The history of alcatraz

Alcatraz Island received its name in 1775 by Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala who named it "La Isla de los Alcatraces", which means "Island of the Pelicans" for the many pelicans that resided there. He discovered the small island as he was charting the San Francisco Bay. The Island was barren except for the sparse vegetation and birds. Over time, "La Isla de los Alcatraces" modernized into "Alcatraz Island."

The island remained barren until the American government took notice of it in 1847, thinking it would make a strategic military fortress. In 1853, the United States Army started construction on the military fort and the Pacific Coast's first operating lighthouse. The Gold Rush of 1848 brought an abundance of miners from around the world into California seeking their fortune. Alcatraz became a major symbol of military strength to protect California's land from being seized by other countries.

As the need for Alcatraz as a military fortress diminished, its role as a military prison emerged. Alcatraz would serve as a prison for more than 100 years, first as a military prison and later as a civilian prison for the country's most hardened criminals. By the late 1850's, the first military prisoners were being incarcerated on Alcatraz. Between 1909 and 1911, the prisoners of Alcatraz Island built the new military prison.

The U.S. Army used Alcatraz for more than 80 years--from 1850 until 1933, when the island was handed over to the U.S. Department of Justice to be used by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The United States government decided to turn Alcatraz into a maximum security, low-privilege prison to house the worst of the country's federal prisoners. Alcatraz became the prison system's prison – housing inmates from other penitentiary's that did not cooperate with the regulations. Alcatraz was designed to teach inmates to follow rules and regulations by strictly enforcing its monotonous daily routines. The average prisoner stayed on Alcatraz Island for five years. When the prison officials felt that a prisoner could follow the rules, he was transferred back to another federal prison to complete his sentence. Prisoners were seldom released directly from Alcatraz to freedom.

Life on Alcatraz Island was difficult. Prisoners were only given four rights: food, clothing, shelter and medical care. Each additional privilege had to be earned, including working, corresponding and visiting with family members and access to the prison library. Each prisoner had his own cell, averaging five feet wide by nine feet long. Some prisons were said to have preferred the private cells to the conditions of other prisons which housed several prisoners in each cell.

The prison's security was strong - prison guards patrolled the halls day and night. The island was encircled by towers and stone walls. The water surrounding the island was bitterly cold and the currents were dangerous, the combination made escape virtually impossible. If a prisoner was fortunate enough to get out of the prison unnoticed, it was highly unlikely that he would be able to survive the swim to freedom. Many prisoners still tried to escape from the island. Out of 1,535 prisoners in the history of Alcatraz, 36 attempted the daring escape. None were known to have succeeded: six were shot, two drowned, five were lost and never recovered and the rest recaptured.

It was rumored that the San Francisco Bay was infested with man eating sharks, this fact was incorrect. The only sharks found in the Bay were small, bottom feeding sharks. The main obstacles of an escapee were the water's temperate, averaging 50 Fahrenheit, the strong currents and the distance to the shore, which was at least one and a quarter miles. It wasn't impossible to make the swim, in fact several people have done it to prove that it could be done, however without proper training, swimming abilities and knowledge of high and low tides, it was highly unlikely.

Alcatraz prison was closed on March 21, 1963 after 29 years of operation. The government felt that the facility was too expensive to operate. Alcatraz prison was in great need of restoration and maintenance. An estimated $3-5 million was needed to perform the necessary repairs to keep the prison open. It cost nearly three times as much to operate the Alcatraz facility than any other federal prison. Since the prison was a remote island, all supplies, including food and water, had to be brought to the island by boat. The island had no source of fresh water and needed close to one million gallons to be shipped to the island each week. The government found that it was more economical to build a new prison than to keep Alcatraz open.

After the prison was closed, Alcatraz Island was basically abandoned. Residents proposed many ideas for the island, including a west coast version of the Statue of Liberty or a shopping center. Unfortunately, the same high operating expenses that the prison faced deterred any businesses from taking up residence on the island.

In 1969, a group of Native American Indians camped out on Alcatraz and claimed it as Indian land. The Indians held control of the island for the next 18 months. Unfortunately, the small Native American group leaders could not control the rowdy crowd and much damage was done to the Alcatraz buildings. A fire destroyed the lighthouse keeper's home, the Warden's home, and the Officer's Club. Much or the island's property was vandalized and littered with graffiti. Federal Marshals removed the Native Americans from the island in June of 1971.

In 1972, Congress created the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and Alcatraz Island was included in the National Park Service. Alcatraz was opened as a tourist attraction in the fall of 1973 and has become one of the most popular Park Service sites in California. Over one million visitors from around the world visit Alcatraz Island every year.