Alcatraz warden's notebook page for Bernard Paul Coy, No. 415
Bureau of Prisons notebook page with the identification photograph of Bernard Paul Coy, No. 415, received at Alcatraz from Atlanta on 31 July 1937 under a sentence for conspiracy, bank robbery and related counts (Western District of Kentucky); a typed header records the 2 to 4 May 1946 prison break and that his body was found on 4 May. A copy is stored here.
- Date
- 1937-07-31
- Kind
- photograph
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- NAID
- 236735451
- Rights
- A Bureau of Prisons record, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. Series "Warden's Notebook Pages" (NAID 296686), Records of the Bureau of Prisons (Record Group 129), National Archives at San Francisco. The National Archives catalog marks the item "Use Restriction: Unrestricted." The series note says that some information on the pages is incorrect when compared with the fuller inmate files, and that clippings in the series may be copyrighted; this page is a prison form. The copy stored here is a downsample of the first digitized image.
The National Archives catalog titles this page “COY, BERNARD PAUL “BARNEY” - Alcatraz Number 415 - Warden’s Notebook.” It is a Bureau of Prisons notebook form with an identification photograph at the upper right; the placard in the photograph reads “U.S. Penitentiary Alcatraz 415”. It belongs to the series Warden’s Notebook Pages (NAID 296686).
The typed entries, as printed: name “COY, Bernard Paul,” No. 415, received 7-31-37 from “ATLANTA,” age 37, date of birth 2/13/00. Offense “CONSPIRACY, BANK ROBBERY, VIO.OF NMVA. FLIGHT FROM STATE TO AVOID PROS.”; date of sentence June 3, 1937; sentence typed “26 years & 6 days,” with “25 years & 5 days” added and a footnote “Sentence changed to 25 yrs & 5 days by order Director, 11-11-43”; district sentenced “W/Ky., Louisville.” The header, typed after the events, reads “LEADER IN PRISON BREAK AND RIOT, MAY 2, 1946 BEGINNING ABOUT 2:P.M., AFTER GUN BATTLE WITH OFFICERS, BODY FOUND, DEAD BY GUNSHOT WOUNDS, MAY 4, 1946 IN UTILITY CORRIDOR OF C-BLOCK, ABOUT 9:45 a.m.” The word “leader” is staff wording. The “Reason for Transfer” box and the long note under the conduct heading are staff opinion and are not repeated.
Catalog data, labelled as such: offense “CONSPIRACY, BANK ROBBERY, NMVTA & FLIGHT TO AVOID”; received at Alcatraz 07/31/1937 from US Penitentiary, Atlanta; transferred 05/04/1946 “to DEATH”; remark “KILLED DURING ESCAPE ATTEMPT”; birth date 02/13/1900; death date 05/04/1946 at Alcatraz. The Bureau of Prisons names Coy among the six prisoners in the “Battle of Alcatraz” of 2 to 4 May 1946 and says the bodies of Coy, Cretzer and Hubbard were found on 4 May (BOP Alcatraz history).
