Alcatraz Descriptive Writing

From “Inside Rikers”, written by Jennifer Wynn, Wynn shares the lives from the “world’s largest penal colony” the inmates from Rikers Island. She really humanizes criminals by giving them faces and names because she does what most American are unwilling to do because they are afraid, that is forgiving people and giving them second chances. She really does see the good in the hearts of some staunch criminals. At the same time, she is a clear sighted humanist on how hard it is to leave the criminal lifestyle. Drawing all the difficulties and complications that our society has placed in the way of the newly released inmate. Not to mention the persuasions of the criminal lifestyle itself. The first chapter is Welcome to the Rock, where Wynn introduces the narratives of Angel, Kenny, Charlie, Alfonso, and Benjamin. Chapter two is titled, From the Belly of the Beast to New York Streets where both Frank and Mike are introduced here. In Chapter Three, the Captain and Harry tell the stories of Keepers Of The Kept, Convicted At Birth with Rico, Napoleon, Hilton, and James in Chapter 4.

Have you ever wondered what the worst prison would be like. Alcatraz was the worst prison ever it had the most baddest criminals ever. Alcatraz was nicknamed "the rock" because it was out in the middle of San Francisco Bay. It was also thought that no one could escape the prison because of all the dangers. Alcatraz opened on August 11, 1934 and closed on March 21, 1963. Alcatraz had some of the worst criminals some of the key moments were when Al Capone the worst bad guy came to Alcatraz, it also effects the people today because they see how bad it was for the prisoners to escape and have to stay there.

Security in Alcatraz was intense, and escaping was nearly impossible. The idea was maximum custody. The prisoners were on a strict schedule and were constantly being watched by the correctional officers. Official counts were held every 30 minutes during the day. (need source here) They were locked behind doors at all times, and the bars were tool-resistant.

Alcatraz was finally running in business, and all the worst prisoners were being sent there. All the inmates had a quick idea on how cummings was running Alcatraz. You couldn’t talk or you would be sent to the “hole” for a couple of weeks. The hole is “isolation”. Al Capone [the most famous gangster] was sent for the for a lot of times. And he went crazy because he kept making and remaking his bed. There was many escape attempts at alcatraz but none of them were successful. Two of them were reported missing.

Thesis: Alcatraz has been a popular social topic because of the mystery that surrounds it and the stories exaggerated in movies and television shows.

The Alcatraz federal prison, located on the San Francisco island of the same name, was dubbed “escape-proof” during its years of operation from 1934-1963 and was designed to hold the worst criminals in America (Timeline: Alcatraz Escape Attempts). During its 29 years, Alcatraz held most prisoners without incident, but there were still 14 escape attempts (Timeline...Attempts). June 11, 1962 marks one of the most sensationalized attempts by Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin (The Great Escape from Alcatraz). Although officials said the inmates drowned, many claim they escaped and lived as fugitives (The...Alcatraz). In order to investigate the aforementioned belief, my group defined a successful escape as getting off Alcatraz, making

You may be wondering how is Alcatraz do different, but here is why. Alcatraz has hand picked, top class guards who watch the prisoners and know self defence very, very well. There are a lot of guards too, in fact, one for every three people. In most prisons,

Alcatraz was the most secure prison on the planet. The walls, ceiling, and floor were made of concrete, and the prison gates were made of some of the strongest steel available. The island was given the nickname “The Rock” because of all the structures were made out of concrete. The island didn’t need a fence around it as it was surrounded by the icy currents of the San Francisco

He wanted to make good money. Since he is unskilled to work city jobs, he worked as a small-time weed courier for a Puerto Rican dealer in Chicago. He has proven his trustworthiness, his boss trusted him to transport a large quantity of drugs across the state. He is able to buy a nice car for himself because of his job as a courier. However, he is an outlaw, who has been in jail, luckily, his boss bailed him out after a few

Time for the prisoners. Who came, you may ask. Some of the mightiest criminals alive. Try Al Capone; the most powerful criminal in the world who was responsible for more than 1,000 deaths of politicians, policemen, and other gangsters. He killed anyone who got in his way, even if they were his own men. This guy may ring a bell, Robert Stroud aka The Birdman; stabbing guards and killing innocent people, he was sent to prison for life. In that time, he had already wrote two books about birds and lived in a cell filled with feathered creatures. How’d these men react, different. The first few years of prison were very quite. Al Capone owed 39 days to the Hole. Isn’t so fun being the underdog, is it?! He drove him so nuts that when he was freed in 1939, he died a few years later. He wasn’t the only one who had died because of Alcatraz. Teddy Cole, a kidnapper and a murderer, was sent to the “Rock” for 50 years. But he did not stay long. In December in 1937, he and a bank robber named Ralph Roe teamed up. Sawing the bars off a window,

Alcatraz was introduced as a prison in the Civil War to hold captured men. But was later taken over by the United Sates Department of Justice (U.D.J) because it was just abandoned after the war. Eventually it was turned into a prison to hold men that normal community prisons could not hold. In the 1930’s a crime wave hit the United States and Alcatraz was about to become a full house. During that time escape became a bigger problem due to the size of the prison and the lack of guards in the jail. There were over 14 escape attempts involving over 30 men. Twenty were caught and eight killed over a period of years. Alcatraz finally hired enough men to secure the jail to the highest level. 1 man by the name of Frank Morris proved that was not

No prisoner at Alcatraz had never had these materials and the plan Frank Lee Morris and the two brothers had used to escape. For example they had used stolen spoons and nail clippers to dig through the cement of their cell and to a utility closet that lead to the wall outside (Library of Congress “1”). You might be think how did the guards not see the giant hole in the back of their cell they had used cardboard to cover it up so no one except them knew where it was(Vega 2). After they got to the utility closet they made their plan to escape. Their plan was,”Once everyone had fallen asleep they had premade paper heads of themselves to place in their bed so the guards thought they were in bed.”(Hopkinson “1”). Once they dug through and had placed the heads in the bed they would have gone out to the bay but had to be very careful of not getting spotted by the search light. At the bay they made a raft out of 50 raincoats that they stole and set out to the sea while fighting rough currents, cold water, and shark infested water (Vega

The prison of Alcatraz was the highest security prison in the world because of the money and time that was spent to make it that way. Over $250,000 was spent to make the prison completely inescapable. To start out, there were over fifty prison guards that carried machine guns that are able to shoot six hundred bullets per minute ("Alcatraz Prison also a Fortress”). Everyone who has attempted to escape either never survived or could not get passed without getting caught ("Alcatraz Island”). It was very rare that someone tried to escape, and the few who did most likely did not survive one way or another ("Alcatraz”). There were fourteen attempt of escape in twenty nine years involving thirty four prisoners. One of those attempts was in 1908

This prison couldn’t be like any other. Alcatraz needed to condense the prisoners from the society .So Cummings decided to build the prison on a rocky island miles away from land. The surrounding water was frigid year round and had strong currents. But thats not all Alcatraz had major security. With included 3 guards for every prisoner,machine guns,tear gas, and microphones placed everywhere for guards to overhear any conversation.It also included tough disipline so that every time a prisoner would talk they would be thrown in a dark concreate room for days apon days. The guards family also lived on the island for maximum security

As the cold waters rush into the San Francisco Bay, they crash up against an island standing in the strait. This rock is hidden by the fog and isolated by the chilling waters of the Pacific that flow in and out every day. It has a gloom that hangs about its rocky face most know it as Alcatraz but the men who experienced this island, referred to her as “The Rock”. To the men confined there, it is not only the ultimate in isolation but the most ironic because they are there in the midst of the activity of a busy harbor with small craft darting to and from San Francisco, Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Richmond, and Sausalito; within sound of the honking horns of a ceaseless procession of automobiles crossing the bridges; within sight of ocean