Alcatraz Research Paper

867 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: History of the penitentiary system

On June 11, 1962, three men were reported missing from the Alcatraz Federal Prison. To this day, nobody knows what happened to them. Using the evidence provided, it is impossible to determine whether the three inmates successfully escaped from Alcatraz.
So what is Alcatraz? Located a mile and a half away from land on an island made from solid rock, Alcatraz is surrounded by the cold, unforgiving waters of the San Francisco bay. Dealing with the criminal population is a problem in every society. America’s answer to that problem was Alcatraz. It was built to be a maximum security prison, and was designed to hold the “worst of the worst” criminals, such as Al Capone, machine-gun Kelly, and Alvin Karpis. A sentence at Alcatraz was meant to be viewed as the harshest punishment a prisoner could receive, other than execution. The cells that the criminals were imprisoned in were five feet wide and nine feet long. You could stretch out your arms and touch the sides of your …show more content…

They also had learned to make life vests and rafts out of raincoats from a Popular Mechanics magazine. The raincoats were donated or stolen from other inmates. Finally, on the night of June 11, 1962 they placed their dummy heads on their pillows and crawled through the cell wall hole for the last time.
They climbed up the plumbing pipes toward the roof of the cell house where they saw the moon for the first time in months. Once they were on the roof, they shimmied down a pipe to the ground.
The three inmates then ran to the shore and inflated their raft and life vests with a musical instrument called a concertina which is like an accordion, which they used as bellows. Next, they launched their raft into the bay. Their plan was to paddle to Angel Island where they would steal a car, get some clothes and guns and get far away from Alcatraz

Show More
Related

  • Theme Of Touching Spirit Bear

    756 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cole could the muzzled sound of the boat that Edwin would arrive on. To take them of that island that Cole had spent a whole year on. Cole and peter sold back and admired Cole and Peter’s totem poles. That they had finished, they were super proud of it like it was supposed to be in a museum.

    Read More

  • The Rise of America’s Prison Empire

    1930 Words  | 4 Pages

    When envisioning a prison, one often conceptualizes a grisly scene of hardened rapists and murderers wandering aimlessly down the darkened halls of Alcatraz, as opposed to a pleasant facility catering to the needs of troubled souls. Prisons have long been a source of punishment for inmates in America and the debate continues as to whether or not an overhaul of the US prison system should occur. Such an overhaul would readjust the focuses of prison to rehabilitation and incarceration of inmates instead of the current focuses of punishment and incarceration. Altering the goal of the entire state and federal prison system for the purpose of rehabilitation is an unrealistic objective, however. Rehabilitation should not be the main purpose of prison because there are outlying factors that negatively affect the success of rehabilitation programs and such programs would be too costly for prisons currently struggling to accommodate additional inmate needs.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Alcatraz Island And Pearl Harbor

    1378 Words  | 3 Pages

    When people talk about Alcatraz, they usually remember it is an island with a prison on it, but many do not know what is included inside the prison. Two common places inmates were in most of the time were either the dining hall, where the prisoners and staff would eat their meals, or a library in which inmates could check out books and magazines. The Models Industries Building contained a laundry facility, and the New Industries Building contained a clothing factory, dry cleaning plant, furniture plant, and a brush factory where prisoners could work and earn money. Prisoners had the chance to make items such as gloves, furniture mats, and army uniforms. Military officers were found in the dining hall since that was where they ate their meals, but they were also found in the other places as well. Former Military Chapel was a small building, where the ground floor had quarters for the officers and their families who worked at the prison. In 1920, when the building was first built, the top floor of the building was used as a school and chapel, but in 1934 when Alcatraz became a Federal Penitentiary, the building became a Bachelor Quarters for unmarried officers. Later on, the officers and their families eventually stayed in Building 64 which was a three story apartment building. The best part of living in the prison for

    Read More

  • Supermaximum Security Prisons

    1377 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are a number of issues that need to be taken into consideration when discussing the use of supermax prisons. Hans Toch, a corrections scholar, pointed out that the methods used in supermax prisons are not new penal techniques. In fact, those types of prison conditions were adopted in the past and rejected because of increased rates in inmates developing mental illness (Hickey, 2010). Supermaximum security prisons have been associated with past attempts, like the Eastern State Penitentiary, where twenty-four-hour isolation was used and there were no programs for self improvement. The two main problems associated with supermax prisons are the conditions and the transfer procedures/criteria (Pollock, 2010). Pelican Island in California was a target of a court case, Madr...

    Read More

  • The Ghost Of Haunted Alcatraz

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    The description of Alcatraz is sinister and quite mysterious. Many people describe it as a haunted attraction,

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Alcatraz

    1670 Words  | 4 Pages

    Al Capone once said about Alcatraz " Don't mistake my kindness for weakness, I am kind to everyone, but when someone is unkind to me, weak is not what you are going to remember me about." One of the most dreaded prisons in America was Alcatraz, it was built on an island in the San Francisco Bay. Alcatraz was made for the United States most dangerous and difficult people during its years of being operated. Even though Alcatraz was built as a top end prison it was possible to escape, however it seemed prisoners never made it off the island alive.

    Read More

  • Concentration Camp Research Paper

    1651 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Concentration camps (Konzentrationslager; abbreviated as KL or KZ) were an integral feature of the regime in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945. The term concentration camp refers to a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

    Read More

  • Supermax Prisons: Harmful or Necessary?

    2471 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the 1970s, prison was a dangerous place. Prison violence and the high numbers of disruptive inmates led prison authorities to seek new ways to control prisoners. At first, prison staff sought to minimize contact with prisoners by keeping them in their cells for a majority of the day. As time went on, the prison authorities began to brainstorm the idea of having entire prisons dedicated to using these kind of procedures to control the most violent and disruptive inmates. By 1984, many states began construction on super-maximum prisons. In California, two supermax facilities were built by the state: Corcoran State Prison in 1988, and then Pelican Bay in 1989. The federal government soon followed suit and in 1994, the “first federal supermax opened, in Florence, Colorado.” It was not much longer before supermax prisons could be seen all over the country (Abramsky). In Wisconsin’s supermax facility, with similar conditions being found in a majority of supermaxes, there are “100-cell housing units” that are in groups of 25 cells. These cells all face a secured central area. Technology plays a major role in keeping the facility to the highest security standards. Every cell’s doors are controlled remotely and the cells include “video surveillance, motion detection and exterior lighting” (Berge). With these technological securities, there are also procedural precautions. Inmates are kept in their cells for 23 hours a day until their sentences are done. This is said to be for prisoner and staff safety, although some feel otherwise. In 2001, 600 inmates at Pelican Bay went on a hunger strike, demanding reform. Those on hunger strike believed that the isolation and deprivation they faced was against their Eighth Amendment rights. ...

    Read More

  • Alcatraz

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    There have been several famous inmates who served time at Alcatraz. A short list would include Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly and Robert "Birdman" Stroud.

    Read More

  • The History of Alcatraz Island

    4107 Words  | 9 Pages

    2. Professor Clyde W. Richins, University of Michigan, 1990, Vol. 1 of "In the life of Alcatraz" pages 1944- 46

    Read More

  • What Happens Behind Prison Doors?

    1527 Words  | 4 Pages

    Prisons have dated back to the twentieth century when the United States had almost two million people confined in prisons or jails. Prisons have been a form of government punishment that has shaped our nation to what it is today. The first jail was established in Philadelphia, in 1970. It was called the Walnut Street Jail and was recorded as the first use of imprisonment through solitary confinement. The basic principles of the new system were to reform those in prison, and to segregate those according to age, sex, and type of offenses charged against them (Schoenherr). The second prison was called Sing-Sing a...

    Read More

  • Alcatraz: Prison Reform In The US

    682 Words  | 2 Pages

    The thought of Alcatraz started in the 1920’s when gangsters were fighting and killing just about everyone they saw that posed a threat. This was happening because they had made a new law. This law was called the National Prohibition Act. Even though it was illegal so many people wanted to buy alcohol. So the criminals ruled. Some criminals started to sneak alcohol in from other countries. Soon after that Illegal bars opened. This caused a lot of trouble. People couldn’t contain these “super gangsters.” They kept selling the alcohol and making a greater, and greater profit. Most of them lived like kings, they paid the police and local politicians to leave them alone. Even from regular prisons they controlled everything, criminals ruled they paid the guards and kept in touch with their people on the outside. This was when Homer C. Cummings made Alcatraz. This place was for the toughest of the tough. In this essay I will explain Alcatraz.

    Read More

  • Essay On Mass Incarceration

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    Overcrowding of prisons due to mass incarceration is among one of the biggest problems in America, mass incarceration has ruined many families and lives over the years.America has the highest prison population rate , over the past forty years from 1984 until 2014 that number has grown by four hundred percent .America has four percent of the world population ,but twenty-five percent of the world population of incarcerated people Forty one percent of American juveniles have been or going to be arrested before the age of 23. America has been experimenting with incarceration as a way of showing that they are tough on crime but it actually it just show that they are tough on criminals. imprisonment was put in place to punish, criminals, protect society and rehabilitate criminals for their return into the society .

    Read More

  • Alcatraz: The Legendary Prison

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    We stepped off the large tour boat with a look of fright in both our eyes. Some joy was there, but knowing what went on in this place made us feel the way we did. To me, Alcatraz didn't really look like a shut down prison at that moment. It looked more like an old worn down cemetery. The paint on most of the buildings was chipped off all the way down to the wood. Most of the buildings had collapsed down to some cement foundations and old rusted poles hanging every other way. As we walked to the building where you start your tour, that was probably the only building at this place with cleanliness to it. They gave us our tour headphones, which take you through the whole prison with a audio guide telling you how it was in the prison. Not just how it was for the prisoners, but how it was for the guards too.

    Read More

  • The Notorious Escape From Alcatraz Summary

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    In San Francisco, California is where the notorious Alcatraz prison is located. A total number of 14 escape attempts which included 36 men. Twenty-three were caught,seven were killed,and one person drowned. But, you can’t forget about the inmates Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers’ . Some people believe that these inmates died trying to escape.Others believe that the Alcatraz escapees are still alive to this day. On June 11,1962 the brothers were never seen or heard from again,or at least that’s what people say. Even though there was a high likelihood that their boat could have been swept out to sea by the strong current, Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers could have pushed their way through the current and survived.

    Read More

More about Alcatraz Research Paper

Open Document