Essay On Alcatraz

Alcatraz- The Great Escape Welcome to The Rock. A federal prison located on Alcatraz Island resting in the chilly waters of San Francisco Bay. An island with a natural isolation. A maximum security prison that holds the most dangerous and difficult criminals. This island is surrounded by chilling waters and hazardous currents, which includes a horrible 1.5 mile swim to shore. Alcatraz is a hard place to break out of, but there have been many attempts, some successful, others not so much (Alcatraz). A Spanish explorer mapped and named the island, La Isla de los Alcatraces, translates to Island of the Pelicans, for its large population of birds. After seventy-five years, the current president signed an order reserving the island for military use. The construction of a new cell house, hospital, mess hall and other prison buildings on Alcatraz was built by inmates in the early 20th century. In 1933, the Army relinquished Alcatraz to the U.S. Justice Department. They needed the facility for prisoners thought to be too difficult or dangerous to be handled by other U.S.
penitentiaries. The prison was then made more secure, and opened on July 1, 1934 (Alcatraz).

There have been fourteen unsuccessful attempts. Most attempt an escape with a few other inmates. Most of the prisoners are killed before they even leave the island. Or if they did make it off the island they drowned from inexperience with swimming, getting carried away with the currents or had pneumonia from the chilling waters (Alcatraz Prison Escapes - Page 1). But a person would have had to be well-trained and prepared to be able to survive the cold waters and fast currents. The prisoners, however, had no control over their diet, they had no weight or physical training, and had no knowledge of the currents in the bay. There was a slim chance the escape attempt would be successful (Alcatraz Prison Escapes - Page 2).
While there have been many unsuccessful attempts, there have been few successful attempts.
It includes three men escaping Alcatraz on the night of June 11, 1962. Originally there were four men, but the fourth couldn’t get through the ventilator grill so they were forced to leave him behind. They spent three months digging through their air vents with sharpened spoons that they stole from the cafeteria. They also made lifelike dummy heads out of paper, soap and human hair from the barbershop. They made a makeshift raft and life preservers out of 50 raincoats that had been stolen or donated by the other inmates. The escapees climbed up 30 feet to the prison plumbing system to the root of the cell house. Then crossed 100 feet of rooftop and made it down 50 feet of piping, near the exit of the inmate shower area. They weren’t heard or seen after this point. And who knows where they are now
(Pruitt).

Alcatraz doors are no longer open to criminals, but are open for tours. As for the escapees, there are many theories as to what happened to the escapees, but there is no proof. They could be dead. Or they could be out there in the world somewhere.