Long before cellblocks and guard towers dotted the landscape, Alcatraz Island played several other significant roles throughout history.
It remains unclear who was the first to discover the island; however, historical evidence suggests that the Coastal Miwok and the Costanoan Indians used the island as a source of food during the Pleistocene period, nearly 10,000 years ago. Modern man knew little of the island until 1775, when Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala charted the island during his exploration of San Francisco Bay. History credits Ayala as naming the island La Isla de los Alcatraces, which translates to "Island of the Pelicans."
The island was all but forgotten until June 1846, when the governor of California granted ownership of the island to a man named Julian Workman. However, Workman did not own the island for long; the United States government eventually took possession of it. The future of the island became clearer on Nov. 6, 1850, when President Millard Fillmore signed an executive order establishing the island as a military fort.
Nine years and over half a million dollars later, the fort was completed, and on Dec. 30, 1859, Capt. Joseph Stewart took command of the island. The base was one of the most secure in the United States for the time period, but the island never saw any action. Even in 1861, after the American Civil War broke out, nary a bullet was fired. The island's was slowly transformed when officials decided to use it as a place to imprison Confederate sympathizers.
After the American Civil War, Alcatraz continued to be used as a place to house military prisoners. In March 1907, it was designated the Western U.S. Military Prison. However, shortly thereafter authorities realized that the buildings there were unable to accommodate the growing number of convicts in the United States that were to be incarcerated there.
In 1909, workers began to construct several new buildings on the island, including the main cell block, which remains standing today. Construction ended three years later and, before long, every cell in the building was occupied. The prison continued to operate until 1933, when the War Department decided that the facility was too expensive to operate, and turned it over to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Construction began again in 1934, the goal of which was to make the cell house more secure. The square iron bars were removed from the cells and replaced with round "tool-proof" bars; metal detectors were installed at the entrance to the dock and the cell house and three new guard towers were constructed.
The U.S. Penitentiary, Alcatraz opened for business on July 1, 1934.
The first warden of Alcatraz was James A. Johnston, a man who believed in discipline, rather than rehabilitation. The prison had a maximum capacity of 300 inmates. Johnson hired one guard for every three inmates – the largest ratio of any other prison in operation.
The harsh conditions at Alcatraz and the island’s isolated location led many inmates to refer to it as "The Rock." Some of the most infamous criminals in the United States would learn to call it home, while others would spent their time plotting their way out.
Life Behind Bars
