Alcatraz: The island that turned into a US federal prison
When you think of India’s freedom movement, one thing always comes to your mind. It is the wrongful imprisonment and death sentences faced by so many freedom fighters. In fact, if you visit Andaman’s Cellular Jail, the British colonial prison, it sends shivers down your spine. It is probably one of the most infamous prisons in India where many notable independence activists were kept as exiled criminals or political prisoners.
That makes us wonder, are there any other islands around the world that have been used as prisons? Most certainly, yes! Take the Alcatraz Island for example. Located in San Francisco Bay in California, it is one of the most important US federal prisons. Curious to know more about it? Keep reading.
Discovery of the island
In the 18th century, long before USA was independent, Spanish naval officer and explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala came upon an island while chartering the San Francisco Bay which he intended to invade, alongside the rest of California. It was part of an archipelago where seabirds such as gannets and pelicans frequented. Impressed by the fact, Ayala named the island “La Isla de Los Alcatraces” that literally translates to “the Island of the Pelicans.” Interestingly, pelicans in archaic Spanish were called ‘Alcatraz.’ Since then, the name stuck around. Meanwhile, USA became independent, and the area permanently came under the US government.
How it turned into a prison
In the 1850s, the then US President Millar Fillmore was once vacationing with his family in the San Francisco Bay when he noticed the island far away. Upon asking his men what it was used for, he realised it was completely vacant. This is when he decided to use the 22 acres land situated 1.5 miles offshore from the mainland as a military basecamp. Soon, he also ordered a fortress to be built on the island to set up his own headquarters. He believed the place would be influential to spy on the neighbours, especially Mexico and will act as the most strongly defended military station on the US West Coast.
Soon, the Civil War broke out across the nation in 1861 and the US Department of the Pacific started holding prisoners on the island. By 1863, the US military was also detaining private citizens accused of treason amidst the suspension of the writ of Habeas Corpus in the USA.
With the turn of the century, the US government well realised that the island was ideal to build a formal prison. Thus, in the early 1900s, they started using the prisoners to turn the fortress into a penitentiary by changing the rooms into cell blocks. A hospital was also built to tend to the sick and wounded. Now, fast forward to 1934, it came to be known as Alcatraz Prison and became an official part of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
For the next 29 years, it functioned as a notorious and high-security federal jail where seasoned criminals such as the murderers, gangsters and bank robbers were imprisoned. There were four cell blocks comprising of 336 cells each. There were also 36 segregation cells and 6 solitary confinement cells. A library was also part of the premises. For their own entertainment, the inmates started naming the corridors and cell blocks. For instance, the corridor between A Block and B Block was Michigan Avenue, the central walkway between B and C Block was called Broadway, the corridor between C Block and the library was named Park Avenue, and the corridor in D Block was nicknamed Sunset Strip. On the first day, 137 prisoners were sent, and by the time it closed down, there were more than 2000 prisoners incarcerated.
Closure of the prison
On 21st March 1963, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy decided to close the penitentiary. Why? Firstly, because several inmates managed to escape by the water route and a few even managed. Then maintaining it was also becoming far too expensive in comparison to the other prisons. Moreover, half a century of saltwater saturation had severely eroded the buildings. In addition, the rich and celebrity population of San Francisco Bay also started complaining about serious pollution that resulted out of the prison sewage. In fact, in order to replace the Alcatraz Prison, a new and traditional land-bound prison called the United States Penitentiary was constructed in Marion, Illinois, that opened in the same year. For a few years, the island remained completely closed until it was opened for some Native American tribes who prefer to live in isolation.