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.
A Spanish explorer named Juan Manuel de Ayala sailed into San Francisco Bay in 1775, to map and name Alcatraz Island, also known as Pelican Island due to the large population of sea birds. Years later our 13th U.S. President Millard Fillmore order that we reserved Alcatraz Island for military use. Later that year the military put one hundred
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"During the early 20th century, inmate labor fueled the construction of a new cell house (the 600-cell structure still stands today) on Alcatraz, along with a hospital, mess hall and other prison buildings" (Alcatraz). In 1912, the new added on Alcatraz prison was the biggest reinforced concrete building in the world. The U.S. army wanted Alcatraz to be a federal prison that could hold prisoners that were too dangerous to be held in other penitentiaries. The first maximum –security facility of Alcatraz officially opened on July 1, 1934. James A. Johnston from San Francisco, California was the first warden at Alcatraz from 1874-1954, he hired one guard for every three prisoners. "The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) viewed Alcatraz as “the prison system’s prison,” a place where the most disruptive inmates could be sent to live under sparse conditions with few privileges in order to learn how to follow rules (at which point, they could be transferred to other federal prisons to complete their sentences)"
“Show, not tell.” That’s what they all tell you. What exactly is so wrong with telling and not showing? It can come across as campy, or ruin a moment that could’ve been portrayed better with visual imagery. Telling is the bane of film, books and everything-art. I’ll conceded that telling more than showing a movie walks a fine line of making or breaking the flow of the story, but if done properly, I think telling can lift the life of a movie to new heights. I rest my case in the classic Casablanca. The masters of the screen during the Golden Age of film grasped dialogue in ways we cannot comprehend or reach nowadays. What they did so well during then is now considered the cardinal sin of movies now.
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
Well known inmates of Alcatraz include gangster Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, and Alvin “Creepy Karpis” Karpowicz. Capone spent 4 ½ years in Alcatraz. It was the only place where the guards wouldn’t be bribed and the only place where he couldn’t carry out his business in the gang. Capone once said, “It looks like Alcatr...
The description of Alcatraz is sinister and quite mysterious. Many people describe it as a haunted attraction,
Alcatraz Imagine yourself living in a dirty, smelly, cold prison cell that has water dripping down the walls from the ceiling and hardly ever seeing daylight. If you were a guest at Alcatraz, that is exactly what you would experience. Alcatraz was a Federal Prison located in the San Francisco Bay. It was built on a twelve acre, solid rock island, one mile from the main land. There were no roads or bridges built to get there.
The number of Americans that are in prison has elevated to levels that have never been seen before. Prisons in the US have always been crowded ever since the first prison was invented (Jacobs and Angelos 101). The first prison in the US was the Walnut Street Jail that was built in Philadelphia in 1773, and later closed in the 1830’s due to overcrowding and dirty conditions (Jacobs and Angelos 101). The prison system in modern US history has faced many downfalls due to prison overcrowding. Many private prison owners argue that the more inmates in a prison the more money they could make. In my opinion the argument of making more money from inmates in prisons is completely unconstitutional. If the private prisons are only interested in making
today’s first private prisons. Initially being built to reduce overcrowding and cut cost from the regular
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...
Is forcing innocent people to internment camp okay just because of their ancestry? No. Over 120,000 United States citizens were forced to internment camps just for having Japanese heritage. Japanese-American internment was cruel, racist and extremely unnecessary. Americans had no right or reason to forcefully take them from their homes and into imprisonment.
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.
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.
Mass incarceration is one of the most prevailing issues that the United States faces. What was once an average of 100 people being imprisoned for every 100,000, prior to the 1970’s, has known grown to be more than 600 individuals for every 100,000. With only five percent of the total world population, the United States holds an astonishing 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. Even despite the fact that crime in the Country has declined steeply since the 1990s, the percent of people in prisons has risen to more than 450% than what it was prior to the 1980’s. It is for that reason that I strongly believe that within his first 100 days in office, President Donald Trump should make it his priority to address the problem which is mass incarceration.
To begin, The famous prison is located in the sunny San Francisco Bay area. In 1771 a Spanish explorer founded the island and named it “La isla de los Alcatraces,” which mean “The Island of Pelicans.” No inmate had ever successfully escaped, although a few were never found and could have died from the chilly waters. The terrifying penitentiary’s nickname back then was “The Rock.” The article states, “The federal prison on Alcatraz Island in the chilly waters of California’s San Francisco Bay housed some of America’s most difficult and dangerous felons during its years of operation from 1934 to 1963.” The dangerous felons that were housed there included: Al “Scarface” Capone, George “Machine Gun Kelly” Barnes. Fourteen escapes were made with a total of thirty-six men from Alcatraz. Eventually the prison was shut down after high operating costs. They could not keep transporting items from San Francisco to the island.
There were twenty-eight prisoner deaths while Alcatraz was open. Five inmates committed suicide, fifteen died of natural causes, and eight were murdered. Everything about the prison seemed appalling, but why wouldn’t it? There had been countless prison fights, some of which resulted in prisoners gaining nearly fatal wounds, such as a fight started by inmate James "Tex" Lucas, who attempted to kill the infamous mobster, Al Capone. Alcatraz was centered in the middle of San Francisco Bay. The waters surrounding it were known to hold some of the lowest temperatures in the state. This caused gruesomely cold temperatures in the actual prison, which many inmates harshly complained about. Yet the cold climate was nowhere near as ghastly as the
I've always lived in the era where news was harsh, fast, and never ending. The first major news story I can remember blaring from my mom's TV was about a high school near us. I had been home sick that day and missed being locked down with the rest of my elementary school buddies while two troubled high school kids ruined lives. I don’t know if the news coverage was the same in other states but I can remember by summer break still hearing about. It wasn't here or there. One public debate after the next on who was to blame, who wasn't and why it couldn't have been the kids faults. Even now they still bring it up and while I was not personally hurt by the actions of these kids I still have this pang. The News Media refuses to let the wounds heal.