Wolna Amerykanka czyli Catch-As-Catch-Can!: "You Are Entitled To Food, Clothing, Shelter, And Medical Attention. Anything Else You Get Is A Privilege" Welcome to Alcatraz!!!

The Prison, the Fort, the Lighthouse & the mystery: ALCATRAZ!

The island was a highlight of our San Francisco visit. This was a place for inmates who had proven to be problems in other prison populations - escape risks and troublemakers - such as: Al "Scarface" Capone, "Doc" Barker, Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Floyd Hamilton, and Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz".

Of the 14 attempted federal prison-era escapes, the best known occurred in June 1962, when Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin slipped into the water. They used raincoats as flotation devices and were presumably bound for San Francisco. Although their bodies were never found, they are assumed to have drowned.

Alcatraz Island & Prison: The Dock, Guardhouse & Sally Port, Post Exchange/Officers Club, Military Chapel, Barracks/Apartments, Warden's House, Lighthouse, Cellhouse and The Gardens.

Alcatraz Dock. The sharks that swim in San Francisco Bay and around the island are not "man-eaters".

Alcatraz Recreational Area

There were no executions on Alcatraz, although there were five suicides and eight murders.

Prisoners remained on Alcatraz until they were no longer considered to be disruptive or incorrigible - an average of 8 to 10 years.

The exact location of Al Capone's cell is unknown. Part of his 4.5 years on Alcatraz were spent in a hospital isolation cell.

The Alcatraz lighthouse was the first on the Pacific Coast and has been in operation since 1854. The only service interruption happened in 1970, when fire destroyed the lighthouse keeper's quarters and disrupted power to the light.

There were no female correctional officers or prisoners on Alcatraz. The only females on the island were visitors and the correctional officers' wives and children.

The cellhouse was never filled to capacity. The average number of prisoners was 260, and the maximum was 302.

In 1962, three convicted bank robbers, Frank Lee Morris and two brothers, Clarence and John Anglin, escaped from Alcatraz in 1962 by putting dummy heads made of soap, toilet paper and real hair, and placing them in their bunks to fool guards.