For being a little island out in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz has a long and rich history. Located 1.25 miles offshore from the western edge of the City, the island was purchased by the US government and set aside as a military post. The first and oldest lighthouse on the West Coast was built in 1854. When the American Civil War broke out in 1861, 85 cannons and a brick jailhouse were installed, with 200 soldiers manning the island. Confederate sympathizers were imprisoned there, but the cannons were never fired. By 1876 Alcatraz’s focus changed from coastal defense to detention, and the island was officially designated a long term military prison. Most of the prisoners were Confederate soldiers, but there were 19 Hopi Native American leaders who were imprisoned on Alcatraz for almost a year on charges of sedition for opposing the US Government’s program of forced education and assimilation. The 1898 Spanish-American War saw the prison population increase from 26 to over 450. After the 1906 Earthquake and Fires[1] civilian prisoners were transferred to Alcatraz when the City Jail burned down. The concrete cell block that remains today was built in 1909.
The United States Department of Justice acquired the island in 1933 and converted it to an all male federal prison designed for prisoners too dangerous for the general prison polulation or prone to escape. Conditions were brutal: for the first three years absolute silence was enforced and prisoners were only given four rights: food, clothing, shelter and medical care. Everything else, from work detail to family visits, had to be earned. One of the more popular rights was participation in the prison band – The Rock Islanders. Al Capone was said to have persuaded the warden to provide musical instruments. Capone played the banjo with Machine Gun Kelly on the drums.
The federal prison closed on March 21, 1963 because of high operational costs. Besides the fact that the buildings were damaged due to water saturation and there was a sudden uptick in escape attempts, there was no fresh water on the island: Alcatraz was dependant on water being delivered from the City every day.
In the 29 years of the prison’s existence, there were a total of fourteen escape attempts. On December 16, 1937, for example, Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe filed through the iron bars of their cells and jumped into the Bay – never to be seen again. On May 2, 1946 six prisoners tried to take control of the prison. A battle with prison guards lasted for two days with two officers and three prisoners killed. The most daring escape attempt was on June 11, 1962, when three prisoners (Frank Morris, Clarence Anglin and John Anglin) tried to escape by digging holes to reach vent shafts. They created dummy heads using real hair that they placed in their beds. They climbed down drainage pipes and jumped into the Bay – never to be seen again. That same year, John Paul Scott actually made it all the way to the City shore, but he was found unconscious and suffering from hypothermia.
The history of Alcatraz did not end with the prison’s closure. In the late 1950s the American Indian Cultural Center[2] opened at 3053 16th Street in the Mission District[3]. The Center provided job counseling, social services and health outreach and hosted sporting events and socials. But when the Center was intentionally burned down in October of 1969 a group called Indians of All Tribes, comprised of San Francisco American Indian college students, moved onto Alcatraz and inhabited the island for 18 months to protest stolen land and demand restitution. They were eventually physically removed without incident, though their graffiti still remains today.
In 1972 Alcatraz became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, with its facilities managed by the National Park Service. A year later it was opened for tours to the public and today is a top tourist attraction[4]. Films like Escape from Alcatraz and The Rock helped popularize the site. Birdman of Alcatraz with Burt Lancaster was a touching story about an Alcatraz prisoner rehabilitated by rescuing birds, though the true story is that Robert Franklin Stroud was considered one of the most notorious murderers in the United States. It is true that when he was at Leavenworth Penitentiary he nursed and breeded canaries, eventually writing two books about bird disease that benefited bird research for years. However, upon his transfer to Alcatraz, Stroud was stripped of the privilege of tending to any birds.
Today there are three annual athletic events, all named “Escape from Alcatraz”. The first was established in 1981, sponsored by The Dolphin Club[5], and is a private club event with a full triathlon traversing San Francisco and Marin counties. The second event started in 1983 and is a commercial aquathon (no biking) open to the public. The third, and most popular, is sponsored by IMG[6] and takes place every June. It starts with the swim from Alcatraz, followed by a 1.5 mile run to a transition point, an 18 mile bike ride and an eight mile run. Despite entry being by lottery or qualification, this event sees over 1,000 participants every year.
[1] 1906 Earthquake and Fires: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=2849
[2] Visit them at https://www.aiccsf.org [3] Mission District: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3831 [4] Visit them at https://www.alcatraztickets.com[5] The Dolphin Club: see story coming October 6th
[6] Visit them at https://imgevents.com
