“Why are men afraid of Alcatraz?
Because of the severity of his discipline.
It is to leave behind all hope, since mercy is practically unknown.
Only a few prisoners with light sentences get out.
The others
slowly go mad under the exquisite torture
of a restrictive routine that admits no deviations.
This excerpt, published by
Reader's Digest
in April 1938, recounts the experience of an Alcatraz express named Bryan Conway.
And in his succinct exposition, he makes clear the essence of what made the legendary prison known as "The Rock" such a feared place, and why it was the destination
of notorious criminals
.
It was in the 1930s that the US government decided to convert Alcatraz, which at the time functioned as a military prison, into a kind of "prison system prison", the ultimate destination for those prisoners considered too
violent
or dangerous for other places.
An aerial view of Alcatraz Island.
The imposing prison that used to house some of the most dangerous prisoners in the US was turned into a museum.
It is easy to imagine why the government was interested in turning the island into
a maximum security prison
.
In an era where prison breaks were a recurring fact, Alcatraz stood as a perfect antidote.
As inhospitable terrain hemmed in by turbulent icy waters, it delivered the unmistakable message that trying to escape it was
the closest thing to a death sentence
.
In America's collective imagination, prison will forever be associated with notorious figures in the criminal world.
Al Capone, thief George "Machine-Gun" Kelly and James "Whitey" Bulger were some of the criminal legends who passed through its cells
over the nearly 29 years
it was in operation.
And despite the fact that Alcatraz
ceased to operate as a prison exactly 60 years ago
, on March 21, 1963, its mythological character continues to be a calling factor.
In addition to being the subject of movies like "The Rock," starring Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery, it has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city of San Francisco.
An inhospitable land for military defense
Alcatraz's inhospitable characteristics were already apparent to the men who discovered it.
A barren surface with no sources of drinking water and punished by freezing winds 365 days a year, the island was already
considered a territory without possibilities
by the first explorers who traveled through it in the 18th century.
Among those first explorers is the Spanish Juan de Ayala, who was the one who baptized the place as "La isla de los alcatraces".
It is believed that he did so because there were pelicans in the area at the time, and "gannet" is the name of a certain species of this bird.
The truth is that
the name became popular and remained
, even after the land was acquired by the United States in 1849 after the war with Mexico.
A remnant structure of the jail and lighthouse, which is the oldest on the west coast of the United States.
Photo: Clarín Archive
Located in San Francisco Bay, the island was erected as a post for the protection of the US West Coast. The first lighthouse in the State of California
was installed there
, and in 1859 the military base was built.
Since the building never had to fulfill its military function (the cannons installed on the island were never fired
once
), the base was later converted into a military prison.
Eventually, the original base was demolished in 1909 and replaced by a building more suited to its purpose.
The new jail was built by the prisoners themselves
and was completed in 1911.
That was the precedent that gave rise to the island being acquired by the Penitentiary Service.
Thus, in 1933, the island of Alcatraz became a national prison
designed to house the most dangerous criminals
in the United States.
8 Essential Questions About Alcatraz
Why is it called Alcatraz?
The place was baptized as "La isla de los alcatraces" in 1775 by the Spanish explorer Juan de Ayala.
In certain Latin American regions, a gannet is a type of pelican.
Once the island was acquired by the United States, the term Alcatraz caught on and stuck as the name of the site.
When was the prison built?
The first building on the island was a military fortification built in 1850 to protect the US West Coast. At the end of the decade, it began to be used as a military prison.
The base was demolished in 1909, and the prisoners were used as labor to build the current prison, which was completed in 1911.
What were the cells like?
They measured 1.5 x 2.7 meters.
Most of the prisoners could touch the walls just by stretching out their arms.
They had a bed, a toilet, and a faucet from which only cold water came out.
Between blocks B and C, the prison had 336 cells.
At the time of its largest prison population, Alcatraz had 302 prisoners.
What prisoners were sent to Alcatraz?
The prison was originally conceived for those prisoners considered too troublesome or violent to be housed in common jails.
Among the best known are the mobster Al Capone, the thief George "Machine-Gun" Kelly and Robert Stroud, known as "the bird keeper of Alcatraz".
Did anyone manage to escape the island?
Despite 14 escape attempts over the 29 years it served as a prison, it is believed that no one made it all the way to San Francisco Bay.
The most famous attempt occurred in June 1962, when 3 prisoners managed to escape, but were never found.
They are believed to have drowned.
Was any prisoner executed at Alcatraz?
No. The prison did not have the infrastructure required to carry out executions in death penalty cases.
Throughout its existence, 28 prisoners died at Alcatraz, from various causes.
Eight were killed by other prisoners, five committed suicide, and fifteen died of natural causes.
Why did they close the prison?
It closed in 1963 for a number of reasons, but the main cause was its high operating cost.
In 1959, the cost per prisoner was $10, compared to just $3 per prisoner for a prison in Atlanta.
The infrastructure was also damaged and a million-dollar investment was needed to repair it.
What currently works instead?
In 1972, the National Park Service purchased the island to create the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, an area of more than 80,000 acres that contains the heritage of San Francisco Bay.
It currently functions as a tourist attraction and receives more than a million visits per year.
A place for the incorrigible
It was
its reputation as a place from which it was impossible to escape
that convinced the US authorities to erect a federal prison on the island of Alcatraz.
In an era where prison breaks were more common, the need to have an impregnable place became a priority.
His fearsome character was evident from a distance.
In the chronicle published in
Reader's Digest
, the ex-con Conway confesses that the first glimpse of Alcatraz generated a "dark feeling".
The cells of the former Alcatraz maximum security prison, which operated between 1934 and 1963. Photo: Clarín Archive
"A bare rock rising above San Francisco Bay with little vegetation.
Always subject to mist and damp winds
. I have seen guards in coats in the height of summer," the article reads.
The building that housed the prisoners is a three-story building that housed four cell blocks.
The largest were blocks B and C, which together totaled 336 cells.
Each one measured 1.5 x 2.7 meters, and most of the prisoners could touch the walls just by stretching out their arms.
They had a bed, a toilet, and a tap from which only cold water came out
.
There were a few more in block A, but they were only used when, for security reasons, it was
necessary to separate a prisoner
from the rest of the prison population.
In block D there were 6 solitary confinement cells, which were used when a prisoner wanted to be disciplined.
Although larger than regular cells, the prisoners were
locked up 24 hours a day
.
They were only allowed one weekly visit to the yard.
5 most famous criminals of Alcatraz
An unconfirmed legend holds that the most disruptive prisoners were taken to an underground construction under block A that was used as a dungeon during the island's military period.
Some prison officers who worked at Alcatraz in the 1930s
claimed to have heard screams coming from that area
.
The jail had the capacity to house 336 prisoners, but it never exceeded 302 prisoners, and on average there were always around 260.
Each prisoner had his own cell
, which was considered a great advantage, since it reduced the possibility of being attacked. or sexually assaulted.
The testimonies of most of the prisoners who went through Alcatraz agree that the worst thing about the place was
the rule of silence
.
In practice, this meant that they could not speak except when they ate or went to the patio.
This rule was accused of being too restrictive, and was eventually removed,
Inmates arriving at Alcatraz were told they had only 4 basic rights: shelter, clothing, food, and medical care.
Everything else was a privilege to be earned
.
If they followed the prison rules, they were allowed to work, receive mail and family visits, access the library, and take music or painting classes.
Alcatraz Island seen from San Francisco Bay.
Photo: Clarín Archive
In order for a prisoner to obtain a transfer, he had to show himself as a model prisoner for at least five years.
After that period, the authorities could agree to allow him to serve the rest of his sentence in a less restrictive prison.
Escape, mission impossible
Despite Alcatraz's reputation for being an impregnable place, there was no shortage of those who sought to defy the odds and
tried to flee.
Over the 29 years that the federal prison operated,
there were 14 escape attempts
, involving 36 men (including two who attempted to escape twice).
Of that total, 23 were captured,
6 were shot to death during the escape, and 2 drowned
.
Two of the captured men were later executed for their part in one of the most notorious escape attempts, known as the "Battle of Alcatraz", which occurred in May 1946.
Views of the interior of the Alcatraz cells.
Photo: Clarín Archive
The 1946 episode is remembered as a battle precisely because the six prisoners who tried to escape were trapped inside the prison along with a group of officers they took hostage.
Cornered by the guards, the six
decided to defend themselves with shots
to avoid being captured.
The final balance was two guards and three dead prisoners.
The three survivors were brought to trial, and two were sentenced to death, while the third received a life sentence.
The best known escape attempt however occurred in 1962, when Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin
disappeared from their cells
.
The episode was so notorious that it was even recreated in the movie
Escape from Alcatraz
, starring Clint Eastwood.
The details of the operation are truly cinematic.
A subsequent investigation revealed the degree of planning that the escape required.
The three men
managed to leave the prison through the ventilation shafts
located at the back of the cell.
In order to buy time, the prisoners placed bundles on the bed to pretend they were sleeping and thus avoid detection.
In the cells there was only a toilet and a sink from which cold water came out.
Photo: AFP
Once outside the prison, they tried to navigate to San Francisco Bay with a rubber and improvised some pilot jackets as life preservers.
All this is a presumption, because the truth is that
neither Morris nor the Anglin brothers were ever heard from again
.
In the days after the escape, authorities found two of the pilot jackets in the water, as well as photos and letters from one of the three inmates that had been wrapped and sealed to resist water.
No body was found.
To this day, all three are listed as
missing
, presumed to have drowned.
An investment that did not close
Alcatraz prison officially ceased to function on March 21, 1963. Although at first it was believed that the failed escape the previous year and the disappearance of the three prisoners had been the reason for its closure, the truth is that the
decision It was taken based on economic criteria
.
For starters the daily cost of operating the prison was vastly higher than others.
Whereas the Atlanta prison required three dollars a day for each inmate,
Alcatraz required ten dollars per prisoner
.
The huge difference in costs is explained by the fact that, being an island, everything had to be carried by boat (water, food, fuel).
To give an example, almost 3.8 million pieces of water were needed per week.
A group of tourists walk through the main corridor of Alcatraz prison.
Photo: AFP
To this we must add that a review of the place carried out in the previous months had determined that it was necessary to invest
between 3 and 5 million dollars
to restore the infrastructure.
Thus, in the fall of 1962,
prisoners began to be transferred to other prisons
.
The last prisoner to leave Alcatraz was Frank C. Weatherman, a 29-year-old arms dealer who had been sent to Alcatraz after trying to escape from two other prisons.
The island was practically abandoned for almost ten years.
In the years after the closure, several projects were proposed that never came to fruition.
A monument to the United Nations, a West Coast version of the Statue of Liberty and
even a shopping center with a hotel complex
.
The streets of San Francisco and, in the background, the island of Alcatraz.
Photo Shutterstock
In 1972, the National Park Service purchased Alcatraz Island from the Army to create the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, a 80,000-acre area containing the heritage of San Francisco Bay.
Currently it works as
a tourist attraction and receives more than a million visits per year
.
Asked by the press about how he felt about being the last man to leave "The Rock", Weatherman did not mince words: "Good. It's a good thing for me and for everyone. Alcatraz was never a good thing
.
"
look too
They showed the updated identikits of the three escapees from Alcatraz
Golden Gate, the bridge that everyone knows even if they have not visited San Francisco