California, 17th November, Alcatraz captured

A lady ranger (Alcatraz is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area) was waiting on the dock for us to arrive. When we had all gathered round she explained a little of the history of Alcatraz and told us to walk up the hill to the cellhouse where we would receive our tour audio packs and headphones.

The building behind her is the barracks of the old fort. Alcatraz was used as a defense for San Francisco, a fort being built here in 1850 when the city had reached a population of 20,000. During the civil war the city was a Union stronghold and a prime target for Confederate raiders. 

The use of Alcatraz as a prison dates back to this time, when soldiers convicted of crimes like desertion, assault and worse were kept here along with captured native Indians and convicts from the Spanish American War of 1898. 

We walked up the hill passing part of the understorey of the old fort and the obligatory stars and stripes (always looks good against a blue sky).

Finally we got to the cellhouse built in 1907, still for military prisoners. In the 1930's the Bureau of Prisons was looking for a property to house maximum security offenders and 'The Rock' was ideal. During this time of the depression crime was rife and Al Capone was one of the miscreants sent to Alcatraz.
We collected our headsets and started the tour of the cells.

There were three floors of cells and four blocks, all radiating from 'Times Square', so called for the clock. The corridors between the blocks were named after famous American streets like Broadway. The dining hall lies beyond, and above, out of site in the above picture, is a gallery where guards with guns could try and maintain order during a riot. While the prison was in use 1,545 different prisoners passed through here. A block is the one with the spiral staircase and was never modernised as it only held prisoners in transit. It also contained a library where prisoners could prepare legal cases. D block was the most dreaded and here prisoners spent time in solitary confinement. At the end of this block is an area known as 'The Hole' containing five cells, without light and colder than the other cells. Here prisoners spent time in punishment, often wearing only light clothing and possibly kept on a starvation allowance of food. The guards would get urine and faeces thrown at them, so all in all not a pleasant place. The 'Birdman of Alcatraz' Robert Stroud occupied cell 42 in D block, in solitary confinement for 6 years.

One of the most infamous events occurring in the cell block was the 'Battle of Alcatraz'. Six prisoners, Bernard Coy, Joseph Cretzer, Sam Shockley, Clarence Carns, Marvin Hubbard and Miran Thompson managed to overpower the guards and get the keys to the weapons room and the recreation ground. A siege started. Two guards were held hostage and two days later, with collusion from Shockley and Thompson, Cretzer shot the guards at point blank range. The military were called in to regain control and Shockley Thompson and Carnes went back to their cells. The other three were killed in a shootout. In all three prisoners and two guards were killed and 17 other guards and one prisoner were injured. Shockley and Thompson were convicted and died in the gas chamber at San Quentin. Carnes was only 19 and was given a second life sentence.

The interior of the cellhouse was quiet when we arrived but we were soon joined by all the other passengers from three full boats and it became impossible to see anything. At this point we decided to quit the tour and make for the exercise yard outside. Here we could breathe more easily.

 From the top of the steps we could see the view the prisoners would have had of the mainland and some good views of the brute block of the cellhouse . Not much seems to divide the island from the mainland but the currents are treacherous and if someone escaped it is unlikely that they would survive the crossing.
There were 14 attempted breakouts from Alcatraz, the most famous one taking place in June 1962. Four inmates Frank Morris, John and Clarence Anglin (bank robbers) and Alan West used spoons pilfered from the dining room to tunnel into the walls of of their cells just behind the metal grilles of the air vents. On the night of their planned escape the four used papiere maché dummies they had constructed to pretend they were still asleep in bed, and three of them made their escape. Alan West could not get his grille off and was forced to remain. He later gave evidence to the FBI. They went off on a raft made of wood and raincoats and it is still not known if they survived or not, although claimed sitings of the criminals were made after the event.  The escape was the basis for the film 'Escape from Alcatraz'. Don Siegel the producer spent $500,000 renovating part of the prison for filming and these renovations are still in existence.
The prison was closed in 1963, shortly after the breakout as Attorney General Robert Kennedy wanted to cut costs and it was left in charge of a lone custodian (what a job!).

This is the water tower and the writing scrawled on it dates from the 60's. In 1964, as the future of Alcatraz was under discussion, a theme park being one idea, there was a peaceful takeover by a group of native american activists. The first time they only stayed a few hours, but they came back in 1969 and claimed it in the name of 'Indians of all Tribes'. They were joined by others and a 19 month occupation took place. The Indians of All Tribes tried to buy the island offering beads and coloured cloth in exchange and gained a large public following. But the authorities stuck it out and the difficulty of keeping the colony provisioned caused the numbers on the island to dwindle and finally in June 1971 federal agents moved in and evicted the few remaining.

When the exercise yard started to get busy we went back inside and I took a few more pictures.

The above picture is of the dining room, where the spoons came from, although cutlery was always counted in and out. The prisoners were given as much as they could eat in a 20 minute period, but if any food was left on their plate they were reprimanded. A whistle system was used to tell the men to come in to eat, according to their cell block. Breakfast was at 6.50 am, lunch at 11.20 and supper at 16.25. Between meals the men worked and they were put back into their cells at 16.50 and locked in for the night.

From the cell block we had a quick tour of the warden's office, a nice sunny room with picture windows.

The warden lived in a large house next to the lighthouse. It had around 15 rooms and a terrace that looked out over the bay to the city. Here lavish cocktail parties would be held on summer evenings. The house was  unfortunately burnt down in 1970. The guards had apartments that had been built above the old fort by the dock.

The penitentiary workers also had a 'Social Hall' where they could congregate for recreation, parties and dances. It was built in 1910 while the island was still under military control as an officer's club. This was also burnt down in the same period as the warden's house.

Other buildings outside that we saw were the power plant, with it's tall chimney, and the flat roofed Model Industries building which was built by the military in 1907 and used partly as a laundry until the island became a prison. Then it held workshops for the prisoners. In 1935 a cliff fall following a severe storm caused the building to be now only 2.5m for the edge of the cliff. Reinforcements were applied but the building fell into disrepair and is now heavily rusted and damaged by salt water.

 The saddest place in Alcatraz was in the hospital section of the cell house which we visited next. But I will leave this till the next blog.