A mug shot series of John Paul Scott.

J. Paul Scott was born on January 3, 1927 in Willisburg, Kentucky, the second of six children in the family of Buelah and William A. Scott. His father, who served as the postmaster of Springfield, Kentucky from 1950 until his death in 1966, was an affectionate parent. He provided a good living for his family and offered all of his children a college education. His mother was also a college graduate and she never worked outside the home. From all indications, the home situation was most amicable.

In 1944 Scott graduated from Springfield High School in Springfield, Kentucky. He entered the University of Kentucky in 1950, and subsequently attended Western State Teachers College, the University of Georgia, and Georgia State University. During his attendance at these universities, he maintained an above-average academic standing and amassed a total of 170 hours of credit toward his Bachelors degree. The last school he attended was Georgia State University, during the winter quarter of 1970.

Scott enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve on July 13, 1944, and entered active duty in June of 1945. He left the U.S. Air Force with an honorable discharge on December 28, 1946. He also enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program on September 24, 1949, and was honorably discharged on November 2, 1949. He experienced minor disciplinary problems while in the Air Force, but was discharged because it was discovered that he had a prison record. The highest rank he attained was that of private.

Scott’s first arrest occurred in February of 1949, and he was charged with possession of stolen merchandise. During the years following, he would be arrested on various other charges including burglary and armed robbery. On the weekend of December 15, 1956, J. Paul Scott and his brother Don R. Scott forcibly entered the National Guard Armory at Danville, Kentucky with accomplice Earl Morris, and stole two .45 caliber submachine guns and three .30 caliber rifles, with a sizeable quantity of ammunition. On January 6, 1957 J. Paul Scott and the same two accomplices entered the Farmers and Traders Bank of Campton, Kentucky, armed and carrying acetylene cutting equipment. While in the bank, Scott was struck in the mouth and the arm by two bullets fired by a bank guard. Meanwhile, Morris was perched outside of a window and Don Scott was on the roof of the bank, standing guard. As the robbers fled from the bank they engaged local officers in a gun battle, which resulted in the wounding of a Wolfe County Sheriff.

Scott began serving his sentence at the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, where he received two disciplinary reports, one for attempted escape and one for a homosexual act. In March of 1959 he was transferred to Alcatraz, and there his disciplinary reports would include an escape from the island.

The Alcatraz Escape Files of Parker and Scott

The following report was written by Warden Blackwell to the Director of the Bureau of Prisons on December 20, 1962, describing the events from his perspective:

Date: December 20, 1962

To: Director, Bureau of Prisons

From: O.G. Blackwell, Warden

Re: Escape Attempt, December 16, 1002 - John Paul SCOTT 1403-AZ and Daryl Parker 1413-AZ

On Sunday, December 16, 1962, the two above inmates were missed from their detail in the Culinary unit, at 5:47 p.m. We have definitely established that both of those individuals were accounted for on the official 5:20 p.m. count and again counted by the lieutenant on duty, Mr. Harold Robbins, at 5:30 p.m.

The alarm was sounded, immediate search of the area was instituted, and the entire escape procedure was placed into effect. At 6:10 p.m. our boat officer spotted Parker clinging to a rock some 100 yards off the northwest end of the island, known as "Little Alcatraz."  At approximately 7:20 p.m. inmate SCOTT was spotted clinging to a rock off Fort Point, which is located almost directly under the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge. SCOTT was spotted by two teenagers who reported to the Presidio MPs. They reported to the scene and called for a fire department rescue team, rescued SCOTT from this rock and took him immediately to the Letterman Hospital for emergency treatment. For the first thirty minutes several doctors worked with SCOTT and stated that they were very much uncertain as to whether he would live or die. He was suffering from numerous cuts and bruises and from severe shock as a result of extreme lowering of body temperature, caused by the cold water of the Bay, which normally runs from 52 to 54 degrees, the year around. PARKER, of course, was returned to the institution, examined by the medical staff and locked up immediately after he was found. SCOTT was returned to the institution following release from the emergency unit of the hospital

by the doctors.

Of course both you and Mr. Aldredge came to the institution and are very familiar with the incident and all of the findings. However, I might review some of the more outstanding points for the benefit of others who might read this report.

During the investigation it became obvious that the two sets of bars that were removed had been worked on over a long period of time and obviously by more people than just SCOTT. A check of the records indicates that ex-inmate BURBANK, No. 1369, now in custody by the Missouri State Penitentiary, was assigned to the kitchen basement for a long period of time and could have well have started the removal of the bars. Following his assignment, inmate Leonard WILLIAMS, No. 1045, was assigned to the basement area and he too could have contributed to these cuts. It is noted by the record that WILLIAMS was involved in several escape attempts, including an attempt to escape while being transported to Alcatraz.

Investigative reports suggest that inmates Charles Burbank (left) and Leonard Williams (right) may have begun cutting through the steel window bars several months before the escape, when they were assigned to the kitchen detail.

We are not quite sure of all instruments used to sever these bars; however, we are rather positive that a spatula, with serrated edges; a grease scraper, used by fry-cooks in scraping down grills, that had serrated edges, and string, which had been impregnated with floor wax; and institution scouring powder were at least three items that were used to sever these bars. One set of these bars, incidentally, is commonly referred to as "tool-proof-steel."

As we see the picture, and as admitted now by SCOTT and PARKER, SCOTT almost completed severing the bars, alerted PARKER that he expected to try to escape, and invited him then to go along. On the evening of the sixteenth, immediately after the 5:30 count, under the guise of taking the garbage to the basement, SCOTT got on the elevator, took the elevator half-way down, jumped off and completed severing the bars, which he states took approximately five minutes. He then dashed to the elevator shaft and signaled for PARKER, who jumped down the shaft, landing on the elevator halfway down, then jumped off to the floor and they both went out through the window.

This window is the last window on the south side of the kitchen basement and is partially hidden by two butane tanks that service burner units in the hospital. They eluded the officer who was patrolling back of the Kitchen by seeing that he had checked that side of the building and started in the other direction. They then hurriedly climbed two pipes at the corner of the building, gaining access to the roof. They crossed the roof and lowered themselves to the ground directly behind the Library on a length of extension cord that they had tied knots in, approximately three feet apart. This cord was removed from the buffing machine that is used to polish the basement floor. They then slid and fell down the steep hill directly behind Apartment Building "A."  During this fall PARKER apparently broke his foot and received several cuts and bruises. They then went down the rather high bluff to the water's edge by sliding down a sewer pipe. At this point they inflated rubber gloves that they had inserted in shirtsleeves, and pieces of shirt that had been crudely stitched together, making a set of so called "water-wings" to be used as flotation equipment.