Alcatraz Island: A Touristic Attraction

836 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on the jail alcatraz

“If you break the rules of society, they sent you to prison. If you break the rules of prison, they send you to Alcatraz.” -Anonymous. Once considered as the prison of all American prisons, Alcatraz held some of the most dangerous criminals in American history. Alcatraz Island opened as a prison on October twelfth, 1933. During its twenty-nine years of operation, Alcatraz held some of the most dangerous prisoners, without any known successful escape attempts. Life on the island as a prisoner was extremely rough. Due to its high cost of operation, Alcatraz Prison was forced to shut down in 1963, where all of the criminals were transferred to other prisons in America. Alcatraz opened to the public in 1973 as a tourist attraction, where it has gotten more than one million visitors a year. It is the most popular prison in America. Known as The Rock, Alcatraz island became a popular tourist attraction due to the notorious criminals that lived on the island, the famous escape attempts, and the way the inmates were forced to live.
One reason Alcatraz is such a popular tourist attraction is because of the vicious and murderous criminals that spent time on the island. One of the most famous gangsters, Al “Scarface” Capone lived on the island for five years. Al Capone was convicted and found guilty of tax evasion. From selling illegal alcohol, gambling, and prostitution, Al Capone ran a multimillion dollar empire in the 1920s. He did not care if he got into trouble. This is not too surprising for a criminal. Another very famous criminal that spent time on Alcatraz was Robert Stroud. “The most famous prisoner was Alaskan murderer Robert ‘Birdman’ Stroud, who spent seventeen years on Alcatraz” (Alcatraz-Facts and History). R...

... middle of paper ...

...es in the prison, such as the walkways, which were nicknamed Broadway, Michigan Avenue, and Park Avenue. Tourists are always curious on how exactly the prisoners on Alcatraz lived.
Tourists have always been attracted Alcatraz Island. They are intrigued by the interesting criminals and how they live. They love the many famous escape attempts from Alcatraz Island. Alcatraz is best known as a maximum security prison and is widely regarded as the harshest prison in American History. Not only is it the most secure, but it is also the most famous prison to date. Alcatraz Prison kept some of the most dangerous prisoners behind bars, where other jails were unable to keep them locked up and away from society. Would the notorious prisoners such as Al Capone continue bribing his way out of jails and continue creating havoc on the streets if he never went to Alcatraz?

Show More
Related

  • Jessica Hollon's 'Hydrotherapy At Alcatraz'

    400 Words  | 1 Pages

    Jessica Hollon’s piece titled Hydrotherapy at Alcatraz represents a room of forgotten souls. She used a standard format paper to print on. This piece was taken at Alcatraz in the old part of the prison in the hospital area. They used this room for ice baths or hydrotherapy; it has two windows covered with vertical and horizontal bars, a tub, an old radiator, exposed broken pipes and some sort of an open commode. The tub is the only subtle hint of color that is captured in the piece. The bars on the windows seem to keep the secrecy and security of the room along with the dark shadows she captures in the corners

    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

  • Al Capone Thesis Statement

    1357 Words  | 3 Pages

    Al Capone Thesis: From racketeering, bootlegging, and brotheling, Alphonse Capone is one of the most well known and influential gangsters in history.      Al Capone, born to Gabriele and Teresina Capone, was born in Brooklyn, New York. At age 5 he starrted school at Public School no.7 on Adams street. Al’s school had outbreaks of violence. Male Students engaged in fist fights with female teachers.

    Read More

  • Politics of Prohibition: Helpful Or Harmful To American Society?

    1407 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...s. Was Capone fully to blame for the violence that plagued his life? Or was he adapting to the times in which he lived? Maybe he was a man who believed in self-defense in a cruel time where he was just as likely to be killed by an opposing bootlegger. In several interviews, he spoke of peace. He asked for peace from other men that challenged him. Some might even call him generous. Whatever Al Capone was, there was one type of person that he believed to be truely evil. In the words of Capone, "There's one thing worse than a crook, I think...and that's a crooked man in a big political job. A man who pretends he is enforcing the law and is really making dough by breaking it. Even a self-respecting hoodlum hasn't any use for that kind of fella..he buys them like he'd buy any other article necessary to his trade. But he hates them in his heart," (Blumenthal 102).

    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

  • 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 have 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 kinds of procedures to control the most violent and disruptive inmates. By 1984, many states began construction on super-maximum prisons.

    Read More

  • How Prohibition Changed Chicago

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    Three of the men who were involved in Capone's gang were arrested while the other two died before they could be tried. The massacre was an end to significant gang violence with Capone. Capone was then known as the most notorious gangster in the country. Since Capone was never tried for the massacre, him and his bodyguard, Frankie Rio, were walking around in Philadelphia when they were picked up on charges for carrying concealed weapons. Capone and Rio were sentenced to a year a prison. Even while Capone was in prison, he continued his business. Capone was allowed to have long distance calls and was able to meet with his lawyers. Because of good behavior in prison, Capone was released two months early. When returning back to Chicago, Capone was called the "Public Enemy Number One". With many people disliking Capone, President Herbert Hoover built a case against the mob leader for income tax fraud. The judge refused to accept the deal when Capone agreed to a plea that would sentence him to two and a half years in prison. After this, Capone withdrew his plea and he went to trial. The jury of all men (Illinois did not allow female jurors at the time) came to a conclusion in October 1931 that Capone was found guilty of five charges. These five charges included three felonies and two misdemeanors. Capone was then sent to serve 11 years in prison and fined $50,000. While serving this sentence for tax invasion in Alcatraz, Capone was diagnosed with Syphilis. After being released from prison in 1939, Capone received treatment for his Syphilis. In January of 1947, 48 year old Capone died in Palm Island, Florida after suffering from a stroke and pneumonia related to the Syphilis. Capone was buried at the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chicago before his family moved his remains to Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside,

    Read More

  • Biography of Al Capone

    1274 Words  | 3 Pages

    Al Capone was a child from an Italian immigrant family, And was one of the most Notorious and infamous Mafia leader in the world during the Prohibition Era in Chicago. Also he was known as "Scarface," Al Capone was sent to Alcatraz Prison in Philadelphia in 1931 from a tax evasion conviction. Al Capone had a personal fortune estimated at $100 million and was responsible for countless murders, His most famous one was the St.Valentine’s Day Massacre.

    Read More

  • History of prisons in the United States

    653 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the early years going to prison for a crime was not common. When people committed crimes, they were punished by corporal punishment, forced labor, social ostracism, and many far worse punishments. People began using imprisonment as a form of punishment after the American Revolution. In England these practice of imprisonment been taking place since the 1500s in the form of dungeons and other detention facilities. Prisons were one of the first buildings introduced in the New World. In early America prisons were not looked at like prisons are today, most crimes where punished on the spot and the person released. Most of the people that had long term sentences were people that owed debt. Other type of punishments that was used was fines, public shame, physical chastisement, and death. Misdemeanors were punishable by fines, just like some are today. The United States prison building efforts went through three waves. First the Jacksonian Era, which led to the increase use of imprisonment and rehabilitive labor as punishment for their crimes in almost all states by the time of the American Civil War. Second was the Progressive Era, which was after the civil war. The Progressive Era brought in the usage of parole, probation, and indeterminate sentencing. Third was in the early 1970s, by this time the number in prisons had increased five times.

    Read More

  • The History of Alcatraz Island

    4107 Words  | 9 Pages

    Alcatraz Island has quite a distinct history. Many people know that Alcatraz served as a federal prison, but most are reluctant to know that this island served as fort. Built before the Civil War, it served two main purposes. First, that it was to guard the San Francisco bay area from enemy ships against a foreign invasion, and second, to hold hostage prisoners of war or POW's as they were called. In this report, I'll show you how this fortress came to be a federal prison, why it is no longer in operation today, and most importantly, to show why it was built in the first place. When the great "Gold Rush" of 1849 first started, California grew from what would be considered a small, unpopulated state, into what it is now. California is now one of the most populated states and it was mostly the gold rush that brought attention to California. As the government saw all of this happening, they realized that California was much more important than they ever realized. In their realization, they decided that California must be protected. San Francisco has one of the largest bays in all of California, and so this was where enemy countries would most likely to try to invade the country. So this is where Alcatraz was to lie, to serve as a military fort. It was supposed to serve as a secondary base in companionship to another base located on the other side of Golden Gate Bridge. But with severe problems trying to build this other base, Alcatraz was to remain alone. "Out in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, the island of Alcatraz is definitely a world unto itself. Isolation is just one of the many constants of island life for any inhabitant on Alcatraz Island. It is the most reoccurring theme in the unfolding history of Alcatraz Island. Alcatraz Island is one of Golden Gate National Recreation Area's most popular destinations, offering a close-up look at a historic and infamous federal prison long off-limits to the public. Visitors to the island can not only explore the remnants of the prison, but learn of the American occupation of 1969 - 1971, early military fortifications and the West Coast's first and oldest operating lighthouse. These structures stand among the island's many natural features - gardens, tidepools, bird nests, and bay views beyond compare." (1) Fortress Alcatraz ran in operation from 1850 - 1933. It served as San Fr...

    Read More

  • The Yuma Territorial Prison As A Beacon Of Civilization

    1433 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...from stories of the time. While many sources say that they argue with the wild perpetuation in their first paragraph they then maintain an indefinite description of the prison and attempt not to give a detailed look at the components and history of the prison before it lost life when shutting down aside from those stories describing how wild the west was. With this I was also not able to talk to any true experts of the prison, nor visit the prison or those surviving the ones who lived there on either side of the law causing my knowledge and research to be limited to the web, which as before mentioned is limited by lack of fresh or widely varied information. Had there been more sources that went into detail about the prisons other features aside from its capacity I would have been able to give more than an educated, generalized guess on how the some of the prison was.

    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

  • DARK TOURISM: ZICASSO TRAVEL

    936 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ark Tourism: Alcatraz and Robben Island” Annals of Tourism Research vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 386-405

    Read More

  • Prison Life

    1917 Words  | 4 Pages

    Most people have no idea what it feels like to be in prison, statistically only one out of every five people will know what its like to be in prison. Approximately 1.4 million people out of the U.S.’s 280 million people are in prison. (Thomas, 2) The only reason people know about prisons is because of the media. The news, movies, and books all contribute to people's stereotypes about prisons. Prisoners receive three meals a day, workout facilities, a library, as well as other things. People are also given the idea, through the mass media, that prisoners are free to walk around certain parts of the prison. All of these ideas are cast upon prisons so that people will not be afraid of them. Society has been given the idea that prisons are not very bad on the inside. What is prison life really like?

    Read More

More about Alcatraz Island: A Touristic Attraction

Open Document