The dining hall and kitchen extended from the main building. D-Block housed the worst inmates, and six cells at its end were designated 'The Hole,' where badly behaving prisoners would be sent for periods of often brutal punishment. African-Americans were segregated from other inmates in cell designation due to racial abuse.

The cells were primitive and lacked privacy, with a bed, desk, and washbasin, and a toilet on the back wall, and with few furnishings except a blanket. The prison cells typically measured 9 feet (2.7 m) by 5 feet (1.5 m) and 7 feet (2.1 m) high. The three-story cellhouse included the four main cell blocks, A-block through D-block, the warden's office, visitation room, the library, and the barber shop. Faced with high maintenance costs and a poor reputation, Alcatraz closed on 21 March 1963. 36 prisoners made 14 escape attempts during the prison's 29-year history most notable were the violent attempt of May 1946 called the 'Battle of Alcatraz' and the possibly successful June 1962 attempt by Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin, which was marked by careful planning and execution. The Bureau of Prisons' staff and their families lived on the island as well.

'Doc' Barker, Whitey Bulger, and Alvin 'Creepy' Karpis (who served more time at Alcatraz than any other inmate). One of the world's most notorious and best known prisons over the years, it housed some 1,576 federal inmates, including some of America's most ruthless, such as Al Capone, Robert Franklin Stroud (the 'Birdman of Alcatraz'), George 'Machine Gun' Kelly, Bumpy Johnson, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Mickey Cohen, Arthur R. Given this high security and the island's location in the cold waters and strong currents of San Francisco Bay, prison operators believed Alcatraz to be escape-proof and America's strongest prison.Īlcatraz was used to hold prisoners who continually caused trouble at other federal prisons. The United States Department of Justice acquired the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Pacific Branch, on Alcatraz on 12 October 1933, and the island became a prison of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in August 1934 after the buildings were modernized and security increased. The Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary or United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island (often referred to as Alcatraz 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, which operated from 11 August 1934, until 21 March 1963.Īlcatraz had been the site of a fort since the 1850s the main prison building was built in 1910–1912 as a United States Army military prison. Managed byFederal Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice San Francisco Bay, California, Alcatraz Island, Prison, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary

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