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Nov 3, 2020 · Even though rules were so strict, inmates from other prisons sometimes requested to be transferred to Alcatraz because of its better overall living conditions and orderliness. Still, prison is prison, and some railed against it. As stated on History, there were 36 escape attempts during the prison's life cycle. Even if escapees weren't shot by ...
Feb 1, 2024 · In 1933, the island was transferred from the U.S. Army to the Department of Justice, and in 1934, Alcatraz was repurposed as a federal penitentiary designed to hold the most troublesome inmates from other prisons—individuals who had a history of escape attempts or were exceedingly violent.
- 1936 - Headstrong
- 1937 - Storm Is Brewing
- 1938 - Workshop Attack
- 1939 - The Failed Five
- 1941 - Using The Force
- 1941 - Cold as Ice
- 1943 - Spidermen
- 1943 - Missing Sock
- 1945 - Uncle Sam
- 1946 - Battle of Alcatraz
April 27, 1936-- While working his job burning trash at the incinerator, Joe Bowers began climbing up and over the chain link fence at the island's edge. After refusing orders to climb back down, Bowers was shot by a correctional officer stationed in the West road guard tower, then fell about 50-100 feet to the shore below. He died from his injurie...
December 16, 1937-- Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe worked in the mat shop in the model industries building. Over a period of time, while working in the mat shop in the model industries building, they filed their way through the flat iron bars on a window. After climbing through the window, they made their way down to the water's edge and disappeared i...
May 23, 1938-- While at work in the woodworking shop in the model industries building, James Limerick, Jimmy Lucas, and Rufus Franklin attacked unarmed correctional officer Royal Cline with a hammer (Cline died from his injuries). The three then climbed to the roof in an attempt to disarm the correctional officer in the roof tower. The officer, Har...
January 13, 1939-- Arthur "Doc" Barker, Dale Stamphill, William Martin, Henry Young, and Rufus McCain escaped from the isolation unit in the cellhouse by sawing through the flat iron cell bars and bending tool-proof bars on a window. They then made their way down to the water's edge. Correctional officers found the men at the shoreline on the west ...
May 21, 1941-- Joe Cretzer, Sam Shockley, Arnold Kyle, and Lloyd Barkdoll took several correctional officers hostage while working in the industries area. The officers, including Paul Madigan (who later became Alcatraz's third warden), were able to convince the four that they could not escape and they surrendered.
September 15, 1941-- While on garbage detail, John Bayless attempted to escape. He gave up shortly after entering the cold water of San Francisco Bay. Later, while appearing in Federal court in San Francisco, Bayless tried, again unsuccessfully, to escape from the courtroom.
April 14, 1943-- James Boarman, Harold Brest, Floyd Hamilton, and Fred Hunter took two officers hostage while at work in the industries area. The four climbed out a window and made their way down to the water's edge. One of the hostages was able to alert other officers to the escape and shots were fired at Boarman, Brest, and Hamilton, who were swi...
August 7, 1943-- Huron "Ted" Walters disappeared from the prison laundry building. He was caught at the shoreline, before he could even attempt to enter San Francisco Bay.
July 31, 1945-- In one of the most ingenious attempts, John Giles was able to take advantage of his job working at the loading dock, where he unloaded army laundry sent to the island to be cleaned - over time, he stole an entire army uniform. Dressed in the uniform, Giles calmly walked aboard an army launch to what he thought was freedom. He was di...
May 2-4, 1946-- During this incident, known as the "Battle of Alcatraz" and the "Alcatraz Blastout," six prisoners were able to overpower cellhouse officers and gain access to weapons and cellhouse keys, in effect taking control of the cellhouse. Their plan began to fall apart when the inmates found they did not have the key to unlock the recreatio...
People also ask
Are Alcatraz prisons better than other federal prisons?
Is Alcatraz a prison?
How did the Federal Penitentiary make Alcatraz 'escape-proof'?
Was Alcatraz a desegregated prison?
Despite its reputation, with many former inmates calling it "Hellcatraz", some prisoners reported that the living conditions there were much better than most other prisons in the country, especially the food, and many volunteered to come to Alcatraz.
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- August 11, 1934; 89 years ago
- March 21, 1963; 60 years ago
- Al Capone played banjo in the inmate band. The notorious gangster and mob boss was among the first prisoners to occupy the new Alcatraz federal prison in August 1934.
- There were no confirmed prisoner escapes from Alcatraz. A total of 36 inmates put the supposedly “escape-proof” Alcatraz to the test. Of those convicts, 23 were captured, six were shot to death and two drowned.
- Alcatraz is named for sea birds. Before criminals became its denizens, the windswept island was home to large colonies of brown pelicans. When Spanish Lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala became the first known European to sail through the Golden Gate in 1775, he christened the rocky outcrop “La Isla de los Alcatraces,” meaning “Island of the Pelicans.”
- In spite of his nickname, the 'Birdman of Alcatraz' had no birds in the prison. While Robert Stroud was serving a manslaughter sentence for killing a bartender in a brawl, he fatally stabbed a guard at Leavenworth Prison in 1916.
Nov 12, 2020 · In California, prisons weren’t desegregated until after the 2005 US Supreme Court decision that declared it unconstitutional to segregate people inside of a prison. Lipscomb’s story isn’t one that can be tied up neatly with a happy ending, but it’s a story of Alcatraz that can remind us to listen to those who speak up in the name of ...
Oct 27, 2009 · The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) viewed Alcatraz as “the prison system’s prison,” a place where the most disruptive inmates could be sent to live under sparse conditions with few...
