Alcatraz

Script:

(Your intro welcoming everyone & putting who asked for Alcatraz)

Today we are going to be exploring the details of the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary
(known mostly as Alcatraz).

Alcatraz was a maximum high-security prison on Alcatraz Island which is about 2
km off the coast of San Francisco, CA which opened on August 11, 1934.

The main prison building was actually built during 1910-1912 during the time when
it was used as a United States Army prison. When the Disciplinary Barracks were
acquired on October 1933 by the United States Department of Justice the island then
became a prison of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in August 1934 after the buildings
were upgraded to meet the requirements of a high security prison. Due to its such
high security and the location (since it is about 2 km off in the San Francisco Bay)
where the cold water and strong currents were, Alcatraz was believed to be escape-
proof!

Now, seeing as it was a very high-security prison, who would actually go there?
Well, some of the worst of the times were placed in Alcatraz, because Alcatraz was
designed so that the prisoners that continuously caused trouble in other prisons
were sent to there. Some of the people that Alcatraz held were: Al Capone, George
Machine Gun Kelly, Arthur R. Doc Barker, and also Alvin Creepy Karpis (who
actually spent the most time of any prisoner at Alcatraz).

Alcatraz gained its notoriety because of peoples conceptions that it was the
toughest prison in America. Former prisoners would report of frequent acts of
brutality and inhumane conditions. However, somewhat contradicting the
reputation of some prisoners (naming the place Hellcatraz) some prisoners in
Alcatraz actually reported that the living conditions there were much better than
most other prisons in the country (especially the food).

During the 29 years that Alcatraz was open, there were apparently 14 escape
attempts. With one story of a successful escape Kinda.

On June 11,1962 : Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin carried out one of
the most intricate escapes ever. Apparently, behind the prisoners cells in Cell Block
B, there was an unguarded 3-foot corridor. The prisoners were able to break away
pieces of the moisture-damaged concrete from and around an air vent using
magivered drills from things that they found around the prison. The escapees also
made an inflatable raft from over 50 raincoats that they stole, they escaped through
a vent in the roof and departed from Alcatraz island.
Nearby on angel island, the FBI found articles from the prisoners, and parts of the
raft, so that the official FBI case said that since the water temperature was about 50-

55F (10-12C) and it was about 2 km (1.25 miles) that there would be barely a
chance of them surviving Thus leaving the prisoners presumed dead.

Another escape attempt occurred from May 2nd May 4th, 1946. Six prisoners
(Bernard Coy, Joseph Cretzer, Sam Shockley, Clarence Carnes, Marvin Hubbard, and
Miran Thompson) tried to escape by boat. First, they were able to take control of the
cell house by overpowering the guards and were able to seize the guards weapons.
When they failed at getting the outside keys, they decided to battle their way out.
After a bit into the battle, 3 of the prisoners (Shockley, Thompson, and Carnes)
actually returned to their cells, while the other three continued to fight. Luckily the
U.S. marines stepped in and killed the 3 remaining prisoners. The other 3 (the ones
that returned to their cells) were tried for the killing of the guards, 2 of the 3 were
sentenced to death, yet Clarence Carnes was spared because he was only at the age
of 19 at the time, and was given a second life sentence.

Now okay, that was some of the more exciting times for the prison, but lets move on
the its final years.

During the 1950s, Alcatraz was still a very unpopular prison, because it was by far
the most expensive prison institution in the United States. For average jails, the
price to run it per prisoner was about $3/day , while Alcatraz was about $10/day
per prisoner, thus others including Director James V. Bennett (the director of the
Federal Bureau of Prisons) wanted to make a more centralized institution to replace
Alcatraz. Other problems with Alcatraz included that the prison had been seriously
damaged structurally from the exposure to the salt air and wind and would have
needed and estimated $5 million to fix it. They actually started to repair the prison
in 1958, but by 1961 engineers evaluated Alcatraz as a lost cause.

The Bureau of Prisons final report on Alcatraz stated that:

"The institution served an important purpose in taking the strain off the older and
greatly overcrowded institutions

Now if you flash forward to today, Alcatraz is a museum and is one of San
Franciscos major tourist attractions, attracting more than 1.5 million visitors
annually. Visitors get to have a tour of the cellhouse and island, and are also given a
slideshow to view. People who visit Alcatraz say that the atmosphere on the island
is still eerie and chilling.

If you actually want to visit Alcatraz without actually travelling to San Francisco, you
could actually play Black Ops 2. Okay, not really, but the map Mob of the Dead in
the Uprising DLC allows users to play as one of the mob members exploring Alcatraz
and trying to find their way out. If you want you can actually go see our playthrough
of mob of the dead.

(You can give an outro to the people requesting in the comments)