Alcatraz Prison - An Infamous Sight in California's Bay Area

California is home to several well-known prisons, including the Central California Women's Facility, California City Correctional Facility, and the California State Prison, Corcoran. One prison in California - a most infamous sight in the Bay Area - is the Alcatraz prison, a Federal Penitentiary for nearly three decades. 

The prison was considered almost inescapable. When it was still operational, there were reports of 36 escape attempts in which 23 got caught, six prisoners shot, and two drowned. In the Alcatraz prison's entire history, only three men - Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin - managed to disappear, which we shall delve into later. 

Alcatraz is situated on an island and surrounded by a large body of water. Even if you had a boat, traveling to the Bay Area is almost impossible to navigate because of the dangerous waves that will throw you around. Aside from the sea being the greatest enemy of prisoners, they also had great white sharks to consider. Alcatraz is so secure there have been no confirmed successful escapes. Anyone who tried to escape met their fate - shot by guards or lost in the water. 

What's Inside the Alcatraz Prison?

You can see the prison's interior in old movies like the 1979 film "Escape from Alcatraz." The directors mostly filmed the movie inside the actual prison, so what your parents or grandparents have seen was the real Alcatraz setting. Several ghost hunters have explored the prison based on rumors that prisoners who died stayed behind to haunt the prison. 

If you get the chance to take a tour inside Alcatraz prison, you can find three cell blocks named A, B, and C. They all run parallel to each other, with block A being the shortest and the other two making up most of the main building. Each cell was five feet tall, nine feet wide, and had the necessities like a bed, sink, toilet, and a small writing desk. There were also two shelves on the walls for prisoners for their books and meager belongings. The cell walls were constructed out of solid concrete, while the cell entrance has hardened steel bars. 

However, there is one extra cellblock known as "Cell Block D," where it housed the most notorious prisoners. Their freedom was limited by only having an hour of exercise per week. For prisoners who were frequently causing trouble, guards sent them to "The Hole." Five of these cells had an iron door that blocked light. The only thing you could see in this cell was a hole in the floor. Prisoners sent to the Hole had limited food, and no clothing or blankets were allowed. 

How Prisoners Lived Their Lives

When you hear the prison's name, you may assume that everything inside the prison was harsh and miserable and that guards treated prisoners inhumanely. That's where you're wrong because the life inside Alcatraz was like any other ordinary prison in California. The prison was neither too relaxed nor too harsh. Every morning, prisoners cleaned their cells, dressed appropriately, and would stand in front of their cells to prepare for the guards' headcount. 

Once the guards finished the headcount, the prisoners fell in line and walked to the mess hall to eat their breakfasts. After eating, they worked in the docks, the industrial building, or would do laundry. Some prisoners could even use their time to read books in the library. When 9:30 PM hit, they returned to their cells, and guards switched off the lights.

Instances When Prisoners Tried to Escape

Even if the prison was tightly-secured, it didn't stop different prisoners from trying to escape. As mentioned earlier, Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin are the only prisoners never found after their escape. The three of them spent months planning their jailbreak, using spoons to slowly chip away the concrete until they could access an open maintenance space. They built a makeshift raft made from raincoats, and guards never noticed them because they used papier mache to create heads covered under the blankets. 

Once they finished building the raft, they climbed out of the ventilation shaft to the roof, climbed over the fence, and started rowing towards the San Francisco Bay. When guards noticed that they escaped and started looking for the three, they saw personal items belonging to one of the brothers. Later on, the guards deduced that the prisoners drowned, but some say they managed to escape to the San Francisco Bay. Up until this day, no one has concrete answers on whether they lived or not. 

Modern Prisons

Nowadays, the prison buildings are far more advanced than Alcatraz, but the prison's location on an island surrounded by shark-infested waters still provides natural high-security. Most modern prisons have high-tech security features such as security doors with motion sensors, motion lights, and even anti-ligature doors to prevent prisoners from harming themselves during incarceration. 

California Access Doors has a variety of products for high-security buildings, including anti-ligature doors. Give us a call at 1 (800) 656-1095 or visit us online to place your order.