Have you ever heard of the hauntings on the island of the Alcatraz prison? About the ghostly sightings, freezing cells, extra counts, and mysterious murders? Are these real life sightings or just some legends told around the campfire? The stories are about the man with the glowing eyes, Cellblock D, and the lighthouse. To this day the ghosts still roam the abandoned cells and linger in the empty halls waiting to be noticed.
The Island of Alcatraz started construction in the 1850’s and in 1861 the first unlucky prisoners stepped onto the island. The island was now a fully functional high security prison. In 1868 the prison was designated for military convicts and soon the worst offenders were sentenced to life on the island. The island was surrounded by frigid waters and sharks in the bay helped prevent ideas of escape. Some escape plans were put into motion but none fully succeeded. Many convicts found that Alcatraz ended their career in crime, while some found that Alcatraz was the end of their lives. Although the prison was the most secure and safest place to keep these convicts, the prison was shut down in 1963, after over 100 years of service, due to high maintenance costs of bringing materials and sustaining human life on the island. Ever since the prison opened, unexplained occurrences have been reported and no explanation has ever been confirmed.
The infamous Cell Block D, also known as the isolation chambers, is believed to be the most haunted part of the island. “The most haunted area on Alcatraz, is the "D" cell block, or solitary, as it was often called.” Inside these chambers there has been extremely cold cells, a murder, and ghostly sounds and sightings. Inside cell 14-D is where a prisoner was found dead after b...
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One of the parallel themes of “American Me” is that prisons are far more than warehouses for society's outcasts and baneful. They are, instead, recruiting stations and training camps for future generations of criminals and gang members. “American Me” reveals how a major portion of the crime syndicate came to be hosted from the “inside,” from within the many prison walls of the U.S. Department of Corrections (Baumgarten, 1992).
The Yuma Territorial Prison is one of the main pillars in the growth of Arizona as the wild west was tamed. Its existence served not only as a beacon of civilization but that of consequence for those who resisted human expansion’s natural progression. As it existed many thought of it as a joke giving those inside the easy life or the likes of a concentration camp but in the middle of civilian held war, the prison stood toward the future. From near modern advances to holding those refusing to be held and even continueing on helping those of Yuma for years to come. This paper will use sources explaining the history of the prison and be about the experience, conditions, and personality of many of the prisoners along with major events in the prisoners lives explaining how the prison evolved during and after their stay.
Shaw, D. (2010). Avenal State Prison Warden James Hartley One-Year Audit. Retrieved from www. Oig.ca.gov
Morris, Norval, and David Rothman. The Oxford History of the Prison. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Prisoners were put under a monotonous and strict routine designed to keep them from rebelling. They were given the basic human needs: clothing, food, shelter, and medical care. Any other privileges had to be earned. One of the inmates’ biggest complaints was that it was always cold on the island. Another complaint was the rule of silence which banned conversation between inmates except for during recreation time and meals. This rule was eventually discontinued. Prisoners who acted out at Alcatraz were put in either the strip cell or the hole. Both were cells in complete isolation from other inmates but in the strip cell inmates were placed in the lightless cell naked and the only ‘toilet’ was a hole in the ground.
Santos, Michael G. Inside: Life Behind Bars in America. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2006. Print.
Haunted Alcatraz: There’s something about supernatural places that catch people’s eyes. Haunted Alcatraz was a prison that was well-known for holding the worst prisoners, and having the harshest, most severe punishments for the inmates. Many people were killed there by either themselves, by others, or natural causes. Also, many people see the ghosts of the dead soldiers and past people who have died in Alcatraz. Alcatraz is a haunted and spooky place.
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.
The very first sentence of the essay describes how the island is covered in flowers. Didion could have opened with a description of what Alcatraz once looked like, or of the prison’s current state. Opening with a beautiful description sets the stage for an optimistic view of Alcatraz. Didion later describes the prison itself by saying “any child could imagine a prison more like a prison than Alcatraz looks.” Didion describes Alcatraz as almost pitiful, with the way it has aged over the years. She is once again downplaying the usual feelings associated with the island. Later, Didion describes the prison nostalgically to further show how it is no longer what it once was. For example, she describes the cells in one of which was “a calendar, the months penciled in the wall with the days scratched off…of some unnumbered
As the bars of prison opened, John Dillinger took his few steps of freedom. With each step filled with resentment and anger from eight and a half years in jail, he lead his way to a future filled with crime, leading to a legacy he will leave behind for future generations . Dillinger did not...
Mark Colvin, a professor of sociology in the Department of Justice Studies at Kent University was hired to investigate the disturbance in 1980. He analyzes the social structure of the jail and how the deterioration of the administration led to the brutally hostile conditions of the penitentiary. The dispute is especially
The left door which they entered was a dead end. After sprinting a hundred yards, they ran into an enormous boulder that completely blocked their way.They could hear something breathing heavily which didn't sound human. Tyson pushed the boulder blocking the place where they could hear the heavy breathing and soon Annabeth realized they were in Alcatraz so she told the group about it.
Alcatraz closed in 1963. A new prison was going to be built on the mainland, in Marion Illinois (“Alcatraz History”). In 1962, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, James Bennett, wrote a statement to press, about the closure of Alcatraz. He quotes, “The magnitude of the amount has caused us to reevaluate, with great care, the role which Alcatraz plays in our prison system. We continue to believe that we need an institution of this kind for escape artists, the hostile, the aggressive inmates who cannot or will not adjust in other institutions, and for big-time racketeers, gangsters, and hoodlums. We believe also that a maximum security institution of this kind, having strict regime with minimum privileges, is a crime deterrent of importance” (“Alcatraz History”). Although alcatraz was an important piece in prisons in the 1930s through early ‘60s, there were many problems with the prison, that led it to be unsuccessful. The elements, the isolation, and the prisoners doomed Alcatraz for failure before it was in
2. Professor Clyde W. Richins, University of Michigan, 1990, Vol. 1 of "In the life of Alcatraz" pages 1944- 46