Allen West (attempted Alcatraz escapee)

Allen Clayton West (born September 10, 1926 in New York City - died December 21, 1978 in Gainesville) was one of the conspirators who took part in the preparation and planning of the 1962 escape from Alcatraz prison. Allen West was sent to the Atlanta Penitentiary and Florida State Prison. He was sent to prison for hijacking as a car thief. He met Frank Morris and the Anglin Brothers at Atlanta. He was sent to Alcatraz in 1957, charged with attempting escape. West became prisoner AZ1335 in 1957. Morris and the Anglins were sent to Alcatraz in the years 1960 and 1961.

By September, 1961, Frank Morris was planning to escape from Alcatraz with West and the Anglins. The escape was planned by West, Frank Morris, and brothers John and Clarence Anglin. West was the only conspirator who did not actually participate in the escape. This was either because he was unable to open his cell ventilator grill in time, or because he was overcome by feelings of dread. The other three escapers were able to open their ventilator grills and leave the cell-block, though by the time West was able to open the one in his cell, the others were gone and had taken the life raft with them. With no means of leaving the island, West had no choice but to remain in his cell until the escape was discovered the next morning. After the escape attempt was discovered he gave several interviews to the FBI and prison authorities, during which he provided full details of the escape plan, possibly as some plea bargaining strategy. West was never charged for trying to escape from Alcatraz. The other three escapers were never seen again and their ultimate fate remains unknown.

Allen West left Alcatraz on February 6, 1963 (when the prison closed) and was later transferred to Atlanta where he was released from federal prison on January 7, 1965, and sent to Georgia and then Florida to serve prison sentences in those states. Released in 1967, but a year later arrested again in Florida on charges of grand larceny, robbery and attempted escape. On January 1969, he went to Florida State Prison for life imprisonment. On October 30, 1972, West fatally stabbed another prisoner in what may have been a racially-motivated incident. In December 1978, he was sent to the Shands Teaching Hospital after complaining of severe abdominal pains. He died there on December 21, 1978 at the age of fifty-two. The cause of death was acute peritonitis.

In the 1979 movie "Escape from Alcatraz" Allen West was played by Larry Hankin. However his character's name was changed to "Charley Butts".

See also

* Frank Morris
* John Anglin
* Clarence Anglin
* Escape from Alcatraz