A Prison House in Heaven
In the midway of San Francisco bay, set up by some of the most lovely and glorious views in the country lies Alcatraz Island. A federal retributive is not normally accepted on the list of one’s vacation projects, however the history and beauty of this island warrant an exception. From 1934 to 1963 a number of the most feared criminals in the American penal organisation called the rock home. Noted for the wild contrast between its spectacularly serene surroundings and the harshness of life and reference inside its walls, Alcatraz has found its way into American lore.
In The Beginning named Isla de los Alcatraces, or Island of the Pelicans it was later transformed and reduced to Alcatraz. Today looking out from the island visitors see a picturesque view from the Golden Gate Bridge, and downtown San Francisco, to the Bay Bridge, and Treasure Island. One can for a moment guess this location as the putting of a luxuriant holiday resort. Moving Around from the sees outside the island to its internal subjects however, rapidly brings back the notion that this island was the scene of a less easy history.
Most famous for its role as a prison, Alcatraz was initially a military base. When gold was disclosed in California in 1848 San Francisco’s population jumped from 300 to 30,000 in a matter of years. With this new influx of population and riches there was a require for the United States government to protect the region from other nations. In 1850 when California became a state, a triangle of munitions was designed to protect San Francisco Bay. Upon its completion in 1853 Fortress Alcatraz took on the lead role as the most prestigious coastal defense on the western coast. The landscape of the island was united into the design, and high walls were built on the rocky isle, leaving the dock as the only access to the fort.
Alcatraz was never called upon to support the bay, however a number of small incidents during the Civil War added the island into the spot easy. As its use as a defensive fortress lessoned, the island began to take on a new role, that of military prison. Eleven enlisted men were imprisoned in the guardhouse cellar in 1859, and slowly deserters, thieves, and other military criminals were sent there from the San Franciscan forts. Finally in 1861 Alcatraz was named the official prison for the Department of the Pacific. The island served this role until 1933 when the cost of importation caters led the Army to leave, sending prisoners to Kansas and New Jersey.
At this point offense in America had become an increasing problem, fed mostly by the difficulties associated with inhibition. A new prison was sought that could take the worst of the country’s criminals, and withdraw them from the public. While land in Alaska was earlier seen, the Army’s recent leaving from Alcatraz cemented the island as the choice for America’s new super-prison. The facility was to take in the most troublesome of inmates from other prisons around the state.
In 1934, Al Capone, perhaps the penitentiary’s most infamous prisoner, gone far as one of the first official transfers. His reaching generated grand concern, and sparked more headlines then the opening of the prison itself. Previously while jailed in Atlanta, Capone had been able to achieve a lifestyle within the jail that was supersonic of for other prisoners. A carpeted cell and a radio were among the niceties he was able to procure through bribes and other methods. He was even able to continue to manage his organisation through relatives who established themselves in a nearby hotel. For this reason he was put on a secure prison railroad car without notice, and shipped to Alcaztraz in the promises that the lack of outside contact would be the government’s answer to the Capone trouble. On the rock Capone was never able to misrepresent the warden or guards, and was limited to menial duties along with the rest of the prison population. Staying only 4 years due to health complications Capone given for FCI Closing Island in 1939.
Visitors can wonder at the wildlife, gardens, and great opinions from the high cliffs before entering the cell house where they can be locked within one of the solitary confinement cells. There in the cold pitch black room they can experience for just a brief moment what life must have been like at the prison in heaven.
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