Alcatraz

About a mile off the coast of California, you can see a little island known as the island of Alcatraz. In 1775, a Spanish explorer by the name of Juan Manuel De Ayala, stumbled upon the island, and nicknamed it “Island of the Pelicans” Alcatraz is not a large island, but it held many important purposes, and many prisoners throughout history since its prison debut during the civil war.

After its discovery, the island of Alcatraz housed the first lighthouse on the pacific coast, guiding ships under the golden gate bridge. Almost immediately people started realizing the islands strategic value. In 1847, President Millard Fillmore reserved the island specifically for military use only. It did not take long for the island to be a fully functioning military fort. Although fort Alcatraz was fully armed with weapons, it did not take long for its main purpose to shift. On August 27, 1861 Alcatraz became a military prison, where it would hold confederate prisoners. Because of the harsh conditions the prisoners were living in, it did not take long for lice, and disease to spread to all of the men. Aside from the confederate prisoners, soldiers found guilty of treason were also brought to the prison on isle Alcatraz.

At some points when being used as a military prison, military personnel increased in numbers to above 350 men. Prisoners kept on the island were put right to work, doing manual labor. After the civil war, the prison started housing German war prisoners, during World War I. In 1912, a new and improved cell house was built on the island and it included 600 cells, each having electricity, and toilets. During its time as a military prison, there were various escape attempts. Many were captured, and if they made it to the water, chances are that they drowned during their escape attempt. Four prisoners actually escaped by rafts on November 28, 1918, and are one of the few successful escapes. After the war, it still housed many men, who were serving short sentences.

Starting in the mid 1920’s, Alcatraz was not used as much as it once was, and it started to crumble. In the 1930’s the great depression spread across the United States. During this crucial time, the military prison became too expensive to run, and no choice but to shut down. In 1933, the facility was turned over to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, where it would become Alcatraz penitentiary. While being under military control for more than 80 years from 1850-1933, fort Alcatraz never fired a single round.

After being turned over in 1933, the island was on track to be a maximum-security facility. In 1934 Alcatraz penitentiary became America’s first maximum security prison. The location made the prison ideal for even the biggest and toughest criminals. On the island, they had no choice but to obey the new prison laws. While operating, the penitentiary would house several famous inmates such as Al Capone, “Machine Gun” Kelly, and “Bird Man”. The average population of inmates being held varied from 200 to 300, making the guard to inmate ratio 1:12. The penitentiary never reached its capacity of 500.

Alcatraz was not a nice place to be. Those who survived payed a price by losing their sanity. During your stay at the prison, you had five rights. Food, clothing, a private cell, a shower once a week, and the right to see a doctor were their only rights. Although the inmates were there to serve a sentence due to their wrong-doing, they had no idea what they were about to endure. Alcatraz was unlike any other penitentiary at the time, and ended up making many inmates lose their minds, and go insane.

The cells making up the prison were tiny, being only 4x8 feet, and included a fold up bunk, a desk and chair, and a toilet. After opening, the prison was “silent” for a few years. This meant the inmates were not allowed to talk or communicate with each other no matter where they were. During the week, they were granted three minutes to talk in the morning, and afternoons, and during the weekends, they were allowed two hours to communicate. The guards kept the inmates on strict schedules, and they were expected to do the same tasks every single day of their sentence. Their day started at 6:30am, where they were woken up, and had time to clean their cells, before being counted for breakfast and then walking silently in a single file line to the cafeteria. Many inmates who were brought from other prisons around the United States were not used to these strict rules, with absolutely no freedom. A few of the “well-known” criminals were treated like gold at their former prisons, and could easily bribe the guards to give them information, and special privileges. One of these men who would quickly learn how serious Alcatraz is was Al Capone.

August of 1934 is when Al Capone first stepped foot on the island. Although he was used to being one of the ones who could bribe