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This is a list of notable inmates of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.An inmate register reveals that there was 1576 prisoners in total which were held at Alcatraz during its time as a Federal Penitentiary, between 1934 to 1963, although figures reported have varied and some have stated 1557.
- Joe Mcgasko
- Inmate #85: Al 'Scarface' Capone. Conviction: Tax evasion. Time Served at Alcatraz: 5 years (1934–1939) Post-Term: mental illness, death from syphilis. By the time Al Capone arrived at Alcatraz on the morning of August 22, 1934, he was past his peak as a crime kingpin.
- Inmate #110: Roy Gardner. Conviction: Armed robbery. Time Served at Alcatraz: 2 years (1934–1936) Post-Term: author, suicide. Alcatraz was repurposed by the federal government from a military prison to a general federal prison in 1933 expressly to deal with criminals like Roy G. Gardner, the man who was nicknamed “King of the Escape Artists.”
- Inmate #117: George 'Machine Gun' Kelly. Conviction: Kidnapping. Time Served at Alcatraz: 17 years (1934–1951) Post-Term: died of a heart attack in jail. It couldn’t be said that many of the criminals who ended up in Alcatraz were from good families, but Machine Gun Kelly was raised in a well-off Memphis household and even attended some college.
- Inmate #325: Alvin 'Creepy' Karpis. Conviction: Kidnapping. Time Served at Alcatraz: 26 years (1936–1962) Post-Term: author, pill overdose. Like "Machine Gun" Kelly, Alvin Francis Karpowicz saw kidnapping as an easier way to make large sums of money than bank robbing.
While several well-known criminals, such as Al Capone, George "Machine-Gun" Kelly, Alvin Karpis (the first "Public Enemy #1"), and Arthur "Doc" Barker did time on Alcatraz, most of the 1,576 prisoners incarcerated there were not well-known gangsters, but prisoners who refused to conform to the rules and regulations at other Federal institutions, who were considered violent and dangerous, or who were considered escape risks.
Jun 16, 2014 · Alcatraz was the prison of the prison system, the school of the hard-knocks. The monotonous and highly structured daily routine was meant to make inmates follow regulations. Prisoners had only four rights: food, shelter, clothing, and medical care. Anything besides these were considered a great privilege that had to be earned through hard work.
- Octavia Drughi
- 1 Inmate #85: Al CaponePerhaps the most resonant name on the American Mafia scene, the Chicago mob boss was one of the first convicts to step through Alcatraz's gates when it opened in 1934.
- 2 Inmate No. #594: Robert “The Birdman” Stroud. Alcatraz' most feared inmate was Robert Stroud, better known to the public as the “Birdman of Alcatraz.”
- 3 Inmate # 117: George “Machine Gun” KellyGeorge Kelly Barnes, better known as Machine Gun Kelly, was one of the Prohibition Era's most notorious gangsters.
The Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary or United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island (often referred to as Alcatraz or The Rock) was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, 1.25 miles (2.01 km) off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States, which operated from August 11, 1934, until March 21, 1963
No prisoners were executed as a court-ordered punishment at Alcatraz. When Sam Shockley and Miran Thompson were convicted of mutiny in the Blast-Out trial, they were sent to San Quentin's death row to be executed in the gas chamber. Most federal prisons conducted their executions using state facilities.
For prisoners who commited crimes in Alcatraz such as muder, fighting, or refusing to work, they were sent to different means of punishment in the prison. The serious criminals who did something bad in the prison, were sent to the "dungeon" at the top of the island.
Nov 22, 2018 · Alcatraz was sectioned into a number of different blocks, and D block was where the prisoners were put when they needed to be segregated or even put into solitary confinement. 36 of the cells in this part of Alcatraz were designated as segregation cells, and six of them were intended for what was considered to be one of the harshest punishments, being totally isolated from all other people.
- A Chilly ReceptionCalifornia has a reputation for sunny beaches, but in the region around San Francisco and Alcatraz is known for being chilly. Fact Retriever even notes that Mark Twain visited Alcatraz and made the assessment that even during the summertime, it was a cold place.
- guard-to-prisoner ratioIn keeping with the reputation that Alcatraz had for being the toughest prison in the country, Warden James Johnston was strict with the inmates during his time managing the facility.
- Street SmartsThe prison was divided into sections labeled with letters of the alphabet, such as A block and B block, which isn't uncommon. But the guards at Alcatraz also had other identifying names for different areas.