History of AlcatrazWhat do you do with extremely dangerous prisoners? The answer is Alcatraz: “The Rock”, a small island off the coast of San Francisco, California. Alcatraz kept some of the most ruthless killers and notorious criminals locked away, safely away from society from 1943 to 1963. Today, Alcatraz no longer functions as a prison, but is open to the public as a tourist attraction. This prison is undoubtedly one of the most famous in the country due to its unique beginning and the notoriety of the criminals held there. In Gennifer Choldenko's novel Al Capone Does My Shirts, the interaction of civilians on the island is shown through several fictional characters and their connections to Alcatraz and its prisoners. As Alcatraz was the most famous maximum security prison in the United States, it will always be an icon in American history. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayAlcatraz is an island located in San Francisco Bay, California. The island covers 12 acres in the San Francisco Bay Area. The first people to walk on the island are said to have been the Ohlone tribe. The US Army was interested in it because it could be useful as a military base. In 1850 the army built a fort on the island. The fort's original purpose was to defend the new state of California and its seaport. After about ten years the island became a military prison for incarcerated soldiers. The fort expanded its holding capacity in 1860 to house 450 prisoners. In the early 1900s the military prison was closed, and in 1933 it was converted into a U.S. Army prison ("Alcatraz"). At the end of the 1920s the Great Depression began and before that Prohibition came into force. Crime was high in big cities like San Francisco. Robberies, murders and kidnappings were some of the worst crimes the authorities had had to deal with. The police force and the US government needed a place to put these criminals. When the Army no longer wanted the island and facilities, the U.S. Department of Justice prepared the military prison to become the highest-security, world-class prison in the United States. The Federal Bureau of Prisons ran Alcatraz. Alcatraz would be home to the most violent, brutal and most likely escape prisoners. The Bureau of Prisons has largely modified the prison to accommodate nonmilitary inmates. Security was the best of the time with metal detectors, electronic locking systems and other structural components in every cell (Biddle). The staff were highly trained and were the best in the security industry. One of the major differences of Alcatraz compared to most other prisons was that each cell could only hold one prisoner, without exceptions. This rule made it nearly impossible for inmates to come up with ideas about how to escape together and would decrease violence in prison. Alcatraz tried many things, such as a silent prison, to maintain order and control over the prisoners. Prisoners could only speak to their lawyer and only on special occasions could they speak to someone else. The silent system was supposed to reduce any communication with other inmates so they couldn't have "big" ideas. Since only the worst criminals in the community were sent to Alcatraz, the inmates became almost celebrities in their own way. The staff could not give any special treatment to the inmates because of their previous celebrity status or otherwise. The rule in Alcatraz was that once you entered your status was erased and you were just another guycriminal in punishment. Alcatraz is seen as a dark, dilapidated and sad prison in San Francisco Bay. These ideas are completely wrong. Alcatraz had some of the highest sanitation standards in a prison. Alcatraz had a huge library, a full hospital, musical instruments, outdoor activities, and even educational opportunities. The University of California offered schooling for inmates. Inside the large structure there was also an auditorium where they could watch movies and go to church. In the 1940s prisoners could even listen to the radio in their rooms with a speaker they could control (Roberts). Alcatraz focused on running a prison in the best shape possible. The facility could hold about 400 prisoners, but the Bureau would not admit more than 302 at a time. That's because they were dealing with prisoners who were among the worst criminals in the nation. The smaller number of prisoners helped the staff not feel overwhelmed by all the prisoners. The smallest number of inmates ever recorded was just under 200, and Alcatraz held a total of 1,557 prisoners from 1934 to 1963 (Skulnick). Alcatraz had exactly 14 escape attempts during its years of operation. Fewer than 40 of the 1,557 inmates were involved. Three men in the Alcatraz story managed to escape, but then disappeared. Frank Morris, John Anglin and Frank Anglin were the only men to leave Alcatraz. They made drills out of supplies they found and broke through a wall behind their room. They built lifeboats out of raincoats glued together and tried to row to shore (Ostler). The men were never seen or heard from again. Some ships in the bay said they saw small rafts that night, but thought nothing of it. Another time, a group of six men remained in the cell block instead of going with the other prisoners where they were supposed to be, and held nine guards hostage. They used the guard's keys to go and steal many weapons. The six inmates were trying to start a riot but it didn't work. The Marine Corps moved in and threw grenades that killed three prisoners and two guards. The other three inmates were captured and executed (Skulnick). One of the most famous inmates ever held at Alcatraz was Al Capone. He was known to be the leader of an organized crime ring in Chicago. Originally, Capone simply ran errands and worked for Johnny Torrio, a major criminal in New York at the time. However, when Prohibition outlawed the sale and production of liquor, the two moved to Chicago to begin bootlegging alcohol. When Torrio retired, Capone inherited the crime empire the two had built, which now included gambling and prostitution. He desperately tried to eliminate enemy gangs, often through shootings. The most famous of these events is known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, in which Capone and four other members of his gang killed seven members of a rival gang in a garage in Chicago on February 14, 1929. Eventually, Capone was captured and killed . his career as a criminal was brought to an end. Surprisingly, he was charged with federal income tax evasion, a crime that was unrelated to his gang-related activities. The prosecution believed it had a better chance of convicting him on these charges. The jury found him guilty on five counts, and Capone was sentenced to 11 years in the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. He was later transferred to Lincoln Heights Prison. On August 11, 1934, Capone was transferred to Alcatraz, a newly established prison at the time. It was said that he was the one who did the prison laundry for work during.