Can’t hear that word without hearing it in Eddie Izzard’s voice, which probably means I’ve seen Dressed to Kill too many times. Anyway, Alcatraz as always been a place of fascination for me, along with the Tower of London and other places people are incarcerated. Not sure why… but it pigeon pairs nicely with my pre-existing morbid interest in serial killers, that has seen me ready many stomach turning biographies and download plenty of gruesome documentaries on said topics.
At first sight, you wouldn’t think that ‘the Rock’ would be that hard to get off. It’s only a mile and a quarter off San Francisco and I’m pretty sure if my life depended on it, even I could swim that far if I had enough time. Apparently it’s the freezing cold water and the swift currents that sweep you off to Yokahama if you’re not careful that provided the prisons secondary security system… the cells, steel bars, guards and locked doors and gates doing a pretty good job in the role of primary.
The place was opened as a federal penitentiary in 1934 and closed in 1963 and has pretty much been left alone since then, having been made a National Park to preserve it, so the buildings are showing a lot of rust and decay at this stage… which gives a particularly creepy aspect to the place. I imagine if you were locked up in the place with 200 plus other maxim security, criminally inclined types, it wouldn’t be so much ‘creepy’ as, ‘scary as all fuck’.
Strangely enough, I was always under the impression that it was one of those large super max type prisons who housed the worst offenders the US had to offer, but apparently only 1,545 inmates were ever housed at Alcatraz. With a maximum capacity of little over 300, the place usually averaged around 260 inmates, which is much smaller than I had thought. Some of the inmates were men who had proven problematic in other prisons, were considered to be flight risks or escapees, or were just known plain ol’ troublemakers.
Some of the inmates, of course, were quite infamous – Al ‘Scarface’ Capone, ‘Doc’ Barker, Robert ‘the Birdman of Alcatraz’ Stroud and George ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly, etc. Increasing maintenance and operating costs is what led to Robert Kennedy (the then, US Attorney) closing the facility in 1963 – it is said that it would be cheaper to house and feed these men at the swankiest of New York hotels year round rather than costs involved in keeping them at Alcatraz.
So, what did I learn during my Alcatraz Evening Tour…
- Alcatraz Island was originally a lighthouse on the Pacific coast back in 1854 and its primary use at this time was to guide the ships full of gold rush materials, later to become a military defence post and subsequently a military prison. The place had to be tarted up and number of detainees reduced for it to become a federal prison in the ’30s.
- After the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, nearly 200 regular prisoners were temporarily housed in Alcatraz due to damage in San Francisco jails.
- There were no executions on Alcatraz and no Death Row. There were however five suicides and eight murders in the population and numerous deaths attributable to ‘natural causes’, primarily being diseases etc.
- Most prisoners averaged 8-10 years on the Rock, until they were considered no longer disruptive or incorrigible… and this is funny, there were no women prisoners at all but not due to segregation. Apparently, it wasn’t until 1969 that laws were enacted that allowed women to be ‘declared incorrigible’, which was six years after the prison closed.
- The sharks that inhabit San Francisco Bay are most commonly the sand shark, not known for being man eaters at all.
- In the winter time when sound travels well, the inmates could hear New Years Eve revellers partying down on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, which must have been somewhat soul destroying.
- Even in the middle of summer on a fairly balmy evening, the wind howling through the facility meant that the place was freezing!
- The families of the guards and staff who worked on Alcatraz, lived in apartments on the island, had their own convenience store and post office and rarely locked their doors – the locals consider Alcatraz as California’s first secure ‘gated community’.
- Many inmates had only the prison library to rely on for stimulation and entertainment and as a result ended up very well read, and familiar with the classics and philosophy, as the prison controlled the materials available.
- To pass the time, many prisoners attempted to pursue whatever hobbies or skills were available to them, some had musical instruments and played them very poorly with no training, some would encourage and participate in bridge tournaments, some painted or even crocheted and taught others to turn their hands to these pursuits!! *Yeah, can’t quite picture it, two max security inmates in Alcatraz in the 50s, one teaching the other to crochet with pretty pastel yarns! O_o
All up I quite enjoyed the visit, the cellhouse audio tour is a bit of a zoo, but very informative nonetheless. And I gotta tell you, I can’t imagine anywhere worse to be locked up than in a 9×4 foot cell in this cold, austere and brutal place with its views over the beautiful Bay Area and its hustle and bustle of everyday life so close yet so far away. :S