Search results
United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz (English: / ˈ æ l k ə ˌ t r æ z /, Spanish: [a l k a ˈ t ɾ a θ] "the gannet") 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.
The Federal Government had decided to open a maximum-security, minimum-privilege penitentiary to deal with the most incorrigible inmates in Federal prisons, and to show the law-abiding public that the Federal Government was serious about stopping the rampant crime of the 1920s and 1930s.
Oct 27, 2009 · 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...
Jan 12, 2024 · This small island was once a fort, a military prison, and a maximum security federal penitentiary. In 1969, the Indians of All Tribes occupied Alcatraz for 19 months in the name of freedom and Native American civil rights.
Dec 30, 2022 · From its early days as a military fortress and prison to its most infamous tenure as a federal penitentiary, Alcatraz looms large in the American psyche as a place of contradiction, violence and competing historical narratives.
Jul 6, 2024 · 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.
Alcatraz Island (/ ˈ æ l k ə ˌ t r æ z /) is a small island 1.25 miles (2.01 km) offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military prison.In 1934, the island was converted into a federal prison, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. ...
Apr 8, 2021 · Alcatraz: Federal Prison 1934-1963. United States Penitentiary Alcatraz represents the federal government's response to post-Prohibition, post-Depression America. Both the institution and the men confined within its walls reflect our society during this era.
Nov 12, 2020 · Robert Lipscomb, a Black man from Cleveland, Ohio, grew up during the Great Depression and, after a traumatic and destabilizing childhood, eventually ended up in the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary where he agitated for social change.
Oct 8, 2015 · On a June night in 1962, three inmates of the federal prison on Alcatraz Island escaped from their cells and (presumably) into San Francisco Bay, never to be seen again.