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Identification photograph of Sam Richard Shockley from the Alcatraz warden's notebook page, No. 462.
Identification photograph on the Alcatraz warden's notebook page for Sam Richard Shockley, No. 462, National Archives at San Francisco (NAID 236735583), Records of the Bureau of Prisons. The catalog marks the item "Use Restriction: Unrestricted."

Sam Richard Shockley

Alcatraz register no. 462. The warden's notebook page records receipt from Leavenworth on 23 September 1938 under a life sentence for bank robbery and kidnapping, a 1946 federal murder trial in San Francisco, and execution at San Quentin on 3 December 1948.

Died
1948-12-03
Source
National Archives Catalog: Alcatraz warden's notebook page, register no. 462
Rights
Biography on this page is limited to what the cited federal records state. The identification photograph is a Bureau of Prisons record, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105.

On the record

  • 1938-09-23 — The warden's notebook page (NAID 236735583) records "SAM RICHARD SHOCKLEY" received at Alcatraz from "LEAVENWORTH," age 29, date of birth 1-12-09, offense "BANK ROBBERY & KIDNAPPING," date of sentence May 21, 1938, sentence "LIFE," district "E/OKLA., - Muskogee."
  • 1941-05-21 — The Bureau of Prisons lists a May 21, 1941 incident in which Joe Cretzer, Sam Shockley, Arnold Kyle and Lloyd Barkdoll took several correctional officers hostage in the industries area.
  • 1946-12-21 — A note on the page records that he went on trial on 11-20-46 in the U.S. District Court at San Francisco for murder "result of prison break, 5-2-46, at which time two officers were killed (and 3 inmates)"; that on Dec. 21, 1946 a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder without recommendation and he was sentenced the same day to death; that he was received at San Quentin on 12-27-46; and that he appealed.
  • 1948-12-03 — A handwritten line on the page reads "Executed in Gas chamber 12-3-48 at San Quentin"; the catalog gives a death date of 12/03/1948 at San Quentin. The Bureau of Prisons says Shockley and Thompson received the death penalty and were executed in the San Quentin gas chamber in December 1948.

The page prints the birth date 1-12-09 and the catalog 01/12/1910; this page records both and sets neither in the born field. The Bureau of Prisons names Shockley among the six prisoners in the “Battle of Alcatraz” of May 2-4, 1946. The role and family fields are left empty because no record cited here states either. Offenses are given as the notebook form prints them; the “Reason for Transfer” boxes are staff opinion and are not used.

Records

itemAlcatraz warden's notebook page for Sam Richard Shockley, No. 462Bureau of Prisons notebook page with the identification photograph of Sam Richard Shockley, No. 462, received at Alcatraz from Leavenworth on 23 September 1938 under a life sentence for bank robbery and kidnapping (Eastern District of Oklahoma); a handwritten header records execution in the San Quentin gas chamber on 12-3-48. A copy is stored here.itemAlcatraz (Federal Bureau of Prisons history page)The Bureau of Prisons' history page on Alcatraz names Al Capone among the well-known criminals who did time there, and says most of its prisoners were not well-known gangsters.