Alcatraz

Once considered the prison of American prisons, the island of Alcatraz in San
Francisco Bay, despite its reputation as a cold and unforgiving penitentiary, is now
one of the most prominent tourist magnets in San Francisco.

In 1775, Spanish ‘explorer’ Juan Manuel de Ayala chartered what is now San
Francisco Bay. He called the 22 acre rocky island “La Isla de los Alcatraces”,
meaning “Island of the Pelicans”. With no vegetation or habitation, Alcatraz was
little more than a desolate islet occupied by the occasional swarm of birds. Under
English-speaking influence, the name “Alcatraces” became Alcatraz.

The discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada Mountains brought growth and
prosperity to San Francisco. The lure of the Gold Rush demanded the protection of
California as gold seekers flooded the San Francisco Bay, so Alcatraz was
reserved for military use in 1850 and the U.S. Army built a fortress on its rocky
face. They made plans to install more than 100 cannons, making Alcatraz the most
heavily armed entity on the West Coast. Once fully equipped with weaponry in
1859, the island was deemed Fort Alcatraz.

However, Fort Alcatraz never fired its own weapons in combat and quickly evolved
from an island of defense to an island of detention.

In the early 1860s, civilians arrested for treason during the Civil War were housed
on the island. Alcatraz as a jail would continue for 100 years. After the
devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906, inmates from nearby prisons were
transferred to Alcatraz. Popularly known as “The Rock”, Alcatraz later served as an
army disciplinary barracks until 1933.

The Alcatraz of the early 20th century was a minimum security prison. Prisoners
spent their days working and learning. Some were even employed as babysitters
for the families of prison officers. They eventually built a baseball field and inmates
fashioned their own baseball uniforms. Boxing matches among inmates known as
“Alcatraz Fights” were hosted on Friday nights. Prison life played a role in the
changing landscape of the island. The military transported soil to Alcatraz from
nearby Angel Island, and many prisoners were trained as gardeners. They planted
roses, bluegrass, poppies and lilies on the eastern side. Under the order of the
U.S. Army, Alcatraz was a fairly mild institution and its accommodations were
favorable.
However, importing food and supplies to island was very expensive. The Great
Depression of the 1930s forced the army off the island, and the prisoners were
transferred to other states.

Alcatraz was obtained by the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1934. The former
military detention center became America’s first maximum security civilian
penitentiary. This “prison system’s prison” was specifically designed to house the
most horrendous prisoners, the troublemakers that other federal prisons could not
successfully detain. Its isolated location made it ideal for the exile of hardened
criminals, and a strict daily routine taught inmates to follow prison rule and
regulation.

The Great Depression witnessed some of the most heinous criminal activity in
modern American history. Alcatraz was home to notorious criminals including Al
“Scarface” Capone, who was convicted of tax evasion and spent five years on the
island. Alvin “Creepy” Karpis, the FBI’s first “Public Enemy” was a 28 year resident
of Alcatraz. The most famous prisoner was Alaskan murderer Robert “Birdman”
Stroud, who spent 17 years on Alcatraz. Over its 29 years of operation, the federal
prison housed more than 1,500 convicts.

Daily life in the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was harsh. Prisoners were given
medical attention, shelter, food and clothing, but recreational activities and family
visits had to be earned through hard work. Punishments for bad behavior included
hard labor, wearing a 12 pound ball and chain, and lock-downs where prisoners
were kept in solitary confinement, restricted to bread and water. There were a total
of 14 escape attempts by over 30 prisoners. Most were caught, several were shot,
and a few were swallowed by the chilling swells of the San Francisco Bay.

The prison on Alcatraz Island was expensive to operate, as all supplies had to be
brought in by boat. The island had no source of fresh water, and almost one million
gallons were shipped in each week. Building a high security prison elsewhere was
more affordable for the Federal Government, and the prison was closed in 1963.

Alcatraz Island became a national park in 1972. Open to the public in 1973, it sees
more than one million visitors from across the globe each year.

Vocabulary: unforgiving, magnets, chartered, islet, seekers, flooded, weaponry,

treason, babysitters, landscape, bluegrass, poppies, supplies, troublemakers,
hardened criminals, heinous, harsh, shelter,