The Rock

It’s been 25 years since I first visited The Rock – Alcatraz.  It hasn’t changed a lot, and there are still a huge number of tourists spending their leisure time going round this former Federal Penitentiary in the middle of San Francisco Bay.  The prison was opened in 1934 and closed in 1963. In its time, It housed approximately 1500 prisoners, including Al Capone and Robert Stroud (the Birdman.)  In 1962 three prisoners escaped, led by Frank Morris and they have never been found.  The episode was made into a movie with Clint Eastwood.  He dug his way out of his cell using a spoon.  The cement under the sink was a little soft, but the digging took a solid year to get through to the inner cavity where all the pipes led up and down.

Lots of people believe the men got away, but the general consensus is that they drowned in the cold waters.  Eventually the prison was closed down because it was too expensive to maintain.  It’s still a chilling place to imagine being locked up every day in a 5’ x 7’ x 9’ cell, and if you misbehaved yourself one that had no light at all – the hole!