Alcatraz Prison

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Alcatraz island has a tremendous amount of history behind it, before and after it was a prison. Alcatraz, or nicknamed “The Rock” or “Hellcatraz”, is a seabird infested island with very little vegetation ("Alcatraz Island." Britannica School, Encyclopedia). The island is 12 acres long, and has a beautiful view of San Francisco to the west, and Oakland to the east, approximately one and a half nautical miles from the land ("Alcatraz Prison also a Fortress”). Alcatraz was not discovered by anyone until 1775, when Juan Manuel de Ayala came across the island before anyone else. He decided to name the island Isla de los Alcatraces, which actually translates to Island of the Pelicans. Everyone was interested in the island at the time Juan discovered …show more content…
After that big remodel, the prison was renamed “Pacific Branch U.S. Disciplinary Barracks” ("Alcatraz Island." Britannica School, Encyclopedia). The prison was now the largest concrete building in the whole world. The San Francisco Earthquake in 1906 struck and caused enormous amounts of damage to the San Francisco Bay area. The prison was damaged, but not as bad as other prisons in the west coast. One hundred seventy six more inmates came to Alcatraz since other prisons were very badly damaged and the inmates had no other place to go (Skulnick, Marc. "Alcatraz”). On March 21st, 1907, Alcatraz was renamed officially “Pacific Branch of the U.S. Military Prison.” In October of 1933, the Department of Justice took total control of Alcatraz ("Alcatraz Island." Britannica School, Encyclopedia). After they took over and recovery of the Great Depression took place, the prison was no longer used as a military prison after 6 years, and Alcatraz was named an official federal prison on January 1st, 1934 (Skulnick, Marc. "Alcatraz”). After every group of people, struggles, and storms came through the island, Alcatraz still was able to become one of the most well known federal prisons in the …show more content…
When 1909 came around, six hundred prison cells were added along with a hospital, library, kitchen, showers, and offices all for the inmates to use. The Great Depression arrived in the 1930’s and Alcatraz had to close temporarily due to the Army not being able to fund it anymore. Every inmate was transferred to different prisons in the area. Eighty prisoners were transferred in all (Skulnick, Marc. "Alcatraz”). Starting in 1934, the federal prison had some really dangerous prisoners than any prison had ever before ("Alcatraz Island." Britannica School, Encyclopedia). By 1935, Alcatraz had four cell blocks, eighty four cells in one block with seven foot walls, and a nine by five foot area in each in each cell ("Alcatraz Prison
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