Alcatraz Island

Have you ever been to the popular San Francisco, California tourist attraction, Alcatraz? Thousands of people visiting the West Coast pass through the park each day to get a taste of what life would be like to be isolated from the outer world for going against the law. The small island is now one of our country’s national parks, but before it became one, it was used by the U.S. Army and as a federal prison that is now famous in history. It didn’t start out as one of the biggest federal prisons in the country. In the mid 1800’s, the island just off of San Francisco Bay “was set aside..for possible use as a United States military reservation.” The island was used by the U.S. Army for a little over eighty years until it was turned over to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In 1933, “The Federal Government had decided to open a maximum-security, minimum-privilege penitentiary to deal with the most incorrigible inmates in Federal prisons, and to show the law-abiding public that the Federal Government was serious about stopping the rampant crime of the 1920s and 1930s.” (Alcatraz) This was the start to the twenty-nine years the prison was enforcing strict rules to some of the toughest prisoners. The rules were simple, “At Alcatraz, a prisoner had four rights: food, clothing, shelter, and medical…

being in a dirty, smelling, cold prison cell with water dripping down the walls from the ceiling and hardly ever seeing daylight. This is what the prisoners in prison experience on a daily bases. Alcatraz was federal prison that was built on a twelve acre, solid rock island exactly one mile from the mainland with no roads or bridges to escape. Alcatraz, a prison in the San Francisco Bay that many famous people went to and dunknown details. Wardens and guards who worked at the prison did not…

Have you ever heard of,”The Rock.” Prisoners of the worst were sent here to relearn their mistakes they made. Most famous Frank Morris, the escapists of Alcatraz, was the first prisoner to escape the horrible island. The year is 1962, Four of the most popular prisoners are sent to Alcatraz, like Frank Morris, Clarence Anglin, John Anglin, and the most horrible prisoners are being sent to the most dangerous, and are wishing they never broke the law. prison in the U.S. One day on Alcatraz Island,…

Observation Site: Alcatraz It’s two forty in the afternoon and the warm sun is clouded by the grey sky on Pier 33. The San Francisco weather is being its usual self, causing my hair to dance in all directions. While purchasing our tickets for the Alcatraz tour, a sudden call of a Caucasian man with a raspy and dry voice is made, “Two forty from Pier 33 to Alcatraz is now boarding! Final call!” My mom quickly checks the time on her grandma phone and realizes it’s now two forty-five. We sprint to…

Correctional Facility Paper: Alcatraz Elizabeth Phan Introduction to Corrections July 20, 2017 Look out onto the San Francisco Bay and you see a big rock that is approximately 22 acres with some abandoned architecture on it. Well, that there is Alcatraz Island. Before Alcatraz became the tourist attraction that we know of today, it was used differently throughout the course of California history. First, the light house was placed there and it was used to guide people in and out of…

Though Alcatraz was a famous prison, it has an amazing story behind it. With its beautiful gardens to its famous inmates and mysteries, Alcatraz. It inspires people around the world drawing them to the famous prison. Alcatraz has a fascinating history about it’s origin words to how it became a prison. According to The Federal Bureau of Prisons, the word alcatraz comes from the spanish word “Alcatraces” and he word Alcatraz itself means “pelican” or “strange bird”. Alcatraz is the prison for the…

The Archives of Alcatraz In 1775, a spanish explorer named Juan Manuel De Ayala sighted the island of Alcatraz. He named it Isla de los Alcatraces, which translates to Island of the Pelicans because of the birds which call the island home. Juan Manuel de Ayala proceeded on and charted the rest of the San Francisco Bay. In 1848, the U.S. Military realized the island could be used to its tactical advantage. Two years later, president Millard Fillmore issued an executive order designating Alcatraz…

Escaping Uncle Sam’s Devil Island The Federal prison known as Alcatraz, is in the chilly waters of California’s San Francisco Bay. It housed some of America’s most difficult and dangerous criminals during the years 1934 to 1963. For over thirty years Alcatraz Island was the main destinations for the nation’s most violent criminals. Criminals like Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, and Robert Stroud, also known as The birdman of Alcatraz. With ninety guards working round the clock, including…

When most people hear "Alcatraz" they think "prison," and that is certainly some of the most interesting stuff of the legend. Make no mistake, just walking around in this imposing, if decrepit building will give you the creeps--even knowing how long it's been empty of bad guys. But there is still much more history among the shambling ruins on the island off San Francisco's Pier 41. Pier 41 is adjacent to the chaos of Fisherman's Wharf and the constant foot traffic that San Francisco is famous…

Alcatraz Island has a rather distinct past. Even though Alcatraz sits in the middle of San Francisco Bay, the island seems distant, as if it were miles out of sea. The appeal to Alcatraz is uninviting, since it had played an important role in the history of California. Imagine being imprisoned in one of the world’s most disreputable prisons. However, not only is the island well known as the prison, but it was much more than a prison going back in time. Alcatraz was a prison for the worst…