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
No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons similar testimony from inmates in Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, and California. "No Escape: Male Rape in U.S. Prisons" blamed indifference and feigned ignorance by prison officials for the widespread existence of male inmate on inmate sexual violence in American prisons. When HRW queried Nebraska for information while compiling "No Escape" they were told that incidents were "minimal"; New Mexico told HRW no reported incidents had occurred in the past few years. Numerous other states had similar responses that characterized such incidents as rare or not a problem; among those states the Department of Corrections in Alaska, Connecticut and Kentucky all noted