Historic Prison: The History Of Alcatraz

The History of Alcatraz

Alcatraz is a historic prison located on an island in San Francisco Bay Area. It is one of the most famous prisons in the country known for holding the most notorious criminals in the world and being “escape proof”. Alcatraz was first founded by Native Americans who believed evil spirits were on the island and first called it, “Devil’s Island” (Weiser). The island was isolated for many years after its discovery and after the Mexican-American War ended, the U.S. claimed the island. The Mexicans called the island, “Isla De Los Alcatraces,” but it was shortened to Alcatraz afterwards (Weiser). During the Civil War, the U.S. built a military fort on the island
Due to the island being so isolated many inmates feel as if they were so alone and isolated from the world, causing some inmates to spiral out of control and go into deep depression. One inmate claimed that he vowed to never look outside of his cell window; that reason being, was that he can see all of San Francisco across the bay, the city lights flashing and all of the cars driving around. Guards weren’t as harsh as some movies show them to be to the inmates, in fact the inmates were harsh to each other. Knife fights inside of the prison were very common. One of the worst altercations and attempted escapes happened in 1946, six inmates took control of a cell house and had guards in hostage, stole their weapons and attempted to kill any guard in their way, throughout the day the Navy Guards took out all six inmates
All prisoners were transferred into other ‘maximum’ prisons and some prisoners were actually released (Nye). The prison was isolated years after. In 1970, a group of Native Americans made news by protesting on the island because Alcatraz was their reservation and they wanted their land back so they vandalized the property and camped out there for several days. FBI and the National Guard forced the Natives off the island and took them back to San Francisco for trespassing. Today, Alcatraz remains a tour site featuring the old prison with broken walls, graffiti, and empty cells (Johnson). You can set up an appointment in San Francisco and ride a ferry out to the island to tour the prison and see inside or all around the island. Alcatraz will always be remembered as an unique prison, many stories lies behind the walls of the empty cells, guards and inmates will always remember what it was like being inside of