The Rock

On a recent visit to San Francisco, I went on a tour of the Alcatraz Island Prison or as made famous by the Sean Connery, Ed Harris and Nicolas Cage movie, The Rock. It is a fantastic place and it make you realise that there are people in the world who spend their time thinking of ways to really mess with the minds of those shunned by society. The segregation began right from the very qualification by which you got sent to Alcatraz, this was the prison within the prison system, reserved for those that caused trouble even within the fortified walls of the US correction establishment. Many famous names have been there including Alphonso 'Scarface' Capone and the Birdman of Alcatraz.

The choosing of this island had its reasons, from every window the inmates could see the mainland (just over a mile across the freezing waters), and they could see the beauty all around including the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge. They could see the birds and the trees but could not feel the fresh air and the thick bars reminded them of their predicament. A few well behaved prisoners got yard privileges and yet the irony was that the yard was the one place you could not see the world from, you could only feel the fresh air. I am sure many a man lost his mind at the rock.

There were two escape attempts of note one in 1946 and the other 16 years later. In May, 1946 what came to be known as the "Battle of Alcatraz" and the "Alcatraz Blastout began and six prisoners were able to overpower cell house officers and gain access to weapons and cell house keys - in effect, taking control of the cell house. Their plan began to fall apart when the inmates found they did not have the key to unlock the recreation yard door which was the planned exit into the open (makes me wonder how they planned to scale the 40 ft yard wall. Shortly thereafter, prison officials discovered the escape attempt. Instead of giving up, Bernard Coy, Joe Cretzer, Marvin Hubbard, Sam Shockley, Miran Thompson, and Clarence Carnes decided to fight it out. Eventually Shockley, Thompson, and Carnes returned to their cells, but not before the officers taken hostage were shot at point-blank range in execution style. About 18 officers were injured during the escape attempt. The U.S. Marines were eventually called out to assist. The escape attempt ended with the discovery of the bodies of Coy, Cretzer, and Hubbard. Shockley, Thompson, and Carnes stood trial for the death of the officers; Shockley and Thompson received the death penalty and were executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin in December 1948. Carnes, age 19, received a second life sentence.

The second attempt was made in 1962 by the only three men ever to get out alive. Frank Morris (Clint Eastwood played him in the movie Escape from Alcatraz) and the Anglin brothers Clarence and John dug their way out of their cells with spoons and used dummies of themselves to hide the fact that they were gone and climbed out to the roof through the ventilation system and escaped. No trace was found of the Anglin brothers, Morris' jacket was found on the shore, but noone knows if he made it or if he drowned and the jacket was washed ashore. They are still classified as fugitives.

The Rock was shut down in 1963 and the prison moved. The next time it received attention was when a large Native American group occupied the island for 19 months as a protest against the seizing of Indian land by the US government. They were peacefully relocated and the Island was made a national park.