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Why Do You Break The Prison Rules You Go To Prison

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As Alcatraz's billboard says, "You break the rules, you go to prison. You break the prison rules, you go to Alcatraz." Alcatraz was the prison for gangsters, thieves, and trouble makers. This prison held the baddest of the bad: Al Capone, Frank Morris, and the Anglin Brothers. Al Capone was known for being a gangster, while Frank Morris and the Anglin Brothers were great at escaping and had one of the best escape plans known to Alcatraz history. The brothers made a raft out of life jackets when they tried to escape the prison. The cells were quite small and fairly plain. B and C block cells were forty five square feet and each cell had a sink, a cot, and a toilet, there were 336 cells in the B and C block alone. The D block had more spacious cells but the inmates had twenty four hour confinement. In the D block, the prisoners got one alone visit to the recreational yard …show more content…

Juan Manuel de Ayala found the island one and a half miles off of the West Coast in 1775. Juan named this island La Isla de los Alcatraces which means Island of the Pelicans. Later, in the 1850s, President Fillmore reserved the island for military use. Soon after that, 100 cannons were installed. This small island was home to the first lighthouse on the West Coast and later it held military prisoners. They made this island the home of Alcatraz because they knew nobody could swim to the shore and survive. Guards at Alcatraz were very careful about keeping track of inmates. There was one guard for every three prisoners and there were gun galleries at the end of every block of cells. There were twelve inmate counts per day and the guards knew most of the inmates by name. Alcatraz closed after many years of service due to the expenses of shipping food and supplies. The buildings were also starting to crumble because of the salty sea air. In the end, the prison housed a total of 1,576

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