Can you imagine being held inside a prison surrounded by water? A place where the wind seems to blow all the time? A hopeless place where the real world seems a lifetime away?  Imagine you are outside exercising and you look across San Francisco bay toward land which is over a mile away. Icy water, big waves and strong, dangerous rip currents stand between you and freedom.  Even with good food and clean cells, Alcatraz felt mentally exhausting. The constant noise of metal doors, the cold air, and the sound of waves never stopped. Alcatraz is the name of the island and it became known as the toughest prison in the United States. It was not just a prison, it was a federal penitentiary that held some notorious criminals.

Nicknamed the “Rock” , Alcatraz prisoners lived in small cells with iron bars, ate simple meals, and followed tight rules. It had to be the toughest prison because it held some of the toughest prisoners. Infamous inmates like Al Capone, Mickey Cohen, Alvin “Creepy” Karpis and “Machine Gun” Kelly were sent there after they were captured. These were old fashioned mobsters known for bank robberies, kidnappings and murder. People like this were sent to Alcatraz because they were too dangerous to keep at any other federal prison.

Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin were all three sent to Alcatraz not because their crimes were that bad, but because they had escaped or tried to escape from other prisons. The three became famous for their 1962 escape from Alcatraz. It took them six months of planning and work to make the escape happen. They sharpened spoons to dig through walls and they painted cardboard to cover the holes while they made the holes big enough. They made dummies to lay in their beds so they could get enough time to get off the island. Last but not least they made a raft to get them safely from the island to the mainland shore. It took time, but they stole 50 raincoats and waterproof glue. One of the biggest mysteries of modern times is what happened after the escape. No one knows if the three made it to shore alive. Some say they did and others think they didn’t. What do you think?

 Alcatraz was closed mainly because it was expensive and too hard to run. Everything on the island had to be brought in by boat. They had to ship in food, fresh water, fuel, and supplies. That was way more expensive than other prisons. Another cost was rebuilding the buildings. The salty ocean air caused metal to rust and concrete to crack and fixing the prison would have cost millions of dollars. The famous 1962 escape didn’t help either. Even though the prison claimed no one could escape, the break made officials question whether Alcatraz was really doing its job. A year after the escape, in 1963, the prison officially closed.