8/2/2019 John Angelesco Revised

1/3

Alcatraz was a prison that was off the coast of California. It was built on a small island.

The jail had been operational rom the years 1934 to 1963. After years in it was given the

nickname The Rock. Alcatraz prison contained federal prisoners for30 years in the United

States. The island of Alcatraz also had the first lighthouse that was on the Pacific shores, which

guided ships for about 125 years. Alcatraz was also a big importance in San Francisco Harbor. In

May of 1847 the land of Alcatraz was first surveyed by Lt. William Horace Warner from the

Corps of Topographical Engineers. Alcatraz first wasnt used as a jail to imprison anybody. It

had a different purpose.

The general plan had three principal objectives: (1) to prevent the passage of

hostile ships into the harbor; (2) if an enemy vessel did gain entrance, toarrange batteries for the near defense of the town and the navy yard; and (3)

to have an interior line of batteries that could fire on the three passages into

San Pablo Bay--between Alcatraz and San Francisco, between Alcatraz andAngel Island, and through Raccoon Strait (the board used the original spelling

"Racoon"). (http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/rock/rock-020.htm )

Troops were sent to Alcatraz to help fight the part civil war there. There were rifled guns,

smoothbores, and mortars accompanied by the troops there. But then only on the second day the

fort had retired. Alcatraz was a military post and had a guardhouse that would hold soldiers who

violated the armys rules and regulations. The standard facilities of the day usually consisted of

a general prison room for compliant prisoners and a few individual cells for who remained in a

rebellious mood. Alcatraz had both, but they were in separate buildings

(http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/rock/rock-020.htm ).

Alcatraz Island was made to be the armys first jail. The number of army prisoners began

to grow. By the beginning of the war in 1861 there were 15 prisoners, then in 1864 was about 24,

then at the end of the war was about 50. There were no records kept on any of the inmates at the

time. Then there was construction on the prison to be done. Then the numbers of prisoners on

http://www.alcatrazhistory.com/rock/rock-020.htmhttp://www.alcatrazhistory.com/rock/rock-020.htmhttp://www.alcatrazhistory.com/rock/rock-020.htmhttp://www.alcatrazhistory.com/rock/rock-020.htmhttp://www.alcatrazhistory.com/rock/rock-020.htmhttp://www.alcatrazhistory.com/rock/rock-020.htmhttp://www.alcatrazhistory.com/rock/rock-020.htmhttp://www.alcatrazhistory.com/rock/rock-020.htm

8/2/2019 John Angelesco Revised

2/3

Alcatraz has climbed over the years to 127 by having them sent there from other places. More

rooms had to be built because of that. With so many more prisoners coming in, engineers had to

come up with a design for all the cells. They did and composed cells of three floors high with 90-

degree right angle corners on each walkway. Newer rooms were built because others got too old

and more inmates came so a new mess hall was created. There were no windows and the only

ventilation was from four ventilators in the roof with only one light to light the whole 200-person

mess hall. Ma y more buildings, rooms and cells were to be made. The average cell for a prisoner

was only 8.5 x 6 x 3.5 feet. That would make the total area each prisoner would get is 161 cubic

feet.

After the whole penitentiary was built there were thoughts about how having the jail so

close to mainland being such a good idea. One source said that inmates gangster friends will

help them break out. They can break out and swim to shore, or steal things to have them make

their way back easier. There was even a citizen who swam out to the island of Alcatraz just to

show how easy it can be! Nothing was done by the accounts of those complaints but just having

Alcatraz being one of the most disciplined and secured prisons so that wouldnt happen. One

way of changing Alcatraz to be a place of maximum security was by changing the window bars

on the windows. It would be changed from open-hearth steel bars to tool-proof steel. The

prisoners are also only confined to the Alcatraz prison and not around the island to the other

areas with buildings on the island. All the doors were also changed to be more protective and all

had observation panels. There were many other considerations made to make the jail safer and

less capable of being broken out of.

Every day at Alcatraz consisted of a very long day with many different agendas of both

the inmates and the people that ran the jail. It started at 6:30am and went until 5:00am the next

8/2/2019 John Angelesco Revised

3/3

day. Beginning the early morning of every day at 6:30 the morning whistle was blown. This is

when the prisoners just get up, clean their cells and get ready for the day. Fifteen minutes later

the guards should be assigned a spot to watch the prisoners when coming out of their cells. At

6:50am theres the second whistle when the prisoners line up outside their cells and are counted.

Five minutes later yet another whistle is blown to get lined up and head to the mess hall to eat.

All the prisoners then heads to the mess hall with guards being there for supervision. Its a very

strict process for the prisoners to eat their meals. When each person gets served and going to sit

down they have to sit with their hands at their side until they are signaled to eat, which is only 20

minutes long. After they eat, the prisoners place their utensils in specific spots on their trays then

sit with their hands by their sides. A guard then comes by to check that this is done properly.

After the meal theres a list of things that can be done next. If prisoners dont have anything

assigned for them to do then they get to go to the recreation yard. If they do then theres six

different things of laundry, tailor shop, cobblers shop, model shop, all other shops, gardening and

other labor details.