Alcatraz NOT Azkaban!!!!

Hola! So, this year for Spring Break we drove down to San Francisco. On our first day we went and saw Alcatraz. Dun, dun, dun.

So, only people who were really bad got sent to Alcatraz. You spent most of your time in a cell that is very tiny.

There were just rows and rows of cells so when something happened everyone in the row could see.

Now, if you continued to be bad, while inside the prison, you were sent to "the Hole," or the solitary confinement cell block.

When you went to Alcatraz you showered and put on prison clothes.

Alcatraz was a prison for 29 years. Over the course of those years there were a few escape attempts. Here are a few that are more well known:

The Dummy Head Escape:

So I think that this one is the coolest. It also may have been the only successful escape attempt from Alcatraz. So these 4 men John Anglin, Clarence Anglin, Frank Morris and Allen West planned for over a year to escape. The men slowly widened the air vents in their cells, so they could crawl out into the unused utility hallway, using spoons stolen from the dining hall and a drill made from a vacuum cleaner dohiggy. Here is my favorite part, they also created dummy heads out of a homemade paper mache mix and their own hair. Then, after lights out, the men put their dummy heads under their blankets along with clothes and towels, so that it would look like they were sleeping. They then proceeded to crawl out through the widened grates, except for West, he had hidden the widened grate with cement bits and they dried sticking the grate in place, so that he was stuck. The other three men went on without him and used a raft made of rain jackets they escaped into the water and were never seen again. Most people say that the three men drowned in the frigid waters. Remains of the raft were discovered on nearby Angel Island. The escape was not discovered until morning when the dummy heads were discovered.

The May 1946 Attempt:

These 6 men tried to escape by overpowering a guard and then stealing the key to the Rec Yard and then swimming for Angel Island. Their plan was useless after a guard hid the key. The guards remaining had called in the Marines to help and they shelled the island and threw grenades. The escape attempt turned into the Battle of Alcatraz. It lasted from May 2-4. 

Moving right along.

There were also many infamous prisoners that spent time in Azkaban, sorry, Alcatraz.

Here are a few:

Al Capone- Gangster

George "Machine Gun" Kelly- Gangster

Robert "The Birdman" Stroud- 1 of most notorious criminals, author, ornithologist, murderer

Roy Gardner- Robber

Henri Young- Bank robber, murderer, part of 1939 escape attempt

Alvin "Creepy Karpis" Karpis- Gangster, 1 of only 4 public enemy #1s, cofounder of the Barker-Karpis Gang

James "Whitey" Bulger- Murderer

Arthur "Doc" Barker- Gangster

A lot of interesting information know about Alcatraz has come from Jolene Babyak who lived on Alcatraz when she was little with her father, a prison guard. She was there during the Dummy Head Escape and is now an author. 

The prison closed March 21, 1963 because it was too expensive to run.

This prison was really cool to visit.

You break the rules you go to prison, you break the prison rules you go to Alcatraz.

JB