Informative Essay On Alcatraz
Estelene Stoffel
November 13, 2012
Audience: Visitors of Historical Alcatraz Island
Purpose: To Inform
The Rock
Robert Stroud “Birdman of Alcatraz”, Alvin “Creepy Karpis” Karpowicz, and Al “Scarface” Capone were only some of the notorious criminals to pass through Alcatraz Island. Surrounded by harsh currents and cold waters, Alcatraz Island was thought to be the ultimate place to keep criminals too criminal for landlocked prisons. In the early 1930s, renovations made Alcatraz a better, yet still crude, establishment that housed the worst of the worst criminals and isolated them from life on the mainland. Alcatraz Island (1934-1963), a harsh penitentiary off the coast of San Francisco, California, was home to some of America’s …show more content…
He was given his nickname, Creepy, for his dark, sinister smile (History). Although he spent the longest sentence out of any Alcatraz prisoner, he never tried to escape but frequently complained about the conditions (History).
Under extreme surveillance at all times, it’s a wonder any attempts to escape were made at all (Alcatraz, Part 3). A conspiracy theory about escaping from “The Rock” gives off the notion that even if a prisoner snuck past all of the security without being shot, he would not survive the cold and harsh currents of the Pacific. Over the duration of Alcatraz as a prison, 36 inmates tried to escape in 14 attempts. Out of the 36 there were 5 missing, 23 captured, 6 shot and killed, and 2 that drowned (Alcatraz …show more content…
Hosts of the show, Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage were not disappointed to find that it was entirely possible. Hyneman and Savage made a raft out of exactly the same material and glue that the escapees used and also used an accordion to blow up the raft; same as the escapees (Mythbusters). However, they did prove a couple of the plans, made by Morris and the Anglin brothers, wrong. Morris planed that the raft would head towards Angel Island, but with much research the Mythbusters damaged the seal on that myth and found out that the raft would instead follow the rough current west to the shore under the Golden Gate Bridge (Mythbusters). Hyneman and Savage believe that Morris was smart enough to know how the tides worked around Alcatraz Island and were not sure why he would plan to go towards Angel Island (Mythbusters). With a trip of over three miles to the shore where the current would lead the men, the waters got rougher the further away they paddled from Alcatraz (Mythbusters). As the Mythbusters, Hynman and Savage, worked carefully through doing every step exactly as the escapees did, they realized just how plausible the escape was. They themselves made the same raft, by the same dimensions, carefully following the plans made by Morris, and as they set sail, they made it to the shore under the Golden Gate Bridge as expected, and … they
November 13, 2012
Audience: Visitors of Historical Alcatraz Island
Purpose: To Inform
The Rock
Robert Stroud “Birdman of Alcatraz”, Alvin “Creepy Karpis” Karpowicz, and Al “Scarface” Capone were only some of the notorious criminals to pass through Alcatraz Island. Surrounded by harsh currents and cold waters, Alcatraz Island was thought to be the ultimate place to keep criminals too criminal for landlocked prisons. In the early 1930s, renovations made Alcatraz a better, yet still crude, establishment that housed the worst of the worst criminals and isolated them from life on the mainland. Alcatraz Island (1934-1963), a harsh penitentiary off the coast of San Francisco, California, was home to some of America’s …show more content…
He was given his nickname, Creepy, for his dark, sinister smile (History). Although he spent the longest sentence out of any Alcatraz prisoner, he never tried to escape but frequently complained about the conditions (History).
Under extreme surveillance at all times, it’s a wonder any attempts to escape were made at all (Alcatraz, Part 3). A conspiracy theory about escaping from “The Rock” gives off the notion that even if a prisoner snuck past all of the security without being shot, he would not survive the cold and harsh currents of the Pacific. Over the duration of Alcatraz as a prison, 36 inmates tried to escape in 14 attempts. Out of the 36 there were 5 missing, 23 captured, 6 shot and killed, and 2 that drowned (Alcatraz …show more content…
Hosts of the show, Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage were not disappointed to find that it was entirely possible. Hyneman and Savage made a raft out of exactly the same material and glue that the escapees used and also used an accordion to blow up the raft; same as the escapees (Mythbusters). However, they did prove a couple of the plans, made by Morris and the Anglin brothers, wrong. Morris planed that the raft would head towards Angel Island, but with much research the Mythbusters damaged the seal on that myth and found out that the raft would instead follow the rough current west to the shore under the Golden Gate Bridge (Mythbusters). Hyneman and Savage believe that Morris was smart enough to know how the tides worked around Alcatraz Island and were not sure why he would plan to go towards Angel Island (Mythbusters). With a trip of over three miles to the shore where the current would lead the men, the waters got rougher the further away they paddled from Alcatraz (Mythbusters). As the Mythbusters, Hynman and Savage, worked carefully through doing every step exactly as the escapees did, they realized just how plausible the escape was. They themselves made the same raft, by the same dimensions, carefully following the plans made by Morris, and as they set sail, they made it to the shore under the Golden Gate Bridge as expected, and … they