The beauty of The Rock

By Dick Tarpley / Abilene Reporter-News

Alcatraz, like its name, runs the gamut of the beauty scale from A to Z.

It stands alone in San Francisco Bay a mile and a quarter from San Francisco itself. From atop Nob Hill or along Fisherman's Wharf, it provides the same haunting appeal as Bali Hai in South Pacific.

The views from Alcatraz Island are marvelous. The elegant San Francisco skyline and Bay Bridge to the south, and the Golden Gate Bridge, in all its splendor, to the east undoubtedly doubled the yearning of prison inmates for freedom.

But the island itself lacks a supply of fresh water, wild game, and little soil other than hard rock. Little flat area exists. You're always climbing up or down the hill. A walk straight up the slope to the famous cellhouse on top would be extremely difficult.

With imported topsoil, both the military and later the families of correctional officers planted shrubs, flowers and trees which continue to grow in the craggy terrain despite a water shortage. As a result, birds flock to the island and many nest there.

Public fascination and the mystique of Alcatraz have made it one of the National Park Service's most popular attractions. Boats half an hour apart from Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco rarely have vacancies. Sometimes, reservations must be made up to five days in advance. On a recent visit to San Francisco, I found it worth the two-hour visit.

Alcatraz became a fort in 1853 shortly after California became a state, a military prison in 1915 and a federal penitentiary in 1934. Attorney General Robert Kennedy closed the prison in 1963 because of maintenance costs.

The most infamous of the 1,545 men confined there during those 29 years were Al Capone, Doc Barker, Machine Gun Kelly, Alvin Karpis, Floyd Hamilton and The Birdman, Robert Stroud. Their cells are marked now for visitors, as are those of the three most famous escapees, Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin, in June 1962. The masks they left behind to fool guards still lie on their bunks.

No one knows for sure, but Alcatraz officials are convinced they drowned and that none of the 14 prison-era escapes were successful in the cold, wind-swept waters.

Life was stark for inmates. Five committed suicide and eight were murdered. The warden told them upon arrival, "You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter and medical attention. Anything else you get is a privilege."

For security reasons, few visitors were allowed to the prison known as "The Rock." There was a library. You won the right to read by following the rules. Of the 336 cells, the most ever occupied were 302. Incorrigibles wound up in completely-dark D cells.

The mess hall was the most dangerous for guards on duty in the confined area. A metal detector checked inmates going into the area, but there was always a danger from the hardened but imaginative criminals.

A floor below the cells lay the shower room, a large open area in the center of a huge, spartan room. Privacy did not exist. Individual cells had a commode, a sink and a bunk.

The secrecy of Alcatraz and its inaccessibility arouse beliefs that prisoners were mistreated. Prison officials insist they were not, that the prison was clean, the food good, and the best-qualified personnel in the prison system were chosen for duty there.

Nevertheless, no one in Alcatraz would find life easy or comfortable. Releases usually came in eight to ten years, but only after a resident was deemed no longer incorrigible.

No women were ever housed there. Women could not be declared incorrigible until six years after the prison closed - in 1969.

Even the back-and-forth road to reduce the degree of slope up the hill to the cellblock does not prevent tourists from stopping frequently. But the starkness of the prison, the signs describing inmate disruptions and escape routes make the walk worthwhile. The view is spectacular, and the mystique is heightened by a visit to the cells themselves.