A small personal photography project about the prison of Alcatraz island.
Location: Alcatraz Island, San Francisco (California) - The United States of America
The federal prison on Alcatraz Island in the chilly waters of California’s San Francisco Bay housed some of America’s most difficult and dangerous felons during its years of operation from 1934 to 1963. Among those who served time at the maximum-security facility were the notorious gangster Al “Scarface” Capone (1899-1947) and murderer Robert “Birdman of Alcatraz” Stroud (1890-1963). No inmate ever successfully escaped The Rock, as the prison was nicknamed, although more than a dozen known attempts were made over the years. After the prison was shut down due to high operating costs, the island was occupied for almost two years, starting in 1969, by a group of Native-American activists. Today, historic Alcatraz Island, which was also the site of a U.S. military prison from the late 1850s to 1933, is a popular tourist destination.
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"Alcatraz was never no good for nobody...".
— Frank Weatherman —
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“You get to Alcatraz by being the worst
of the worst. Unless you’re me. I came
here because my mother said I had to.”
— Gennifer Choldenko —
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'Escape from Alcatraz'
On June 12, 1962, inmates Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin are discovered missing from their cells on Alcatraz Island during an early morning bed check. To this day, they have never been found.
An investigation into the inmates’ escape reveals an elaborate plan involving the construction of a life raft, life vests, paddles, dummy heads, and an array of tools and materials stolen to escape their cells. They climbed to the prison’s roof, escaped through a vent, and made their way down to the water where they launched the homemade raft off the shores of the remote prison.
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