Baker 1 Brett Baker Ms.

Caruso ENGL 1102 14 January 2012 Alcatraz Blast-out I did my research on the history of Alcatraz. Alcatraz was not always a prison. From 1850-1933 the U.S Army owned the land. It wasnt until then that it was handed over to the U.S Department of Justice to be used by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The government wanted to prove to the public that they were serious about stopping their crime problem. Alcatraz was opened as a maximum-security prison that would house the worst of the worst criminals. Alcatraz was not a big prison; it only housed at most 275 prisoners, never reaching its maximum capacity of 336. Some inmates that were housed at a different prison asked for a transfer to Alcatraz. Its crazy to think that someone would want to be transferred to the prison that housed the worst criminals of all time. However, it was to believe that Alcatraz actually had better living conditions. Unlike other prisons Alcatraz was a single person cell setup. There were thirty-six men that tried to escape the prison. Two of them attempted to escape twice. But each man was involved in fourteen different escape attempts (Alcatraz Escape). Most of the men that made an attempt did not succeed, once they made it out of either their cell, the place that they were working such as the trash room or the wood shop they were either shot by a guard on duty in the towers or for those that made it to the water were never found and were announced missing and presumed dead (Alcatraz Escape). If the inmates were lucky enough to get out of the prison walls and make it to the water, they would be even luckier

Baker 2 if they made the swim across the Sand Francisco Bay. It was said that the water temperature was around 50 degrees. Being in this cold water would affect the body after only twenty minutes. The Battle of Alcatraz, also known as the Alcatraz Blastout occurred May 2nd 4th during this outbreak six inmates were able to overpower the cell guards and make a break for it. They held some of the officers hostage; they also shot and killed two of the officers. Two of the men received the death penalty for killing the officers. They soon were executed in the gas chamber. Another one received a second life sentence. At the end of this horrific event eighteen officers were seriously injured and two were killed (Alcatraz Escape).