It’s August 11, 1934, and along with 136 prisoners you are on your way to what will
become known as America’s toughest prison.
You guys are what the authorities have called “the incorrigibles”, because in the prisons
where you have come from you just couldn’t stop causing trouble.
All of you have been called violent and unpredictable, and so you are being taken to the penitentiary
version of hell.
You sit there on a specially-designed train coach, handcuffed and surrounded by 60 FBI
agents, U.S. Marshals and other security.
The atmosphere is solemn, and each of you grizzly-looking, hardened criminals eye each
other with distrust.
Every chug of the train is foreboding; in your mind it says to you, “You’re going
to hell, you’re going to hell, you’re going to hell.”
You are not wrong.
That’s how the first shipment of prisoners travelled to Alcatraz Island.
None of those guys were prisoner number one since Alcatraz had some left over Army prisoners.
The place had been a military prison before it became the penitentiary renowned as being
an inescapable hellhole.
Let’s just pretend you were one of those prisoners again.
You arrive on that train in a place called Tiburon at 9.40 am.
A barge is waiting in the water there, and that’s how you’ll get to the island located
in San Francisco Bay.
The train carriage where you have been sitting could perhaps go down as one of the most well-guarded
trains in the history of rail.
Imagine if some of the USA’s most violent prisoners all got loose, something akin to
a movie about the Wild West.
No one escapes on this day.
Many of the men around you are convicted killers, and others are notorious bank robbers.
You could make a book out of your combined rap sheets.
Each of the guys has been called an “agitator” and the authorities have noted that the men
are “desperate”.
Many of them have planned prison escapes from other places, and it’s well known that they
will kill anyone who gets in the way of their freedom.
For that reason you will be guarded by highly trained men.
And when we say highly trained, we don’t mean in rehabilitation.
They are men that were chosen for their toughness, not their ability to help improve prisoners’
behavior.
The two men in charge, the warden and his assistant, have been nicknamed the, “iron
men.”
When you finally get to the ferry ship that will take you to the island you are handcuffed
with another man and both of you are shackled together.
You are ordered to walk ten feet forward and cross a gang plank, and then on to the ship.
You are surrounded by law enforcement and prison guards.
All this is happening without the press looking on, because the authorities have kept the
operation secret.
Only one lone photographer got news of the move.
At Alcatraz’s dock you and the guy you are chained to walk between two rows of guards.
Two by two you are marched through the gate, into the yard, and then into the cell house.
You are searched and given a number, after which you are allocated a cell.
Now your cuffs are removed and you are free of the other man.
But before you can go to your cell you are taken to the bathhouse and stripped naked.
You are examined in every nook and cranny of your body and then told you can wash.
You are then taken to a cell and the door is locked.
Outside is a sign that has your name and number.
The authorities will later say that the entire operation went perfectly.
Ok, so what does this cell look like?
You are assigned to block B. You might move to C later and block A you learn isn’t used
much at all to incarcerate men.
D Block is solitary, a segregation center where a prisoner can be locked up 24 hours
a day.
These cells are sometimes referred to as “confinement chambers.”
You might get let out in the yard for an hour once a week if you get on the right side of
the guards, but other than that, you face total isolation if you’re sent there.
So, your cell in block B is 5 feet by 9 feet (1.5 meters by 2.7 meters).
Proverbially speaking, if you were to swing a cat in there you’d kill it.
Inside that cell is a cot that you can sleep on and it is made out of steel.
It folds against the wall when not being used because there really isn’t that much space
in this cell.
There is a steel shelf to sit on and a steel shelf to put things on.
There’s also a basin and a toilet.
Everything you own when you first get into the cell is a toothbrush, some tooth powder,
two towels and a cup.
There will be books to read, so you can fill that shelf at some point.
You will be able to get visits if you are good, but only once a month and non-contact.
If you fall sick, there is a hospital in the prison.
Over the coming year some big names will arrive at the prison, including the man known as
George "Machine Gun" Kelly.
Others that arrive have been convicted of what the press call the most atrocious crimes.
Alcatraz is called the “end of the line”, the last resort.
It holds formidable robbers and ruthless murderers, and it especially holds anyone who has tried
to escape from another prison or a prisoner that has hurt or killed a prison guard where
he was housed.
Maybe the most famous criminal to stay on “the rock” is the mafia crime lord Al
Capone.
He actually arrives shortly after you.
So, there you are, sitting in your cell.
You receive a booklet and it’s called, “REGULATIONS FOR INMATES U.S.P., ALCATRAZ.”
It tells you that what you have right now is what you are entitled to.
The clothes on your back, the roof over your head, and some bathroom items.
Anything else you might receive is a privilege, and to get more things you will have to show
good conduct and a good work ethic.
You might even get some time taken off your sentence.
But show bad conduct and the opposite might happen.
You might lose privileges, get time added on, or be sent to those isolation cells.
This is nothing you haven’t read before.
In bold letters the booklet tells you there will be no “TRADING, GAMBLING, SELLING,
GIVING, OR LOANING.”
They mean this, too.
You will work five days a week, eight hours a day.
The rest of the time will be recreation time and cell time.
You can watch a movie twice a month and if you show good conduct you’ll be able to
go out on the yard and play handball.
You are also told that this won’t happen just yet since your first 30 days will be
spent in the cell.
This is called the “quarantine” period.
It doesn’t sound too bad, only you guess the guards will be stricter.
That is very true.
You will wake up at 7 am and you’ll be counted.
You must be absolutely silent during this time or you will be disciplined.
This rule of silence will be the thing that gets to you the most, and the guards are serious
about it.
You might have your own cell, but the silence kills you.
You can try talking through the toilet bowl, but that will get you in serious trouble.
You can talk when you eat with the other prisoners.
The food at least isn’t that bad.
In fact, you are quite impressed with the chow.
For breakfast one day you get oatmeal, milk, sausage, fried potatoes, toast and coffee.
For dinner you get some bean soup, roast beef and veg.
For your supper you get pork and beans, salad, more coffee and bread.
On another day the breakfast is similar, but dinner consists of breaded cod, potato chowder,
cabbage, bread and tea.
For supper one evening you get vegetable soup, spaghetti and meatballs, fruit pudding and
bread.
They even throw in some spiced apples.
What is going on?
You are eating better than you did on the outside and a lot better than the many Americans
living in abject poverty.
In years to come the delicious food at Alcatraz will become legendary, and will make any prisoner
in the present day wish he was taken back in time as he chows down on his single slice
of moldy bread and dubious slop filled with mystery meat and gristle.
At Alcatraz the wardens believe that healthy food and tasty food will lead to good behavior
and cut down on violence.
Three good meals a day should keep the prisoner in good physical and mental health.
You are what you eat, and your warden believes slop doesn’t align with good behavior.
Alcatraz is quite progressive in this respect.
Ok, so you’ve got your pounded beef steak with gravy and mash, and you’re not gonna
complain about that.
The silence thing gets to you, but as you follow all the rules you at least get time
on the yard and books to read.
It’s a bit cramped in the cell, but at least you don’t have to share with a man who has
a history of atrocious violence.
What can go wrong?
Well, that routine is so strict that it can feel oppressive.
It’s final lock up at 4.50 pm and lights out at 9.30 pm and until the next day you
are not supposed to make a sound.
A man named Edward Wutke doesn’t take to Alcatraz very well.
He is prisoner number 47 and he is the first man to take his life in there.
More will follow.
There is bullying of course, and this leads one man to severely hurt himself.
He wants to get transferred because of the bullying he faces daily.
So, for you, as long as you don’t get bullied, life could be ok.
You just have to adhere to the strictest of routines.
You even get to go to the library, and since you are eating well and exercising, you might
actually get rehabilitated.
In fact, as an average prisoner you will get through almost 100 books a year.
As the years go by you will get the chance to use a musical instrument and listen to
a radio.
The problem is, what if you don’t follow the rules?
Well, that’s when Alcatraz turns into, “Hellcatraz.”
Let’s just add that it is very easy to break the rules.
That code of silence is enforced with enthusiasm and you also have to look presentable at all
times.
Your cell has to be spotless and come rain or shine you have to work really hard.
There is no shirking at Alcatraz and so you might say it is run in a zero tolerance style.
Now, with that in mind, the place is full of notorious criminals with problems of self-control.
Things can go wrong.
Let’s say one day you just can no longer cope with the oppressive rules and you start
talking at night and not cleaning your cell.
You are sent to isolation and then you do the same again.
You hit out at people and talk back to guards.
That’s when you go to D-Block and get put in one of the cells from 9 to 14.
This is known as the “hole”.
And before you get thrown in there you are stripped naked and beaten.
The guards will come back and torture you now and again.
You lie on a cold concrete floor and there is no light that comes into the cell.
You can shower once a week and might get out to the yard for an hour in the week.
The rest of the time is spent in that cold, dark cell, being treated worse than an animal.
You are given no toothbrush or soap to clean yourself.
At one point a guard throws cold water over you.
The cell stinks like a sewer, too, and you can forget about that tasty food.
You are given four slices of bread a day and then once a week you get a proper meal.
In conclusion, Alcatraz is a foreboding place just to look at and it comes with ruthless
men who might bully and kill.
The food is good but some men just can’t cope with the rules.
This is what one of your fellow inmates says about that, “Men go slowly insane under
the exquisite torture of restricted and undeviating routine.”
Men crack, and then they are punished, sometimes severely, and this happens a lot.
The question is, will you crack or will you get through it?
Maybe you could have survived Alcatraz, but now we have another challenge for you, and
that’s to watch this other great episode of The Infographics Show.
Or if you’re not up for the task, then try out this other episode.