San Francisco: The story of the Alcatraz prisons that Trump wants to reopen again – when and why they were closed

His intention to re -open prisons Alcatraz, US President Trump said in order to combat the « lawlessness » plaguing the United States of America.

In fact, he has ordered the Federal Prison Directorate, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Home Affairs to work with the FBI on his idea.

Alcatraz’s prisons « will house the most ruthless and violent criminals in America, » Trump says so that « we are no longer hostage to criminals, bulls and judges who are afraid to do their job and do not allow us to leave us with criminals. »

According to Trump, the reopening of the prison, which had been closed in March 1963, would be a « symbol of law, order and justice ».

When Alcatraz was a fortress fort

The island of Alcatraz in the Gulf of San Francisco, once considered the number one prison of US prison institutions, was valuable to the US military.

In 1775, Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Agiala chartered the current bay of San Francisco. He named the rocky island of 22 acres « La Isla de Los Alcatraces », which means « island of pelicans ». Without vegetation or habitation, Alcatraz was more than a desert islet occupied by a casual cluster of birds. Under the English -speaking influence, the name « Alcatraces » became Alcatraz.

Alcatraz was held for military use under President Milard Filmor in 1850. Meanwhile, the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada mountains brought growth and prosperity in San Francisco. The lure of gold demanded the protection of California, as the goldsmiths flooded the bay of San Francisco.

In response, the US military built a fortress on the rocky side of Alcatraz. They made plans to install more than 100 cannons, making Alcatraz the heaviest armed entity on the west coast. The first operating beacon on the west coast was also built on the island of Alcatraz.

Since he never dropped his own battle weapons, Fort Alcatraz quickly evolved from island of defense on a detention island.

In the early 1860s, the island housed citizens arrested for treason during the Civil War. With the influx of prisoners, additional living spaces were built to house 500 men. Alcatraz as a prison would continue for 100 years. Throughout the history, the average population of the island ranged between 200 and 300 people, without ever being maximized.

‘The Rock’

After the devastating earthquake of San Francisco in 1906, detainees from the nearby prisons were transferred to Alcatraz. In the next five years, prisoners built a new prison called « Pacific Branch, US Military Prison, Alcatraz Island ».

Known as « The Rock », Alcatraz served as a disciplinary army troop until 1933. The prisoners were trained and received military and vocational training here.

Alcatraz of the early 20th century was a minimum security prison. The prisoners spent their days working and learning.

Alcatraz began operating as a military prison in 1868, and from 1934 on the island there were criminals of common criminal law.

Some were even employed as a babysitter for the families of prison officials. Eventually they built a baseball stadium and the prisoners made their own baseball costumes. Boxing races between prisoners, known as « Alcatraz Fights », were organized on Friday nights. Life in prison played a role in changing the landscape of the island.

The army carried soil to Alcatraz from the nearby Angel Island and many prisoners were trained as gardeners. They planted roses, blues, poppies and lilies. Under the orders of the US Army, Alcatraz was a fairly mild institution and its facilities were favorable.

Alcatraz’s geographical location was the destruction of the occupation by the US army. The introduction of food and supplies to the island was very expensive.

The great recession of the 1930s forced the army to leave the island and the prisoners were transferred to institutions in Kansas and New Jersey.

« Island of the Devil’s Divine Sam »

Alcatraz was acquired by the Federal Prison Office in 1934. The former military detention center became America’s first political prison institution.

Those who were pressing, their foot on the « rock », forgot their names and turned into … number

This « prison of the prison system » was designed specifically to house the most horrible prisoners, the riots that other federal prisons could not hold successfully.

Its isolated location made it ideal for the exile of cruel criminals, while a rigorous daily routine taught prisoners to follow the rules and prison regulations.

The great recession was a witness to some of the most abominable criminal activities in modern American history and Alcatraz’s rigor was perfectly in his time.

The famous prisoners

Alcatraz has hosted notorious criminals, such as Al « marked » Capone, who was convicted of tax evasion and spent five years on the island. Al Capone was deprived of his usual luxurious amenities and was no longer protected by violence and chaos. However, he was involved in music and founded a prison band.

Al Capone was one of the first prisoners to be sent there, recorded as a number of number 85.

Elsworth Raymond Johnson, also known as « Babi », went to Alcatraz in 1952, at the height of his reign as the so -called « Godfather of Harlem ». Although it was never confirmed, one of his detainees said in interviews that Babi was the one who provided the boat to the 1962 runners.

O Elsworth Raymond Johnson

Robert Straud was transferred to Alcatraz in 1942, he had already established himself as one of the most famous and frightening criminals. In the next 30 years, often relegated to isolation, Straud became a self -taught ornithologist, studying the design and reproduction of canaries.

His hobby became so forced that he was able to raise birds and maintain a laboratory in his cell.

Robert Straud

Alvin Karpis officially public enemy number one and a member of a terrible criminal gang of bandits, hijackers and kidnappers of the 1930s. He was the last of the criminals of the recession arrested and served for 26 years, the largest sentence.

Alvin Karpis

In its 29 years of operation, the federal prison hosted more than 1,500 convicts.

The 4 rights of prisoners

The daily life at the Alcatraz Federal Federal Foundation was tough. Prisoners had four rights.

These included medical care, roof, food and clothing. Entertainment activities and family visits had to be won with hard work.

The cells of isolation

Punishments for bad behavior included hard work, the use of a 12kg and chain ball, and the padlocks where prisoners were kept in isolation, limited to bread and water. A total of 14 attempts were made by more than 30 prisoners.

Most were caught, many were executed, and some overwhelmed the frozen waves of San Francisco’s bay.

The three runners

In 1962, three prisoners in the Alcatraz prisons were able to escape the famous island-Frurio, with their luck since being one of the greatest mysteries of American history. Alcatraz’s infamous prisons were considered inaccessible because of their guard, but also that the waters of the San Francisco bay that circled the island were full of danger.

The three escapes in a photo that the FBI gave at that time. Photo source: news.sky.com

In their place they had put fake heads in an excellent way made of paper, with real hair and painted eyes.

The fake heads made by the runaways

The three criminals had used sharpened spoons to dig the prison walls, left the mummies of compressed paper on their beds, and fled to the sea with a raft made of 50 waterproof.

The hole from which they escaped remains as it is for the visitors. Photo source: wikipedia

Frank Morris, Clarence Anglin and John Anglin went into history as the only prisoners who had managed to escape. Authorities thought they were lost forever at sea forever, but no corpses were never found, but no traces of them.

Recently a letter came to the surface, overturning the dominant view to date. Could the three prisoners be alive today?

The letter of… runaway to the fbi

In 2013, the letter of a Jon Anglin came into the hands of the authorities. « My name is John Anglin. I escaped from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. I am 83 years old and in poor health. I have cancer. That night we saved her in the native! Frank died in October 2005. His grave has written another name. My brother died in 2011. « 

Everyone thought it was a scam. But when the FBI people searched for it better, they saw how these three names had actually escaped at that time.

The letter that arrived at FBI

They weren’t the first. There had been several other attempts. With failure, which usually ended up with the death of those who were trying. Something that was normally in place for all three. After it was stated that they were drowned in their attempt to escape.

But in the end, the authorities may have been wrong. And these three dangerous criminals are the only ones who managed to escape the « rock » and be saved from the frozen waters?

Indeed, the letter closes with a request that stumbles between the brave and the nobility on the part of Anglin: « If you announce what I am writing to you on television I promise to spend a year in prison with the necessary medical care. I will contact you. This is not funny. It’s the truth. « 

FBI laboratory examined the letter for fingerprints and DNA and analyzed the manuscript without gaining clear results.

Why was Alcatraz closed?

The operation of the prison on the island of Alcatraz was expensive, as all supplies had to be transported by boat. The island had no source of freshwater and nearly one million gallons were transported every week.

Building a high security prison elsewhere was more accessible to the federal government, and since 1963 the « island of the devil of the Divine Sam » no longer existed.

Today, the equivalent of the infamous federal prison on the island of Alcatraz is a highest security institution in Florence, Colorado. It has the nickname « Alcatraz of the rocky mountains ».

Tourism

The island of Alcatraz became a National Park in 1972 and is considered part of the Golden Gate recreation area.

Tourists in Alcatraz’s prisons

Open to the public in 1973, Alcatraz receives more than a million visitors from around the world each year.