Allen West

... to be successful.

A few weeks after arriving in Alcatraz in January 1960, Frank Morris was moved to B Block and placed in a cell next to Allen West, a criminal with a very violent past.

For at least a year, Morris, West, and John Anglin began talking about how they might go about escaping.

After one of the other prisoners told Morris a story about a former prisoner finding a ventilation shaft in B Block that led all the way to the roof.

[gasps] And the hole was now too small for him to climb through.

No.

Now, unaware that Allen West was stuck in his cell, and not wanting to waste any time, the three men climbed up the drain pipe, so they just abandoned him, in the ventilation shaft until they reached the exhaust fan that led outside to the roof.

Using tools stolen from the machine shop, they removed the bolts that secured the fan and were able to access the roof of B Block.