Alcatraz On Trial
Last month, I wrote about the fourth escape attempt from Alcatraz. However, I ended the post without tying up some of the loose ends. This post will cover the fates of Henri Young and Rufus McCain, while also looking at the time Alcatraz was put on trial.
Just as a refresher, in 1939, Young and McCain, along with three other inmates, sawed through the bars of their cells, climbed out of the window of the cell house, and made it to the beach on the island’s west side. They constructed a makeshift raft and began paddling away. However, it was at that moment that Rufus McCain decided to inform the others that he didn’t know how to swim. He begged them to go back and reinforce the raft, which they did. After setting out again, he repeated the request, which was honored. This gave the prison guards enough time to catch up to them. Young and McCain surrendered and were sent to solitary confinement.
It is reported that the two handled this in vastly different manners. Young was angry and explosive, making as much noise as possible and threatening guards. McCain, meanwhile, gained the trust of the guards and was given work as an orderly. One evening, while he was delivering Young’s meal, Young attempted to stab him.
Once they were both released into the general prison population, the confrontations continued. However, according to the testimonies of other prisoners, it was McCain who was looking to take Young out. He was planning on killing him, something he reportedly shared with other inmates. Young himself claims that on December 3rd, 1940, he made eye contact with McCain at breakfast. McCain proceeded to make a cutting motion at his throat. McCain then confronted Young on his way back from his cell.
Later that day, the two made their way to the Model Industries Building. Young worked in the Model Shop, one level above the Tailor Shop where McCain was employed. At around 10 am, after an officer did a count of the inmates in the Model Shop, Young grabbed two knives that were hidden in the shop, snuck away, and went downstairs. He spotted McCain, ran up to him, and stabbed him in the stomach. Young was grabbed by guards, offering no resistance. McCain was taken to the hospital, where he died about six hours later.
Henri Young, of course, would have to stand trial. The case seemed pretty straightforward. However, Young’s lawyers argued that he didn’t know what he was doing, that the act was done neither consciously nor with any premeditation. They blamed the conditions at Alcatraz, and specifically those in solitary confinement, for Young’s actions.
“We are putting Alcatraz on trial,” his lawyer announced.
From there, the case took a strange turn, with focus being shifted away from the murder and towards the prison itself. The media, always interested in a good Alcatraz story, eagerly took advantage. When the jury announced that they believed the conditions on the island were “unbelievably brutal and inhuman,” Warden James A. Johnston was furious. The Bureau of Prisons investigated the penitentiary, but found no evidence of any improper conduct. Young, meanwhile, was found guilty of killing McCain and had three years added on to his sentence.
While the press initially took an interest in Young and the trial, it moved on fairly quickly after this. Young was sent back to Alcatraz and faded back into obscurity. Upon his return, he continued to cause problems, including throwing things, threatening to beat up guards, and somehow repeatedly setting fire to his cell.
He also had issues with other inmates, culminating in Rufus Franklin, a member of a previous escape attempt covered here, stabbing Young in the shoulder with a knife on February 27th, 1945. Not wanting to rile the media up again, the administration at Alcatraz tried to keep the whole thing under wraps. Since Young did not die of his wounds, the authorities did not take legal action against Franklin, instead sending him, Willis Coulter (who attempted to stab Young), and Young himself into solitary confinement. All three were blamed for the incident, and Warden Johnston took away Young’s yard privileges, something that went against federal regulations requiring that prisoners in isolation have one hour of yard time per day.
Young petitioned this plenty of times, to no avail. He also tried to get transferred out of the prison, but this also did not happen. It wasn’t until Warden Johnston retired and Edwin B. Swope took his place that Young was finally transferred. He was sent to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri on September 3rd, 1948.
His federal sentence expired in 1954, and he was sent to the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla to serve a life sentence for a 1933 murder he had confessed to while still at Alcatraz. He was let out on parole in 1972 and disappeared, never to be heard from again.
I’d also like to address the most popular piece of media regarding this whole situation, namely the 1995 film, Murder in the First. The movie is basically a complete re-telling of Henri Young’s life. In it, he is a poor orphan trying to feed his sister. He is denied work at a grocery store, steals $5, and because the store is located near a post office, his crime is upgraded to a federal offense. Although he supposedly never hurt anybody, he ends up in Alcatraz. After his escape attempt in 1939, he is tortured, has his Achilles tendon slashed, and is thrown into the dungeon for three years. When he is released back into the general prison population, he suffers a psychotic episode and stabs McCain in the cafeteria. After the trial, Young is sent back to Alcatraz, where he is found dead in his cell with the word “victory” scratched onto the wall.
Absolutely none of this is true, except for possibly the fact that Young suffered from a psychotic episode when he killed McCain, but even that is unverifiable. The depiction of Alcatraz, the warden, the officers, and the prisoners range from iffy to blatantly false.
While, in the end, it is a movie meant to entertain; it is no surprise why there are so many misconceptions about Alcatraz to this day. From journalists looking for a juicy story in the 1940s to modern movie directors looking to make the next blockbuster, it is clear that too often, accuracy is traded in for sensationalism.
