We took an organised tour this morning to 'the rock', in other words to Alcatraz, the former prison which operated between 1934 and 1963, and housed notorious prisoners like Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly. I had wanted to go to Alcatraz since I was very young, ever since I first saw the film 'Birdman of Alcatraz', starring Burt Lancaster as the prisoner Robert Stroud and Karl Malden as the warden. We arrived at the island, took an audio tour, and meandered past the cells, the library, the hospital wing, the exercise yard, the dining hall, and absorbed many interesting facts, such as that Alcatraz originally served as part of the defence of San Francisco during Spanish times.
We took the 12-minute ferry ride across the bay to the rock, just the same as so many prisoners did before us.
We approached Alcatraz, just one and a quarter miles across the water from Pier 35 in SF.
An informative map of the island
In all directions from the island, land appeared so tantalisingly close. Prisoners must have felt tempted to try to escape.
In one of the ordinary wings inside Alcatraz
Cells were very basic and did not offer much space.
A bed, a toilet, a wash basin, and somewhere to sit was about all a prisoner got in his cell.
Everyone's heard of Al Capone.
In the prison library, prisoners could read books. They could also subscribe to approved monthly magazines. Once a prisoner arrived on Alcatraz, they were entitled to only four things: food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention. Everything else was a privilege. They had to earn it.
This is the Treatment Unit. It is isolation. When Robert Stroud arrived in 1942, he went straight into here. One benefit appears to be that the cells were more spacious. Near the back wall are several smaller rooms. These rooms were solitary confinement.
Robert Stroud is featured in Birdman of Alcatraz, but he kept birds at Leavenworth Prison, not here. He learned a great deal about birds, contributed to scientific knowledge about birds and was even regarded by some in the bird world as a genius.
Back in the normal part of the prison, this is the gun gallery. Guards could shoot a prisoner from here if he posed a serious enough threat.
A movie was made about this escape, which starred Clint Eastwood.
The prisoners made up dummy heads, placed them in their beds, and escaped through the air vents. Note the hole in the wall under the basin.
The escapees scaled this utility corridor to the roof...
This is Alcatraz's dining room. Prisoners were allowed to put as much on their plate as they wished, but they were then expected to eat it all. Prisoners and staff ate the same meals.
This is the kitchen. In the box at right, you're not looking at knives hanging, you're looking at their images. Staff could quickly tell if a knife was missing and what type it was.
The steps down into the exercise yard. Prisoners had a perfect view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the hills all around the horizon. It was thought best that the prisoners be allowed to see the world they were missing out on.
I can't help being reminded of the movie starring Clint Eastwood. "Wolf's comin' at yer.." a fellow-inmate tells Eastwood. Eastwood then pauses temporarily and then leaps round to bash his nemesis, a large boulder-shaped prisoner called Wolf, who had intended to stab him.
The exercise yard has seen better days.
Prisoners could play baseball. In the foreground, you can see a base mat.
In the hospital wing, a prisoner might be operated on. A guard and surgeon would be present, and a fellow prisoner would do the operating at the guidance of the surgeon to teach the prisoner new skills. But if the prisoner didn't like the one being operated on, he could simply mess up the operation.
Stroud spent 11 of his 17 years on the rock in a hospital cell.
The rock has some natural beauty.
There is said to be around 2,000 bird's nests on the rock.
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