Alcatraz Island is located in the middle of San Francisco Bay in California. It was formerly used as a military stockade and later as a maximum security prison . Today, the island is a historic site supervised by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It is listed as a National Historic Landmark. Its name comes from the Spanish word for gannet

It is home to the now abandoned prison, the oldest operating lighthouse on the West Coast of the United States, early military fortifications, and natural features such as rock pool s, a seabird colony, and unique views of the coastline.

History

Alcatraz was a military fort from 1850 to 1933. The United States Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz were acquired by the United States Department of Justice on October 12, 1933. The island became a federal prison on January 1, 1934. During the 29 years it was in use, the jail held such notable criminals as Al Capone and Robert Franklin Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz. The penitentiary was closed for good on March 21, 1963. The prison closed because it was far more expensive to operate than other prisons of the time. It was easier to build a new, traditional land-bound prison than to pay for all the upkeep and support the Alcatraz prison required.

During its 29 years of operation, the penitentiary never logged any official successful escapes. All attempts were either ultimately unsuccessful or tragic, where the attempters were either shot dead or drowned in the frigid San Francisco Bay waters. Three escapees, Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin , disappeared from their cells on June 11, 1962. This attempt, popularized in the motion picture Escape from Alcatraz was the most intricate ever devised. Though only some evidence was found that they died in their attempt, they are officially listed as "missing and presumed drowned." It is very likely that they did die in their attempt as, after all these years, no one has surfaced claiming to be or even have seen the escapees.

In 1969, a group of Native Americans attempted to reclaim the land saying that an 1868 federal treaty allowed Native Americans to use all federal territory that the government was not actively using. After nearly two years of occupation, the government forced them off.

The island is also known as "The Rock", and it featured in a movie of the same name.

Cell phone service is available on the island.

External links

• National Park Service - Alcatraz Official Website http://www.nps.gov/alcatraz/
• Federal Bureau of Prisons - A Brief History of Alcatraz http://www.bop.gov/ipapg/ipaalcatraz.html
• California State Military Museum - Post at Alcatraz Island http://www.militarymuseum.org/Alcatraz.html
• Report on the 1962 escape incident http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/alcatraz.htm (from the FBI's FOIA electronic reading room)
• San Quentin State Prison is nearby and still in use.

• Maps and aerial photos
  • Street map from Mapquest http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=decimal&latitude=NaodW29-item6b
    b424002cba0491&longitude=-122.42389&zoom=9
  • Topographic map from Topozone http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=37.82721&lon=NaodW29-ite
    m76fb15cf2513da&s=24&size=m
  • Aerial photograph from Microsoft Terraserver http://terraserver.microsoft.com/map.aspx?t=4&s=8&lon=NaodW29-item3b5b34c0122723
    20&lat=37.82721&w=600&h=400