Why America is still obsessed with San Franciscos…
Alcatraz grew to become well-known as a prison. It stayed well-known as a fable. And now, more than 60 years after the last inmate left, that fable is highly effective enough that President Donald Trump desires to flip it back into a prison.
For 29 years, from 1934 to 1963, Alcatraz served as America’s most infamous federal penitentiary. Built on 22 acres of rock in the center of San Francisco Bay, it was designed for the lads who couldn’t be held anyplace else: Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, Robert Stroud — the so-called “Birdman of Alcatraz” — and later Whitey Bulger.
Part of the cruelty was the view. Prisoners may see San Francisco from the recreation yard. According to legend, on quiet nights they may even hear New Year’s Eve events drifting across the water — laughter, music, and girls’s voices just a mile and a half away.
A hospital room is seen in Alcatraz. Getty Images
“Broadway Ave” is the nickname for the main hall between cellblocks B and C at Alcatraz. AFP via Getty Images
The prison’s fame was cemented by escape makes an attempt. The FBI says 36 males tried to flee Alcatraz in 14 different makes an attempt. Most had been caught. Some had been killed. Some drowned. Officially, no one is recognized to have escaped and survived.
But the story that still haunts the island got here in 1962, when Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin slipped through holes that they had carved behind their cells, left papier-mâché dummy heads in their beds, and pushed into the bay on a raft made from raincoats. The FBI says they drowned. The US Marshals Service has stored the case open.
Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage in 1996’s “The Rock.” Courtesy of Buena Vista Pictures. ©Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Karl Malden and Burt Lancaster in 1962’s “Birdman of Alcatraz.” Courtesy of Everett Collection. Courtesy Everett Collection
Alcatraz closed in 1963 because the same issues that made it appear unimaginable also made it impractical: water, provides, growing old buildings and huge restore prices.
Since then, it has been a Native American protest web site, a National Park vacationer attraction, a film set, a true-crime obsession and a political image. Now, with discuss of reopening it as a prison, the query is not just whether or not Alcatraz may operate again — but why America still desires it to.
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