The hole in the wall


After watching this film, I googled pictures of Alcatraz prison. Several of the pictures found show a cell with a hole in the back wall, where Morris and The Anglin Brothers chiselled their way out.
So that raises a question. The prison was in use for about a year after the escape of those three, right? Did they patch up the holes or did they keep Alcatraz in operation with four unuseable cells.
Or did they in fact patch up the holes, and the holes seen today are made by museum people for the benefit of visitors.
Maybe there was already talk of closing Alcatraz, when the escape happened, and therefore they saw no need to repair the holes.

Is it in fact partly because of the escape, that the prison was closed. When they saw, that inmates were able to chisel their way through the wall using nail clippers and spoons, they realised just how deteriorated the building was? Of course, I can see how operating a prison on a little island is expensive, everything had to be ferried to the island. But at the time of the escape, they did not know that Alcatraz was going to be turned into a museum, did they?
"They" of course being politicians and guards and prison management.

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Visited there before and if I recall the cells were just never used again. Alcatraz was never filled to capacity so losing four cells wasn't really a problem. Each of the four cells were pretty much left untouched except for one that was remodeled for an episode of 'America's Most Wanted.'

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Thank you for the reply.

If Alcatraz was never filled, then I understand why they did not repair the holes.

I do not know when the decision was made to close the prison, but it could be, that it was already made when the escape happened, and that is why the cells were left untouched.

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