Alcatraz
Alcatraz is a craggy island in San Francisco bay, also known as "the Rock". It has an area of about 12 acres, and once housed a prisoner-of-war camp.
The name "Alcatraz" is often also applied to the federal penitentiary on the island, which operated from 1934 until 1963. The prison was to hold only the worst criminals, under a strict regime to prevent escape at all costs. 14 escape attempts have been recorded in total, none of which are known to be successful.
Inhabitants
Employees
Alcatraz's first warden was James A. Johnston.
About 50 warders lived on Alcatraz; under half of the island was a residential area for employees and their families, such as Billy, who could travel to and from San Francisco by motorboat. Water and other supplies also came to and from the island in this manner, which eventually proved too expensive for the American taxpayer.
During the 1946 escape attempt, two warders were killed.
Guards patrolled the walls of Alcatraz with rifles. Men in watch-towers would snipe anyone spotted trying to escape.
In the present day, following the prison's transformation into a tourist attraction, the island employs tour guides in park ranger uniforms.
Inmates
The number of inmates kept in Alcatraz never exceeded 300 people. Individual inmates included:
History
Though the island was on the map by the late 16th Century, it was finally named in 1775 by a Spanish-speaking captain after the pelicans that inhabited it – Isla de Alcatraces, a name that would become Alcatraz.
Alcatraz remained uninhabited for a long time, until it became a prisoner-of-war camp. In 1934, the camp was repurposed as a federal penitentiary for hardened criminals under the strict supervision of warden James A. Johnston. One of the first inmates, armed robber Joe Bowers, didn't plan to stop long, and within months he became the prison's first attempted escapee. He didn't make it far before being shot from the watchtowers.
On the 16th of December, 1937, Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempted escape through a wash-house window. After parting ways and diving into the icy waters, the two men were never seen again.
In 1946, inmate number 548, Joseph 'Dutch' Cretzer, led a mutiny with five other men. Two warders were killed, but Cretzer's plan was to treat them as living hostages to exchange for their freedom. Military troops were brought in as reinforcements; after Warden Johnston commented his belief the hostages to be dead, the troops breached the criminals' stronghold. Cretzer and two of his cohorts, Coy and Hubbard, were shot dead during the assault.
The surviving mutineers were tried, their lawyers paid for by donations from fellow prisoners. After a unanimous guilty verdict, Judge Goodman sentenced Shockley and Thompson to death in the gas chamber, and life imprisonment for Carnes, a Native American criminal.
In 1963, the high council of the penitentiary administration decided that, between the prisoners and the families of warders living on the island, the upkeep of Alcatraz was financially untenable. By the 15th of May that year, the last prisoners on Alcatraz were transferred elsewhere. Despite plans, the buildings were left unoccupied.
Carnes wasn't the only Native American to take residence on the Rock. On the 8th of March, 1964, five Native American protestors occupied the land to try and claim it back from the United States. On the 9th of November, another group of Native Americans led by Richard Oakes invaded the island for similar reasons. The occupation was ended by a sudden outbreak of fire on the 11th of June, 1971.
Two years later, President Nixon signed a plan to refurbish Alcatraz island as a tourist destination, leading to today, where tourists from all over the world are shown around the grim facility. The Truth About Alcatraz!
