Joseph Bowers Joseph Bowers Joseph "Dutch" Bowers (December 13, 1896 – April 27, 1936) was the first man to attempt an escape from Alcatraz prison. On 27 April 1936, convict Henry Larry claims to have watched Bowers, who was feeding seagulls, stack some empty barrels and climb up next to the fence so he could retrieve a bit of food which had fallen on the barbed wire. He stood there feeding the birds for several minutes until a tower guard turned, saw him atop the fence, and fired on the convict. Bowers fell seventy feet to his death on the rocks below.
Veronza Bowers Jr. denied parole in December 2005. Veronza Bowers Jr. Veronza Leon Bowers Jr. is an inmate at the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a former member of the Black Panther Party, and was sentenced to life imprisonment on the charge of first degree murder of U.S. park ranger Kenneth Patrick at Point Reyes National Seashore in 1973, but he was eligible for mandatory parole after 30 years. In February 2005, 10 months after he served 30 years in prison, his parole was postponed in order to give the victim's relatives a chance to express their opposition at a