.
3. SFGenealogy. "Alcatraz: The Only Successful Escape."
4. Reddit - Today I Learned. “Scott is the only confirmed escapee to reach the San Francisco shore.”
5. "Closure of Alcatraz." AlcatrazHistory.com.
6. Federal Bureau of Prisons Records; summary via Find A Grave and official archives.