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- The site of the first lighthouse on the Pacific Coast (1854), Alcatraz Island served as a Civil War bastion and became the nation's first official army prison. "Uncle Sam's Devil's Island," as it was known, was transferred to civilian authority in 1934, and became infamous as a place of incarceration for the nation's most hardened criminals.
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Alcatraz, former maximum-security prison located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, off the coast of California. Alcatraz, originally envisioned as a naval defense fortification, was designated a residence for military offenders in 1861, and it housed a diverse collection of prisoners in its
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Mar 28, 2014 · Hidden History Found Beneath Alcatraz. UNITED STATES. Scientists say there’s much more to “the Rock” than crime and punishment, and they have come to Alcatraz to investigate the hidden history that lies beneath the prison walls. (BBC)
- 3 min
- 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.
Aug 12, 2019 · Erin Mahaney. Updated on August 12, 2019. Once considered the prison of American prisons, the island of Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay has been an asset to the U.S. Army, the federal prison system, jailhouse folklore, and the historical evolution of the West Coast.
While the exact meaning is still debated, Alcatraz is usually defined as meaning "pelican" or "strange bird." In 1850, a presidential order set aside the island for possible use as a United States military reservation. The California Gold Rush, the resulting boom in the growth of San Francisco, and the need to protect San Francisco Bay led the ...
The prison sits atop Alcatraz Island. / 37.82667°N 122.42306°W / 37.82667; -122.42306. United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz ( English: / ˈælkəˌtræz /, Spanish: [ a l k a ˈ t ɾ a s] "the gannet ") or The Rock, was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, 1.25 miles (2.01 km) off ...
Aug 30, 2023 · Alcatraz has a many-layered history: Civil War fortress, military prison, federal prison, bird sanctuary, first lighthouse on the West Coast, and the birthplace of the American Indian Red Power movement: These are just a few of the fascinating stories of the Rock.
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