Birdman of Alcatraz

The most famous escape to ever occur at Alcatraz resulted in a battle. On May 2, 1946, five prisoners teamed up to plan an escape. Bernard Paul Coy was the head of the plan and was joined by Joseph Cretzer, Clarence Carnes, Sam Shockley, and Miran Thompson. On May 2, Joseph Cretzer covered himself with axle grease and started to climb the West End Gun Gallery. When he reached the top, he placed a bar-spreader between two bars and was able to make a ten inch opening to squeeze through. Cretzer…

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 know there were…

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…

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…

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…

One of the most well known of all prisons in America is Alcatraz. Located 121 feet above sea level, in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, this prison sits on only 22 acres of land. Alcatraz was nicknamed “the rock.” The Rock held some of the most notorious criminals, murderers, and gangsters in the United States. Some of these people include Al Capone, Robert “the Bird man of Alcatraz” Stroud, and George “Machine Gun” Kelly. Alcatraz is such a famous prison in America’s history because of its…

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…

were all prisoners of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Alcatraz is one of the most famous prisons in the country if not the world for what happened there and for its notorious prisoners. “The Escape of Alcatraz”, the LSD trails, and the life on “Uncle Sam’s Devil Island” are all important parts of the history of the prison. This island had the worst of the worst and it spread everyone crazy to each other and greatly hurt the mental state of the inmates who made parole. Alcatraz was originally…

Operating from 1934-1963, Alcatraz was once considered the most highly secured prison. Housing criminals such as Al Capone and famous murderer Robert Stroud, the prison held some of the country’s worst criminals. While claiming to never have an inmate escape, numerous attempts were made by John Paul Scott, Darl Lee Parker, and Joseph Bowers but failed. Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe also fled, but after jumping in the San Francisco Bay they were never seen again. It was assumed that the two men…

Alcatraz was built as a maximum security prison, it was capable of escape, but prisoners never made it off the island alive. This prison on the water was built to hold the most dangerous criminals, because it was the hardest prison to escape from. Today you can visit and or tour Alcatraz it is now a national park for people to witness some of the stuff prisoners had to go through being there. Alcatraz has a lot of things people don’t know about it like what was the purpose, how many…