“Riot At Alcatraz World Almanac Segment”, “May 2 Riot At Alcatraz 1946”, “Bernard Paul Coy”,

“The Battle of Alcatraz, which lasted from May 2 to 4, 1946, was the result of an escape attempt at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary by armed convicts. Two Federal Bureau of Prisons officers—William A. Miller and Harold Stites—were killed (Miller by one of the inmates who attempted escape, Joseph Cretzer, and Stites by friendly fire) along with three of the perpetrators.[1] Fourteen other officers and one uninvolved convict were also injured. Two of the perpetrators were executed in 1948 for their roles.”

“The escape attempt was planned by Bernard Coy. Three other convicts were involved in the main plan, Marvin Hubbard, Joseph Cretzer and Clarence Carnes. Sam Shockley and Miran Thompson joined the escapees after the attempt had begun. Coy was a Depression-era criminal who, in 1937, was sentenced to 25 years for bank robbery. He was moved to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in 1938 from Atlanta and was soon given the job of cell-house orderly, which gave him a relative amount of freedom of movement around the main cellblock.”