Alcatraz Island

Alcatraz is a decommissioned island federal penitentiary that first served as a lighthouse (the West Coast's first lighthouse), then a military outpost, and then a military prison. After this, it served as a federal prison for 29 years between 1934 and 1963. Alcatraz Island was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and was further declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986.


Nicknamed "The Rock", this prison was once home to some of the most notorious inmates in U.S. history including Al Capone, who served four and a half years here, and Robert Stroud — "The Birdman of Alcatraz," — who spent a long 17 years here as well as the notorious gangster and bootlegger, George "Machine Gun" Kelly. Its location was near perfect due to its isolation and the frigid waters and hazardous currents of the bay, which made escape attempts difficult. Despite 29 separate attempts, the penitentiary claimed that no one ever escaped from the prison alive.

The Cellhouse was finished in 1912 became the largest steel-reinforced concrete building in the world. All materials was shipped form the mainland on barges and the labor used to build the prison was provided by unskilled inmates. And it was those inmates who helped build it, became the first prisoners to live in it! Each cell in B & C block was 5 feet by 9 feet. Cells at Alcatraz had a small sink with cold running water, small sleeping cot, and a toilet.


Cell Block D solitary confinement for the criminally violent. There were 36 segregation cells, and 6 solitary confinement cells (actually known as confinement chambers by many inmates) in D-Block. In D-Block, inmates were confined to their cells 24-hours per days, with the exception of one visit per week to the recreation yard, and these visits were alone. Robert Stroud, who was better known to the public as the "Birdman of Alcatraz," was transferred to Alcatraz in 1942. He spent the next seventeen years on "the Rock" — six years in segregation in D Block,


Get your uniforms here!

Hungry? Let's see what's on the menu.


Ate too much? How about a work out outside?


You have a visitor!


Apartments where the guard and their families lived, included in the apartment building was a small market and a post office. There is also a room on the first floor that was originally used to store gun powder during World War I. There were about 300 civilians living on Alcatraz that included both women and children.



Guardhouse & Sally Port built in 1857 its the oldest building on the island used for the first line of defense against enemy landing parties.


Post Exchange/Officer's Club built in 1910 served a recreation hall and officer's club complete with dance floor, gym, bowling alley and soda fountain but destroyed by the fire in June 1970.


Warehouse


Guard Tower and Water Tower


Warden's House built in 1920's originally served as the home of the military prison commandant. The Mission Revival-style home had 7 large rooms and windows with views of Golden Gate and San Francisco but destroyed by the fire in 1970's.



Lighthouse was first lit on June 1, 1854 making Alcatraz light the first one in operation on the Pacific Coast.


The view from Alcatraz.


Good luck trying to escape!