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- The prison closed in 1963, but Alcatraz was reopened as a public museum.
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The Federal Government found that it was more cost-effective to build a new institution than to keep Alcatraz open. After the prison closed, Alcatraz was basically abandoned.
The prison closed in 1963, but Alcatraz was reopened as a public museum. The island and prison were occupied by Native Americans from 1969 to 1971. It is one of San Francisco's major tourist attractions, attracting some 1.5 million visitors annually.
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- Early Years as a Military Prison. In 1775, Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala (1745-97) mapped and named rugged Alcatraz Island, christening it La Isla de los Alcatraces, or Island of the Pelicans, due to its large population of sea birds.
- Doing Time as a Federal Prison: 1934-63. In 1933, the Army relinquished Alcatraz to the U.S. Justice Department, which wanted a federal prison that could house a criminal population too difficult or dangerous to be handled by other U.S. penitentiaries.
- Famous Inmates. Among those who did time at The Rock was the notorious Prohibition-era gangster Al “Scarface” Capone, who spent four-and-a-half years there during the 1930s.
- Escape Attempts from Alcatraz. Over the years, there were 14 known attempts to escape from Alcatraz, involving 36 inmates. The Federal Bureau of Prisons reports that of these would-be escapees, 23 were captured, six were shot and killed during their attempted getaways, two drowned and five went missing and were presumed drowned.
Nov 13, 2009 · Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco's Bay closes down and transfers its last prisoners. At its peak period of use in 1950s, “The Rock," or "America’s Devil Island," housed over 200 inmates at the ...
- Missy Sullivan
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Library of Congress photograph. In its heyday, it was the ultimate maximum security prison. Located on a lonely island in the middle of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz—aka “The Rock”—had held...
After two decades of intense scrutiny relating to operating costs and confinement practices, on Thursday, March 21, 1963, the end of an era arrived with the official closure of Alcatraz. The physical structures on Alcatraz were indicating wear and tear that would cost the government millions of dollars to keep the prison running to standard.
In 1933 the U.S. Army transferred control of the prison to the civilian Department of Justice, and, from 1934 to 1963, Alcatraz served as a federal prison for some of the most dangerous convicts in the American penitentiary system.
