Located on a twenty-two acre island in San Francisco Bay, about a half mile off shore (National Geographic), Alcatraz was built out of an old military fort. It consisted of a cellhouse, the old fort, work buildings, a lighthouse, and a mess hall. Some considered Alcatraz escape proof. The entire structure was surrounded by a cyclone fence topped with barbed wire. The cellhouse was three stories of reinforced concrete. Elevated gun galleries were built at each end of the cellhouse. Inmates were monitored constantly by guards on a central walkway surrounded by bars. All doors on the island were electronically operated and were designed to slam and let the inmate know the guards were in total control. Coming back from work in

Records show that every year an average of fourteen convicts went violently insane and two prison guards were killed. Sixteen prison employees were assaulted every year. One-hundred-nineteen inmates were assaulted every year. But in twenty-nine years only five inmates committed suicide, although countless others tried (Corrections 54). For example, while in the workshop one day, an inmate named Rufe Persful got hold of a hatchet. He promptly chopped off all the fingers on one hand. Another man named John Stadig pried a vein out of his wrist with a bent fork. He then bit it in half. He was stopped before he could do it to his other wrist (Stuller 88).

Well behaved inmates could spend their Saturday and Sunday afternoons watching a movie or in the recreation yard. In the yard they could lounge about, lift weights, play in a softball game, or sit down to a game of chess, dominoes, or bridge.

While many people thought Alcatraz was inescapable, they were wrong. The first con to attempt escape was Joseph Bowers. In 1936 he climbed a fence in full sight of the guards and was shot dead. There was always the icy waters and swift currents of the bay. Floyd Hamilton made it to the water and disappeared. A manhunt failed to find him. Hamilton couldn't get himself to swim off. He hid in sand caves while deciding to swim. Finally, hungry, wet, and cold, Hamilton snuck into a prison storeroom and fell asleep while awaiting capture.

Alcatraz housed some of the worst criminals in America and the harsh life they lived was necessary to keep them under control. Sure life was brutal but every convict in there had earned it one way or another. For many inmates, Alcatraz was the only truly intimidating thing in the world. "The Rock" (American Automobile Association 81) is a fascinating place with a facinating and sometimes gruesome history.

mates were checked eleven times and had to get through three metal detectors. Then in their cells they were counted up to thirty times a day (Stuller 87).

In 1946, six inmates took weapons from a guard. They intended to blast out. Led by Joseph Cretzer a

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