44 Historic Photos Of America's Most Notorious Lockup
From Al Capone to Machine Gun Kelly, America's most notorious criminals ended at the maximum-security prison on Alcatraz Island.
Prisoners in the Alcatraz recreation yard.Here they could play games like baseball and handball, or just take the time to enjoy the little outdoor activity they were allotted.
Wikimedia Commons Inmates make the lonely walk back to their cells. Date unspecified.National Park Service The Alcatraz mugshot of gangster and inmate Al Capone. 1934.Capone was stabbed while serving time at the prison but lived on and completed his term there in 1939.
Getty Images A guard stands by the prison "snitch box," where prisoners could pass along information in exchange for favors. 1956. San Francisco Public Library Press and spectators stand on the shore and view the carnage of the prison riots. 1946.Getty Images Not all parts of life at Alcatraz were bleak. Here, the Alcatraz inmate band, complete with four saxophone players, two trumpets, a guitarist, and a trombonist, rehearses. National Park Service A view from behind the bars in a guard station with cell block B on the left and cell block C on the right. Wikimedia Commons The prison menu didn't offer a lot of variety. Typically, a single meat, side, and dessert was the standard fare. 1956.San Francisco Public Library Evidence, including a "death mask" of a slain guard, that was used in the trial of convicts who made a failed escape attempt from Alcatraz Prison. 1938.San Francisco Public Library A dense covering of barbed wire looms above as a guard stands watch over the prison yard. 1962. Getty Images A guard stands watch as prisoners enter the mess hall for a meal. 1955.National Park Service Tags hang from the toes of Alcatraz escapees who didn't make it. 1946. San Francisco Public Library The desolate and simple confines of a cell used for solitary confinement. Date unspecified.San Francisco Public Library A guard examines part of the route used during the infamous escape of 1962. Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images A gas grenade burned the face of guard Ed Miller during the three-day riots of 1946.Getty Images Dummy heads made of paper mache used as decoys in the 1962 escape. San Francisco Public Library Inmates bake fresh bread in the prison kitchen. Date unspecified.National Park Service Prior to becoming a federal prison, Alcatraz Island functioned as a military garrison.Here, officers and ladies stand and sit on the dock. 1902.
National Park Service Military prisoners line up and await orders. 1902National Park Service Prison life was full of long work hours. Inmates here spend the day working on weaving cargo nets. 1955.National Park Service Mugshot of notorious Alcatraz inmate George "Machine Gun" Kelly.He spent 17 years on Alcatraz as inmate number 117, before being transferred to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, where he would die in 1954.
Wikimedia Commons On the left, specators in San Francisco observe the smoke from rioting on Alcatraz Island in 1946.On the right, a body is removed after the rioting, 1946.
San Francisco Public Library One of the prison cells, with a paper mache decoy head, from which one of the inmates fled during the 1962 escape. National Park Service Gangster Mickey Cohen sits in an automobile just before boarding a prison boat for his return to Alcatraz in 1962.The Al Capone-associated mobster was serving a 15-year sentence for tax evasion.
Getty Images A prisoner works in the Alcatraz rubber shop. 1955. National Park Service Alcatraz guard Royal C. Cline lies in the hospital after suffering injuries during an escape attempt. 1938.San Francisco Public Library A rare celebratory event at the prison: A retirement party for Warden James A. Johnston. 1948. National Park Service Prisoners learned trades and skills in prison so that they might contribute to society upon release.Here, inmates sew pants. 1954.
San Francisco Public Library Al Capone's wife, Mamie, visits her husband at Alcatraz. 1938.Getty Images A prison cook stands ready to serve inmates their meal on Christmas Day. Date unspecified.National Park Service A guard examines a vent on the roof of the prison that three inmates came out of during their escape. 1962. San Francisco Public Library The prisoner record for gangster Arthur "Doc" Barker from the warden's notebook. 1963. Wikimedia Commons Alcatraz prisoner Clarence Anglin's FBI wanted poster for committing bank robbery. Anglin was one of the three inmates who participated in 1962's daring escape. 1960. National Park Service Tools and other items used during the infamous Alcatraz escape of 1962, during which three men got away, never to be seen again. National Park Service The warden's file on prisoner Joseph Soliwode, who was serving a life sentence for rape. 1934. Wikimedia Commons A guard stands in the cell by the small escape hole that inmates used to begin their journey to breach the prison's walls. 1962. San Francisco Public Library Marvin Hubbard, Bernard Paul Coy, and Clarence Carnes, the three inmates who started the riot of 1946. Getty Images Sam Shockley (left) and Miran Thompson (right), prior to their incarceration at Alcatraz, who would later be charged with helping to start the 1946 riots. San Francisco Public Library Prison guard C. D. Corwin receives medical attention after being wounded in the prison riot of 1946. San Francisco Public Library Marine C. L. Buckner reads a newspaper article about the "Battle of Alcatraz" riot that he and his colleagues helped quell. 1946. San Francisco Public Library Mugshot of Miran Thompson, an Alcatraz Prison convict who was placed in solitary confinement for his part in starting the three-day riot of 1946. San Francisco Public Library Marine Major Albert Arsenault reports on his experience helping to quell the Alcatraz prison riot of 1946.San Francisco Public Library Attempted escapees Clarence Carnes, Sam Shockley, and Miran Thompson. 1948.Shockley and Thompson got the gas chamber for their failed escape that contributed to the 1946 riots. Carnes was shown mercy and given a life sentence.
Wikimedia Commons The remains of the prison sit on Alcatraz Island. 2017.Laurie/Flickr
Inside Alcatraz: 44 Historic Photos Of America’s Most Notorious Prison View GalleryThere's no prison more notorious or more steeped in America's obsession with true crime than Alcatraz. Though the facility has been closed for more than 50 years now, it still draws tourists who are willing to cross the choppy waters of San Francisco Bay to visit its hallways and cells.
Known as "The Rock" for the rugged island from which it took its name, the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary first began holding prisoners in the early 1900s when it was used as a military prison. It wasn't until 1934 though when it was opened at the United States' premier maximum-security federal penitentiary, that its reputation really started to rise.
The prison has been closed since 1963, but during its roughly 30 years of housing federal inmates, it saw riots, notorious gangsters, and many daring escape attempts.
Because Alcatraz Prison sits on an island surrounded by rough and often frigid waters, it was incredibly difficult to escape from and regularly housed infamous prisoners who had caused too much trouble at other institutions. Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Bumpy Johnson, and Arthur "Doc" Barker were just a few of the notorious criminals from the early half of the 20th century who once called Alcatraz home.
A total of 36 prisoners made 14 escape attempts during the prison's years of operation, though all but one attempt proved unsuccessful. Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin were the only three prisoners to have successfully breached its walls.
The 1962 escape would become the stuff of true crime legend, mainly because, after setting out to leave the island on a raft, the three men were never heard from again, leaving their fate a mystery. To this day, the case remains open with the U.S. Marshals Service.
Perhaps only second to the 1962 escape in terms of infamous moments in Alcatraz history are the riots of 1946. Known as the Battle of Alcatraz, the riots were spurred during a botched escape attempt. At the end of the three-day carnage, two guards and three inmates would be dead.
That's just the kind of prison that Alcatraz once was.
After this look at Alcatraz Prison, check out the dark side of mental asylums of decades past with these haunting photos. Then, step inside the five worst prisons on Earth.
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