Henri Young
Henri Young
Henri Theodore Young (born June 20, 1911 – missing since 1972) was a convicted bank robber and murderer who, while serving one of a series of prison terms, attempted a 1939 escape from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary with four other inmates. During the escape attempt two inmates were shot, and one died of his wounds. All surviving were quickly recaptured. Two, Young and Rufus McCain, received sentences of solitary confinement and served them at Alcatraz for a period of three years (until autumn of 1942). 11 days after re-entering the Alcatraz general prison population, Young murdered fellow escapee McCain. No apparent motive was ever disclosed. Young's defense put Alcatraz and the penal system on trial, leading to questions about how the prison was run. In 1948, Young was transferred from Alcatraz to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners, Springfield, Missouri. He was later transferred to Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla upon completion of his federal sentence to begin a life sentence for the 1933 murder conviction. Young "jumped parole" in 1972 after release from Walla Walla, with his stated whereabouts reported as "unknown". Were he still alive in 2020, he would be 108 years old. Young is perhaps best known in relation to the fictionalized character of the same name appearing in the 1995 film Murder in the First, in which he was portrayed by Kevin Bacon. The story of Henri Young is also the subject of the song "Behind the Eyes of Henri Young" featured on the 2017 album Dragonfly, by Australian singer Kasey Chambers.