A Visit To Alcatraz

Alcatraz is a beautiful island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. Most people remember it as the federal prison that housed famous inmates like The Birdman of Alcatraz, Al Capone, the notorious Chicago mob boss, and George “Machine Gun” Kelley. (The original gangster, not the rapper.)

I have visited out there with my family and friends many times over the years, and there is a palpable sense of history and adventure as you board the boat that ferries you out to The Rock. You can imagine what it must have been like for the prisoners, knowing there was no way to escape.

Alcatraz was billed as the most secure, federal prison in the country, and it was the final destination for the most hard-core, escape-prone prisoners in the land.

Once the prisoners were offloaded onto the island and the boat left, they knew there was no way out except by braving the very chilly waters of SF Bay. Getting sent to Alcatraz was considered a one-way ticket by most of the prisoners.

The government wanted to make an example of these prisoners, who were considered the most dangerous and desperate criminals in the entire US, and many of them were sentenced to lifetime imprisonment.

Alcatraz was designated as a maximum security prison and inmates who caused trouble in other prisons were often transferred there as punishment. The guards were very strict and inmate privileges were few and far between. It was designated as a punishment facility, not a place for rehabilitation.

You can still feel some of their spooky vibes as you begin the long, arduous hike from the boat landing to the prison itself. It is a steep climb, and you will start to feel a little like the prisoners must have as you labor up the hills to the cell blocks.

You will get to tour the various cell blocks and they have small audio guides detailing the functions of the different parts of the prison. Unlike most prisons in the country today, Alcatraz cells were designed for single occupancy.

And the food was excellent. Partly because they wanted to keep the prisoners stuffed and less escape prone. There was a small exercise yard and inmate softball teams as well. The weather every time I ever went was very chilly and windy, so be sure to layer up and dress warmly.

The infamous D Block was reserved for the worst of the worst prisoners. They were often subject to brutal punishments like solitary confinement. It was a bare concrete cell, pitch black inside, and no toilets, just a drain hole in the floor. Nobody cared if you screamed or cried, you were totally ignored.

The law limited stays in solitary to 30 days, but some of the more sadistic guards got around that by marching the prisoners outside after 30 days, letting them turn around, and before they were done blinking from the harsh light of day, forcing them back inside for another 30 days on their whim.

The guards always reminded the prisoners that the Bay was full of voracious man-eating sharks, like in “Jaws.” This was a flat-out lie meant to discourage any escape attempts and most of the prisoners were from the East Coast and Midwest, like Al Capone. They readily believed they were stuck there for the full length of their terms

Of course, famous true movies like “Escape from Alcatraz,” starring Clint Eastwood put the lie to that. Other movies about Alcatraz include The Rock with Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery, the Birdman of Alcatraz with Burt Lancaster, and Slaughterhouse Rock, a slasher film.

One thing is for sure, it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most people. At one time they would lock tourists in the cells for the experience. They had no individual locks on the cells.

Instead, they had a remote locking mechanism that locked a row of cells simultaneously. The harsh clank of the doors slamming shut signaled the end of any hope. Metallic. Final. Locked in. Trapped.

In one famous incident, the cells failed to unlock and a lot of tourists were trapped inside for longer than the designated 1 or 2-minute experience. There was a lot of instant claustrophobia and later lawsuits. But you can still walk into the cells, sit on the cots and get a feel for what it must have been like.

You get a short round-trip excursion on San Francisco Bay as an added tourist perk. But unlike the famous prisoners once housed there, you can return when the next scheduled boat appears at the end of your approximately 2–3 hour Alcatraz tour to take you back to your Pier 33 embarkation point.

Today, anybody who wants to can visit “The Rock” for a modest fee. Various tour packages are available, offering both the traditional daytime tours and now special night tours of the former federal prison too.

Alcatraz has become ever more popular over the years so you will need to check available booking times and make a reservation in advance.

In 1861, it was a military prison for the Federal Army during the Civil War, housing Confederate POWs. It was the first lighthouse on the Pacific Coast, was owned briefly by the Mexican government, and after the federal prison was shut down in 1963, Native American activists occupied the Rock for almost 2 years. There are still signs and slogans of their time there.

It’s a chilling reminder of the past. Only you get the round trip they didn’t…