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Alcatraz information essay
Occupation of Alcatraz
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Alcatraz began in 1850 as a military prison. Later it became a federal prison. Then on the verge of 30 years it was closed. Then for a while Indians used the island. Alcatraz was used to house the criminals who provoked problems at other jails. The island was located off the coast of California.
The island has had many uses over a span of 122 years. Alcatraz was first used as a Military prison. They used it as a Military prison from 1850 to 1934. In 1934 it was changed to a federal prison. The Military cons were the first inmates of the prison. Then after roughly 30 years of federal prison use, Alcatraz was shut down due to deterioration and cost.
The next to inhabit the island were Indians. In the Monte Cristo, a charter boat, the Indians set out for Alcatraz lead by Richard Oakes, a Mohawk Indian; they did this to symbolically claim the island for themselves. The first occupation lasted November 20th 1969 to June 11th 1971, there were also two other occupations. One of the last occupations was to open a college on Alcatraz, but the government advised the Indians to leave the island. (Johnson)
The Men who went to Alcatraz were sent there for misbehavior at other penitentiaries. No man was sent directly to Alcatraz. They were sent there for misconduct at other prisons. The men usually had also tried to break out of their old prison. The inmate got to the prison by being chained together put in a train car and shipped out to San Francisco. Once there without leaving the car; the train car was but on a boat and delivered to Alcatraz. When they stepped out of the cars they were marched around the island and into the reformatory. If the men ever got violent they would be sent to the Treatment Unit, or have pri...
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...The Rock. NIC, UNICOR. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
“Living on the Rock” Alcatraz 101.Web. 24 Jan 2014.
“Medical Attention” Alcatraz 101.Web. 24 Jan 2014.
“Rules and Regulations” Alcatraz History. Ocean View Publishing Company. Web. 23 Jan 2014.
“Solitary Confinement” Alcatraz 101.Web. 24 Jan. 2014.
“The Penitentiary Opens” Alcatraz 101.Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
“U.S.P Alcatraz Cell house Diagram” Alcatraz History Ocean View Publishing Company. Web. 23 Jan 2014.
“Welcome to the Rock” Alcatraz 101. Web. 24 Jan 2014.
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.
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
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...
The first attempt to occupy Alcatraz took place in 1964 when a group of four Native Americans landed on the island and claimed it for four hours before the coast guard removed them. This became the inspiration for a group of San Francisco State students to attempt an occupation of their own in 1969. When attempting to make it to the island, only one boat agreed to assist the Native American's in their occupation. They were not able to dock on the island, but, Richard Oaks became the leader of the group when he jumped off the boat and swam to the island. After this brief occupation Richard Oaks returned to San Francisco and began to recruit people to join the movement. Oaks went to UCLA where eighty students agreed to join the movement. On November 20, 1969 a group of one-hundred Native Americans set sail from Sausalito and landed on Alcatraz Island, beginning the occupation that would last for nineteen more months.
The description of Alcatraz is sinister and quite mysterious. Many people describe it as a haunted attraction,
"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)"
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
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.
today’s first private prisons. Initially being built to reduce overcrowding and cut cost from the regular
Robert states that it was the Americans that invented the prison. "The history of prison in America is the history of a troubled search for solutions." Before we had prisons in America, criminals where dealt with in a swift and brutal manner. Many prisoner where dealt with by corporal or capital punishment. Jails did exist in this time but they were "primarily for pretrail detention" stated Pray.
...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.
The first solitary confinement penitentiary, Western Penitentiary, was founded in 1826 with two-hundred solitary cells. Soon after the development of this penitentiary, the penal reformers decided that solitary confinement wasn’t
There IS a connection between murderous beings, such as Ted Bundy and Charles Manson, and a common high school bully. Such characters share similar traits such as a lack of remorse/shame/guilt and changing themselves if they know it will help keep them from being found out. This is known as sociopathy. The connection between the two characters listed earlier, is that the root of their behavior stems from their childhood. More specifically, it stems from their upbringing. A child who suffers from maltreatment or neglect are two very common problems. There is even the opposite of neglect, a parent who praises and pushes their child to do their best, throughout their entire life, until the child finally snaps. How a young child is treated from the moment they are born to adulthood can immensely affect the kind of person they become. If signs of sociopathy are found early on enough in the child’s life, something can be done about it.
Prisons have been around since the 1500s but from watching different movies and reading books before they were what they are today facilities, people would be put in things such as dungeons. Imprisonment is the main form of punishment or rehabilitation in the United States. It is known that the United States has the highest level of imprisonment. “Prison building efforts in the United States came in three major waves. The first began during the Jacksonian Era and led to widespread use of imprisonment and rehabilitative labor as the primary penalty for most crimes in nearly all states by the time of the American Civil War. The second began after the Civil War and gained momentum during the Progressive Era, bringing a number of new mechanisms—such as parole, probation, and indeterminate sentencing—into the mainstream of American p...
The mass media uses prison life as the source for movies and television shows. Over the years there have been many movies written about prison but the most prominent in my mind is Frank Darabont’s, The Shawshank Redemption. Throughout the film there are many examples of the falsities of prison life. There are some elements of truth but they are out weighed by the misconceptions. Numerous prisoners are allowed to walk around the prison and the prison yard with no guards in sight. In actuality there are always guards around, especially on the inside. The prisoner’s movement through the prison is highly restricted.