Alcatras (San-Francisco, USA)

In Alcatras there was no equipment to carry out executions; that’s why those prisoners who were sentenced to death were sent to a prison in San-Quentin to be executed in a gas chamber.

Despite strict rules and tough standards for rotten criminals, Alcatras usually operated in a mode of minimal security. The work carried out by prisoners varied in its kind, depending on the prisoner himself, the type of work and degree of its responsibility. Many worked as servants: they prepared food, cleaned, did house work for the families, living on the island. The officers of Alcatraz’s guard lived on the island with their families in a separate block and, basically, were somewhat prisoners of Alcatras themselves. In many cases even care for children of the prison’s personnel was entrusted to some prisoners. Alcatras was also the home for several Chinese families who were hired as servants.
During 29 years of the prison’s work 36 people (including those two, who tried to escape twice) tried to escape; total number of attempts to escape is fourteen. Of all those who tried to escape 23 people were caught, six were shot to death while escaping, two drowned. Two prisoners who were later caught were executed in the gas chamber in San-Quentin for murder of a prison guard at the time of escape.

The main thing about Alcatras is its location. The prisoners who were kept here heard, saw, and sometimes smelled the city of San-Francisco across the bay but could not get nearer to it. It was a subtle punishment: to be confined so close to a place where real life is bubbling, and yet not having an opportunity to get there. Besides, the island was from the times of old a place where the birds had their station of rest on their way across the waters of the bay, and, consequently, it has a very strong smell of the bird’s dung and a big number of flies.

When in 1972 Alcatras was opened for tourists it became a well-known historical site visited by a great number of travelers and is considered one of the most visited sites in San-Francisco.

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