What is Alcatraz?

Alcatraz was built on an island in San Francisco. In 1850 Alcatraz was a military fort. The fort was used as a dump store for weapons.
In 1907 Alcatraz was a military prison, for military people who were guilty of desertion and other crimes. In 1934 Alcatraz was a prison for the worst criminals of America. You deserve your place in Alcatraz if you are a danger for people or a threat. The prison was very expensive but it was also a heavily secured prison, with much security around the building.

Security

By closing a lever, all fourteen cells closed at the same time. In three seconds the 120 Kgs thick metal doors closed with an enormous BANG!! This was very intimidating for the prisoners. This was exactly the intention of the director of the prison. The security was necessary because only the most dangerous prisoners and gangsters were put away in this prison. On the work-place there was a metal-detector to check if the prisoners had stolen something. The only way to leave the prison was in a coffin, but it was told that even the corpses were wearing handcuffs and chains. Prisoners were wearing standard orange uniforms so they could be recognized by the people if they escaped. Escaping was almost impossible because the prison was situated on an island.
It’s regime

At the prison life was very harsh. The rules were too severe. In the morning the prisoners had to wake up at half past six. They were wakened by an prison alarm, followed by the daily counting of the prisoners. They got twenty minutes to brush their teeth, make up their beds, and to put their clothes on. After that they walked on hundred metre long passage (Broadway they called it) to go to the dining hall.
The cutlery was counted by the guards after meals, and so were the prisoners before they returned to their cells. The same routine happened before and after lunch and dinner. Sometimes there was a strip search when a fork or a knife was missing.
The prisoners also had work to do in the prison. They made gloves, pallets, and they had to do the laundry. The lights turned off at exactly eight o’ clock.
When the weather was foggy, the prisoners were only allowed to go outside for one hour, because the guards could not shoot them that easily.
Ex-prisoners said “one day, one week, one month, one year, time doesn’t matter anymore”.
In the fifties the regime was softened, they could listen to the radio by headphones,
And they were allowed to paint.

The rules

The rules were absolutely strict. They were not allowed to talk to each other. Some ex-prisoners said this was the most difficult rule. It was also hard to write a letter, because every letter was censured. The people who visited the prisoners could only communicate through a window or a phone. The guards stopped every conversation about crimes, news, or prison life. The prisoners could only receive visitors one hour per month if they behaved well. Aggressive behaviour against the guard was punished by three weeks in “the hole”. The hole was an isolation cell in which they must stay three weeks. Ex-prisoners reported about self-mutilation and suicide. Alcatraz was called an island of the living dead.

Escapes

The first prisoner who tried to escape was Joseph Browers. In 1936 he was climbing a fence, when one of the guards saw him. He died when he was shot. In 1937 Ralph Roe and Theodore Cole escaped. Nobody has seen them ever since. People think they drowned. Almost every prisoner is thinking about escaping. Everywhere in the prison, the work-place, the doc, prisoners were stealing what they can use for an escape. Things the prisoners used for an escape, were a piece of rope with a resorblade for example. To escape from the prisoner was a little bit easier than escaping from the island. Floyd Hamilton had escaped too, but a few days later he came back in the prison because he was hungry, thirsty and tired.
In 1946 there were six prisoners who had stolen a weapon from a guard. They wanted to shoot their way out of prison. They were stopped at their own cell blocks. Three of them died at the attempt. The rest of them was executed later.
The most famous escape was in 1962. Frank Lee Morris and the brothers John and Clarence Anglin used stolen tools to dig through the airtunnels in their cells. They used dummy’s in their beds to misguide the guards. They made a boat out of stolen rainjackets. It took them six months to prepare the escape. In the night of 11th of June the three men climbed on the roof, climbed down at the rain pipe and disappeared. They never found them back. Only some personal belongings were found at sea. A movie was made about this famous escape, “Escape from Alcatraz”.

What is Alcatraz now?

Because of some escapes and the very high costs, the minister of Justice, mr. Robert Kennedy closed down the prison in 1963. Ten years later Alcatraz was opened for tourists. And it is a very popular tourist attraction now. Every day thousands of people are sent away because the boats are too full. Only 4500 visitors a day can visit Alcatraz. There is not enough personnel and the building cannot take so many people. The tourists can see the airtunnel through which Morris and the Anglin brothers escaped.
Some ex-prisoners have written books about Alcatraz and some give lectures about this famous prison.

The lovely thing about this piece of work is the stories from the ex-prisoners and the pictures. It is very interesting how harsh it was in the prison. The most difficult thing about the work piece was the translation. It was a little bit difficult because I’m not very good in grammar. It was nice to make this work piece.

Contents

Page 1: Furrow leaf
Page 2: Introduction
Page 3: what is Alcatraz ? &security
Page 4: It’s regime
Page 5: The rules
Page 6: Escapes
Page 7: What is Alcatraz now?
Page 8: End
Page 9: Contents

I have made a work piece about Alcatraz. That’s a prison on a Island in San Francisco. I have chose this subject, because it is very interesting. Perhaps, I will go to Alcatraz later if I’m a little bit older, because I’m curious. I have the most information from the internet. The name of the site is www.amerika.nl and the pictures have I from www.google.nl.