The fog rolls off the San Francisco Bay exactly like it did in 1963. Cold. Damp. A little bit eerie if you’re standing on the pier looking out at that jagged rock. But the men who actually lived behind those bars—the ones who heard the "clanging of the cups" and the heavy steel doors—are almost all gone now. When people search for information on alcatraz inmates still alive, they’re usually looking for two things: the famous escapees who might be hiding in Brazil, and the very old men who are still drawing breath today.
It’s a dwindling list.
Time is a much more effective warden than the U.S. Bureau of Prisons ever was. Alcatraz closed its doors as a federal penitentiary on March 21, 1963, because it was simply too expensive to run. Saltwater was eating the pipes. The logistics were a nightmare. Since then, the "alumni" of the Rock have become a sort of macabre historical society. But let’s be real—we are talking about men who would be in their late 80s, 90s, or even over 100 years old today.
Who Is Actually Left?
Finding a definitive "living list" is harder than you’d think. There isn't a central government database that pings a notification when a former 1950s federal prisoner passes away in a nursing home in the Midwest. However, we do have names of individuals who have been active in the Alcatraz Alumni Association over the last decade.
Bill Baker is perhaps the most famous of the alcatraz inmates still alive today.
Baker, who was inmate #1259, spent years on the island for various crimes, including escape attempts from other prisons. He became a fixture at the Alcatraz gift shop for a long time, signing copies of his book, Alcatraz-1259. He’s in his 90s now. Watching him talk is a trip because he doesn't romanticize it. He talks about the boredom. The routine. The way the wind sounded. He once famously said that the island was the only place that could actually hold him, but he also noted that the food was better than most other joints. That’s a common theme with these guys; the food at Alcatraz was kept high-quality specifically to prevent riots. If you feed a man well, he’s less likely to shank a guard. Sorta makes sense.
Then there’s the mystery of the Anglin brothers and Frank Morris.
The Great Escape: Are They the Ultimate Survivors?
You can’t talk about alcatraz inmates still alive without addressing the 1962 escape. John Anglin, Clarence Anglin, and Frank Morris vanished into the bay on a raft made of raincoats. The FBI officially closed the case in 1979, concluding they drowned. But the U.S. Marshals Service? They keep the file open. They’ll keep it open until every one of those men would be 100 years old.
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In 2013, a letter surfaced that sent the media into a frenzy.
The letter, sent to the San Francisco Police Department, claimed to be from John Anglin. It said, "My name is John Anglin. I escaped from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. I'm 83 years old and in bad shape. I have cancer." The writer offered to go to jail for a year in exchange for medical care. The FBI analyzed the handwriting but the results were "inconclusive." If that letter was real, then John Anglin was—at least until fairly recently—one of the most famous living former inmates.
The Anglin family has spent years producing "evidence" like a photograph from 1975 allegedly showing the brothers in Brazil. They’ve even done documentaries on it. Is it true? Maybe. If they are alive, they’d be in their mid-90s. It’s a slim chance, but in the world of true crime, it’s the "Great White Whale."
The Life of an Alumnus
Most of the men who left Alcatraz didn't go on to be famous authors like Bill Baker. They went back into the system or they faded into quiet, anonymous lives.
Take a look at the former inmates who used to attend the annual reunions. For years, you had guys like Darwin Coon and Jim Albright (who was actually a guard, not an inmate, but the two groups often bonded in their old age). These reunions were surreal. You’d have a guy who was once a violent bank robber sitting across a table from the man who used to point a Winchester at him from a catwalk. They’d drink coffee and talk about the weather on the island.
It’s a strange brotherhood.
Darwin Coon passed away in 2011. He was a frequent flyer at the reunions and wrote Alcatraz: The True End of the Line. Every year, the group gets smaller. The "Alumni" are mostly children of guards now, or park rangers who have dedicated their lives to the history of the place.
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Why We Are Obsessed With These Men
There’s a reason people keep digging into the lives of alcatraz inmates still alive. It represents a bridge to a version of America that doesn't exist anymore. This was the era of the "Public Enemy." It was the era before DNA evidence, before digital surveillance, and before the "supermax" prisons like ADX Florence took over the mantle of being the end of the road.
Alcatraz was psychological warfare.
The inmates could hear the sounds of parties and laughter from the San Francisco Yacht Club drifting across the water on quiet nights. Being that close to freedom but being stuck in a 5-by-9 cell is a specific kind of torture. The men who survived that and are still alive today carry a very specific type of mental grit.
Recent Passings and the Changing Guard
It’s important to realize that "still alive" is a moving target.
- Robert Luke: Inmate #1118. He was known for being in the "holes" (solitary confinement) and eventually became a regular at the island’s commemorative events. He passed away in recent years.
- James "Whitey" Bulger: Perhaps the most infamous Alcatraz alum of the modern era. He wasn't on the island for long, but he was there. He was killed in a different prison in 2018 at the age of 89.
When these men die, they take the secrets of the Rock with them. Not the big secrets like "where is the gold?" because there wasn't any. They take the small secrets. How did the air smell right before a storm? What was the exact tone of the whistle?
The Reality of Tracking "The Rock's" Survivors
If you are looking for a definitive, live-updating list, you won't find one. The Bureau of Prisons doesn't track former inmates once their parole or sentences are fully expired and they are out of the system. Most of the men who left Alcatraz in '63 were transferred to other pens like Leavenworth or Marion.
To find alcatraz inmates still alive, researchers usually have to scour obituary records or stay in touch with the National Park Service volunteers who staff the island.
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The number of confirmed living inmates is likely in the single digits now.
It’s a sobering thought. We are witnessing the final chapter of a legendary era of American criminal history. Soon, there will be no one left to say "I was there." It will move entirely from living memory into the realm of archaeology and folklore.
How to Respectfully Research Former Inmates
If you’re genuinely interested in the history and want to find out more about the survivors, don't just look for names. Look for the stories.
- Check the Alcatraz Alumni Association: While the formal reunions have largely stopped due to the age of the participants, their archives are gold mines.
- Visit the Island (Virtually or In-Person): The audio tour is actually narrated by former inmates and guards. It’s the closest you’ll get to hearing the truth of the place.
- Read the Memoirs: Bill Baker's Alcatraz-1259 or Jolene Babyak's books (she was the daughter of a warden and lived on the island) provide the best context for who these men were.
- U.S. Marshals Records: For the escapees, the Marshals occasionally release updated age-progression photos. It’s fascinating and a bit creepy.
The fascination with alcatraz inmates still alive isn't just about voyeurism. It’s about the human capacity to endure. Whether they were "bad guys" or just men caught in a brutal system, they survived one of the most notorious environments on earth.
As the sun sets on the lives of the last few residents of the Rock, the island itself remains. It’s a tomb now. A museum. A bird sanctuary. But for a few men out there, it’s still the place where they spent the hardest years of their lives. And they’re the only ones who truly know what it felt like when that final boat pulled away from the dock in 1963, leaving the most famous prison in the world to the ghosts and the seagulls.
To get the most out of your historical deep dive, start by looking into the National Park Service's digital archives of oral histories. These recordings often feature interviews with inmates conducted in the 1980s and 90s, capturing details that have since been lost to time. If you’re ever in San Francisco, take the night tour—the atmosphere is completely different and gives you a much better sense of why so few people ever tried to swim away. Look for the "Rule Book" reprints in the gift shop; reading the actual regulations these men lived under is eye-opening.