Joseph Bowers attempt to climb the fence to feed a seagull. However, regardless of Bowers' initial motive, it is indisputable that Bowers ignored the guards' forceful signals to halt and he kept climbing even after the guards began firing, such that he fell on the outside of the fence. 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
American prison literature was tremendous support for incarcerated writers, since they represented an important front of the culture war. Inner city riots and prison riots exemplified the volatile emotional state of the entire population. The 1971 escape attempt by a San Quentin inmate and author, George Jackson (Soledad Brother), ended in bloodshed. Another activist author, Angela Davis, was implicated in the event because a gun was used that was registered in her name. Jackson's shooting lead to a mass hunger strike at New York's Attica Prison. The strike eventually lead to a prisoner uprising and a subsequent police assault leaving 128 wounded and