Alcatraz Island Facts
Every window in Alcatraz has a view of San Francisco. - Susanna Kaysen
Alcatraz Island was originally America’s premier maximum-security prison, housing not just the most heinous offenders, but also the most rebellious inmates such as the outlaws and the escape artists. Al Capone, George (“Machine Gun”) Kelly, and Robert Stroud, the “Birdman of Alcatraz,” were among its renowned residents.
On the morning of August 11, 1934, Alcatraz’s first batch of 137 inmates arrived at the prison which would soon become infamous. It earned a reputation for being one of the harshest federal prisons in the country for decades. One anonymous quote said, “Break the rules, you go to prison, break the prison rules and you go to Alcatraz.” After being decommissioned as a jail in 1963, Alcatraz is now used as a public museum. Today, it is one of San Francisco’s most popular tourist destinations, with 1.5 million tourists visiting the former federal prison island each year.
The movie “Escape from Alcatraz”, directed by Clint Eastwood, does a fantastic job at reconstructing life behind bars. But have you ever wondered how much of it is based on fact and how much is pure fiction?
Check out these mind-boggling facts to learn some of the most interesting facts about Alcatraz.
1. Prisoners built their prison
The fortification was deconstructed by the US Army, with only the basement foundation remaining and military inmates were put to work building a new edifice to hold disciplinary barracks along the West Coast from 1909 to 1911. In 1933, the military handed over control of the island to the Department of Justice, and Alcatraz became synonymous with the worst of the worst.
2. A single inmate in a single cell
The fortification was deconstructed by the US Army, with only the basement foundation remaining and military inmates were put to work building a new edifice to hold disciplinary barracks along the West Coast from 1909 to 1911. In 1933, the military handed over control of the island to the Department of Justice, and Alcatraz became synonymous with the worst of the worst.
3. Al Capone was imprisoned on Alcatraz Island
American gangster Alphonse Gabriel Capone better known ‘Al Capone’ was incarcerated on the island in 1934. Chicago’s most infamous Prohibition-era crime leader is best renowned for his brutality and violence in eliminating his rivals, shared the prison with some of America’s most notorious criminals, including The Birdman of Alcatraz Robert Stroud and George “Machine Gun” Kelly Barnes.
4. Al Capone was a member of a prison band
In prison, the famous mobster composed music, original songs and played in a prison band called the Rock Islanders while imprisoned in Alcatraz in the 1930s. The prison wasn’t all gloomy and dreadful, excellent behavior earned prison perks like access to a library and membership in the prison band, in which Al Capone played the banjo.
5. Alcatraz prisoners earned a living
Some Alcatraz prisoners worked in the kitchen, cleaning, and maintenance, while others worked on the docks, but the majority were engaged in “Prison Industries,” or factories on the island’s northern side. For the practically luxurious amount of 5-12 cents an hour, inmates were kept busy working to make a living on the infamous rock.
6. No-speaking rule in the 1930s
The rule of silence was one of the more horrific and inhumane terms of the prison island in the early 1930s. Inmates were not allowed to speak to one another save during meals and recreation periods in the early years of Alcatraz. Some convicts would frequently empty their toilets and use sewage plumbing to establish a crude communication system. This rule was militarily enforced and inmates were punished for even slight infractions of the code.
It was deemed too harsh and revoked in the late 1930s.
7. Softball – The favored sport of the inmates
Despite the fact that Alcatraz would never be mistaken for an opulent club, convicts had access to regular physical activities. The most popular sport was softball, which was played using a diamond in the recreation area by the inmates. The teams were mixed, which led to racial problems on occasion. Tempers rose and improvised knives were pulled during a game on May 20, 1956, turning the game bloody.
8. Inmates had access to hot showers
Hot showers were another luxurious amenity provided to Alcatraz detainees. Many speculate that the mix of fattening foods, limited exercise, and warm baths were designed to ensure that the inmates were too unfit and unaccustomed to the cold to face the icy swim that separated the island from the mainland and the inmates from freedom.
9. Best kitchen in the federal prison system
Alcatraz was known for having the best meals in the entire US prison system before it closed in 1963. Fresh ingredients were transported in from San Francisco daily to prepare gourmet meals for the country’s most dangerous and violent inmates while they were imprisoned. Breakfasts of coffee, cake, cereal, and fruit, as well as lunches and dinners of meat, vegetables, bread, and hot tea — it was almost Michelin-starred food compared to prison standards.
10. Prison guards lived on this island with their families
Guards and other prison employees lived in separate quarters on the island, which had formerly served as Civil War barracks. Weekend boat visits to neighboring Marin were common for families to fill up on groceries and other necessities. While they were not allowed to interact with convicts, some created a spectator sport out of watching new prisoners in shackles walk in.
11. Escape attempts by 36 prisoners
Alcatraz was known for being an impenetrable prison, but that didn’t stop its inhabitants from trying to flee. The bulk of these 36 was shot, perished at sea, or recaptured and returned. In the 29 years that the jail was open from1934 to 1963, 23 of the 36 men who fled were recaptured, six were slain by guards, and two drowned. Morris and the Anglin brothers were among the surviving five that made it to the sea and vanished.
12. The most famous Alcatraz escape
The Anglin brothers and Frank Lee Morris made the most famous escape in 1962. Over the course of six months, the inmates chipped away at their cell walls and made paper mâché dummies of themselves out of loo roll, soap, and hair trimmings from the barbershop. After leaving the decoys, they crawled through the vents and paddled away on an improvised raft.
“They must have drowned,” the authorities announced, but many conspiracy theories have surrounded the daring escape for decades.
13. The closing of Alcatraz
Alcatraz was closed in 1963 because maintenance was too expensive. In the 1950s money, maintaining Alcatraz cost $10.10 per person, three times the expense of most other federal prisons also freshwater had to be brought in by boat at a rate of a million gallons each week. So, it was closed for the same reason that it had become so famous, the location.
14. Students Occupied Alcatraz in Protests
6 years after it was closed as a federal prison, a group of students stormed the prison in 1969 as a form of protest against the US government’s goal of abolishing tribal sovereignty and moving Native Americans to cities. The occupation was headed by Richard Oakes, a San Francisco State College student, and lasted 19 months. Richard Nixon reversed the policy in 1970, thus halting federal seizure of Indian lands, as a result of their opposition.
15. Birds taking up residence now
The abundance of Western gulls that have taken up home on practically every surface is one of the first things tourists notice when they get to the island. A tour of the park’s avian life, which comprises 5000 birds from nine different species, is also available. The population is appropriate, given that the prison’s most famous inmate, Robert Stroud, is commonly regarded as the “Birdman of Alcatraz.”
16. The movie prop guard tower
The remaining intact guard tower on Alcatraz was erected as a cinematic prop for scenes in the memorable Sean Connery and Nick Cage movie ‘The Rock.’
17. The most popular tourist spot in San Francisco
n 1972, Alcatraz Island was transformed into a park and included in the United States national park system. To buy Alcatraz tickets, visitors can make reservations and reserve a ferry in advance. On arrival, they may avail an audio tour of the grounds, which includes the cells of its famous convicts like Al Capone. The prison island is considered to be San Francisco’s most popular tourist attraction with close to 2 million visitors a year from all over the globe.
Do these startling facts pique your interest in visiting Alcatraz? Ever wondered what it was like to live on the island? Watched too many conspiracy theories and now thinking if Alcatraz is really haunted or just want a look at the prison cells America’s most notorious criminals were confined to?
The best way to learn is through doing, so add it to the bucket list and come take an Alcatraz tour for yourself.
