User:Gail Patterson Brown/sandbox

Allen West	Edit Allen Clayton West (March 25, 1929 – December 21, 1978)[17] was imprisoned for car theft in 1955, first at Atlanta Penitentiary, then at Florida State Prison. After an unsuccessful escape attempt from the Florida facility, he was transferred to Alcatraz in 1957 and became inmate AZ1335.[18] When West was transferred to Alcatraz, he was 31 years old, and had the education of an eighth grader. West was arrested over 20 times throughout his lifetime.[19]

West was the only conspirator who did not participate in the actual escape; he was left behind when a stuck ventilator grill initially prevented him from leaving his cell. He cooperated fully with the escape investigation and was not charged for his role in the attempt.[20][21]

West was transferred to McNeil Island, Washington, when Alcatraz was deactivated in 1963, and later, back to Atlanta Penitentiary. After serving his sentence, followed by two additional sentences in Georgia and Florida, he was released in 1967, only to be arrested again in Florida the following year on charges of grand larceny. At Florida State Prison, he fatally stabbed another prisoner in October 1972, in what may have been a racially motivated incident. He was serving multiple sentences, including life imprisonment on the murder conviction, when he died of acute peritonitis in 1978.[17]