Letters from Alcatraz

by Esslinger, Michael

  The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places...

  -Ernest Hemingway

  Letters from Alcatraz

  Michael Esslinger

  Foreword by

  Larry Quilligan

  Former Alcatraz Correctional Officer

  Ocean View Publishing Company

  San Francisco, California

  Letters from Alcatraz

  By Michael Esslinger

  Copyright 2009, Revised 2013

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including informational storage or retrieval systems without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  For information contact Ocean View Publishing, P.O. Box 580, Marina CA 93933

  E-Mail: coastbooks@aol.com

  ISBN: 0-9704614-2-9

  ISBN13: 978-0-9704614-2-1

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2008934941

  The principle letters in this collection are held as United States Public Records in the National Archives and Records Administration, United States Library of Congress, and the Bureau of Prisons, Washington D.C. Several letters were also reprinted by permission from the Bob Baker estate, the Alcatraz Alumni Association, Michael Esslinger, and Robert Victor Luke.

  Several narrative excerpts contained in Alcatraz - A Brief History and select inmate biographies originally appeared in Alcatraz – A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years, by Michael Esslinger. Some chapter narratives for Mickey Cohen and James “Whitey” Bulger contain brief excerpts of material created under the Creative Commons License with various author contributions. The original interview material from Bulger and Esslinger are protected under copyright. Formatting of passages and paragraphing changes specific to the Bulger interviews have been made to improve readability.

  All original source information is included in Alcatraz – A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years.

  No biographies or narratives within this book have been authorized, endorsed, implied or otherwise by those persons named or associated.

  Original Book Design and Composition by John Reinhardt

  Original Book Cover Design by Jim Zach

  Editor: Ana Brazil

  eBook Design: eBook Architects

  For Julie

  Alcatraz Rules and Regulations for Correspondence

  PRIVILEGES: You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter and medical attention. Anything else that you get is a privilege. You earn your privileges by conducting yourself properly. “Good Standing” is a term applied to inmates who have a good conduct record and a good work record and who are not undergoing disciplinary restrictions.

  CORRESPONDENCE: Upon entrance to the institution, each inmate will be given a form to fill out, listing the persons with whom he wishes permission to correspond. After approval of the list, inmates may correspond only with the approved correspondents. You will refrain from discussing other inmates or institutional affairs. Violent or abusive letters will not be mailed. Correspondence is limited to two (2) outgoing and seven (7) incoming letters a week. All regular inmate mail will be collected by the evening watch Officer in the cellhouse. Writing materials are issued during the Tuesday P.M. bath line, at the supply table in the clothing room.

  SEALED CORRESPONDENCE: As stated in Section 27, sealed correspondence may be addressed to certain Officials. Such letters may be sealed and placed in the special mail box which is located at the West End of the Cellhouse. You are not required to place any identifying information on the envelope and it will be forwarded to the Bureau without inspection.

  SPECIAL HOLIDAY MAIL: In addition to your regular mail privileges you will be allowed to send your Mother an extra letter on Mother’s Day. At Christmas time you will be allowed to mail (4) Christmas Cards. You may receive greeting cards only on the following occasions: Christmas, Easter, Father’s Day and your birthday. Inmates will not ask Officers, Officials or civilians to write or post letters for them or receive mail through Officers, Civilians or Officials except when acting in their official capacity.

  Contents

  FOREWORD by Former Alcatraz Officer Larry Quilligan

  PREFACE

  ALCATRAZ – THE HISTORY

  LETTERS – AN INTRODUCTION TO THIS COLLECTION

  LETTERS FROM ALCATRAZ

  Larry Quilligan

  Ervie Walters

  Richard Franseen

  Alphonse Capone

  Mickey Cohen

  James “Whitey” Bulger

  George “Machine Gun” Kelly

  Roy Gardner

  Edward Wutke

  Robert Stroud “Birdman of Alcatraz”

  Ralph Roe

  Rufe Persful

  Donnis Willis

  James Boarman

  Harold Brest

  Battle of Alcatraz Letters

  Bernard Coy

  Marvin Hubbard

  Joseph Cretzer

  Miran Thompson

  Mrs. William Miller

  Henri Young

  Richard Neumer

  Theodore Audett

  John & Clarence Anglin

  Alvin “Creepy” Karpis

  Elliott Michener

  Rufus Franklin

  Various

  Frank Weatherman

  EPILOGUE

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  PHOTO CREDITS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Foreword

  Larry L. Quilligan, Correctional Officer,

  USP Alcatraz, 1949—1951

  A sentence to Alcatraz translated into a life set in slow motion. The life of an inmate on the Rock was shaped by a firm and consistent regimen, which droned on day in, day out, year after year, and decade after decade. Almost completely isolated from current events and the world outside, news seeped into the prison through letters from family members, magazines (with banned topics and articles removed), family visits, or an occasional classic movie. On occasion, a new inmate would bring in news or stories from another prison or the outside, and this news quickly became a central discussion topic for inmates living inside the Alcatraz curtain. All of these served as an inmate’s only link to the fast-paced society that was in constant view just across the San Francisco Bay.

  My interest in Alcatraz stretches far into my youth. In February 1940 I made my first contact with the Alcatraz institution. While preparing an assigned high school civics class report, I wrote a letter to its first warden, James A. Johnston, requesting material for use in my presentation. Amazingly, I received a timely letter back from Johnston, but his response brief and non revealing:

  February 6, 1940

  Dear Sir:

  Responsive to yours of February 1, 1940, I am obliged to say that I do not happen to have any printed material regarding the activities of the Island. Not knowing what your particular interest may be, I cannot undertake to write a description of the place or an account of the activities in a brief letter.

  Sincerely,

  J.A. Johnston

  Life inside Alcatraz, as I knew it in later years as a guard, was not glamorous or even remotely entertaining for those serving out their time. During my term, I came face-to-face with many of the more infamous inmates, including Robert Stroud “the Birdman of Alcatraz”, Alvin “Creepy” Karpis, and George “Machine Gun” Kelly. On Alcatraz, without exception, every man was treated equally. Young or old, infamous, famous or unknown, murderer or counterfeiter, an inmate’s conduct was the only compass for the few earned privileges allowed, or alternatively, taken away. Celebrity status or notoriety in the free world had no merit on the Rock.

  The officer
s spent their work hours under the same roof as the inmates, and, in principal, endured the same regimen of the men they supervised. Even for officers, Alcatraz proved it could be a very dangerous place, especially when living and working along men who became desperate to escape. While officers governed the frequent counts and structured movements of the inmates, they also enforced a set of rules and regulations that endured only minor changes over the course of nearly three decades of Alcatraz’s history.

  The letters in this collection begin to chip away at the myths surrounding the Rock. They represent life inside and out of Alcatraz, in the words of many of America’s most well known incorrigibles. Most of these letters only represent the inmates’ viewpoint, but they still shed light on the issues that dominated the thoughts and opinions of those who served time both on and off Alcatraz.

  For me, it’s been well over fifty years since I patrolled the cellblocks and gun towers of Alcatraz. The sounds and imagery are still crisp in my mind as I think back to those experiences. I remain intrigued about the history and inner workings of Alcatraz, even with my direct link to its past.

  As mentioned previously, the letters in this collection primarily make up the experiences of the inmates. There is little doubt that life for these men wasn’t easily spent from inside their five by nine foot cells. And these letters, many presented through a singular lens, often represent the hardship and isolation these inmates endured as part of the Alcatraz regimen.

  The late James V. Bennett wrote in a perspicacious and contrasting observation:

  “... this was the place where the legend of the big house in the annals of crime would live the longest and die the hardest. Alcatraz was never without a sense of fantasy.”

  Those words, especially the operative nouns, legend and fantasy, echo my studied conclusions following a lifetime of interest in USP Alcatraz, and a subsequent lifetime career in prisons, jails, probation, parole, and criminal justice planning.

  In the end, the legacy of Alcatraz will endure as a prominent icon of the 20th Century. Through these letters, hopefully, the realities of doing time and the living wages of crime paid by these inmates help bring a heritage of awareness and redemption into focus.

  Preface

  The inspiration for this book came from a very unexpected source. After an interview, a journalist asked me this question off camera: Were there any stories that I wished I had included in my first book on Alcatraz, but were lost to the editor’s pen?

  This one simple question struck a profound chord with me. It resonated for several weeks. During the course of researching and writing my first work, I had come across numerous letters that provided a haunting glimpse of the emotive pain and separation that inmates experienced while incarcerated both on the Rock and other penitentiaries.

  And there was one special letter—not written by an inmate, but penned by the widow of one of the officers killed during the Battle of Alcatraz in 1946—that has haunted me ever since reading it. Written only a couple weeks following the tragedy, the letter showed a very brave young woman who was optimistic despite an uncertain future for her and her children. Her letter was a powerful reminder that behind the sensationalized stories and media publicity, the guards were real people who had faithfully served the public, and in doing so, many had made the ultimate sacrifice, for which their families suffered immensely. I was profoundly affected by her letter and always felt that it was important to humanize rather than glamorize the events and history of Alcatraz.

  Some of these letters were intended for publication in my first book, but sadly, because the letter topics were fragmented and without much consistency in their themes, the majority wound up on the cutting room floor. There was also a competing space dilemma. The book on the Rock had been renamed “the Brick” since it weighed as much; the size of the book had to be reduced and the letters were cut. Despite this necessary revision, I had long felt that many of these letters could not be simply lost to history.

  Throughout its tenure, Alcatraz endured the scarred and horrid status as America’s Devil’s Island. It is the most famous prison in American history. It was designed to break the spirits of America’s most legendary crime moguls. There is no prison with more notoriety. Speculation of human torture and deprivation frequently emerged in newspapers and newsreels during its era of operation. The zenith of this notorious reputation was realized during the famed murder trial of Henri Theodore Young in 1941, where Alcatraz was put on trial for the confinement practices imposed on inmates. The final verdict of involuntary manslaughter—and the strong implications that the conditions of Alcatraz were a contributor to Young’s actions—locked down the Rock’s reputation for life.

  In candor, if you exclude the era of the silence rule and the working period of the primitive dungeon cells located in the cellhouse basement, most of the former inmates I interviewed and who have written their own personal autobiographies, describe Alcatraz as being one of the best and cleanest institutions within the federal prison system. The institution was a turning point, rather than a dead end. The industries and work programs offered structure and job skills, both of which were essential to meaningful employment in free society. In fact, numerous Alcatraz alumni integrated back into society assuming very productive roles. While inmates despised the rigid structure and hard stone regulations, several later acknowledged that it helped them adapt when finally released.

  Inmate morale at Alcatraz was better than at most other federal institutions. Most agreed that the officers—while not friendly—were generally respectful. If you followed the rules. In addition, the food was better than any other prison (state or federal), and single cells—even though they were small and inherently cold—offered privacy and other advantages not enjoyed at other institutions.

  Henry Hawk

  As one of numerous examples, former Alcatraz inmate Henry Hawk described Alcatraz to an Associated Press reporter following his release:

  “I soon found out Alcatraz is a really swell place. You get good food. You have pleasant work to do. The real difference between it and any another one is that they really keep their eyes on you, and enforce discipline. Escape? No sane man ever thinks about it.”

  Frank Sprenz, a skilled pilot and bank robber who had been dubbed the “Flying Bandit” by J. Edgar Hoover, also communicated very similar sentiments:

  “Alcatraz wasn’t all hard time and grim faces. There were many humorous happenings to blunt the loneliness and isolation.”

  This is not to assert that every inmate released from Alcatraz fared well or did easy time. There was still a notable population of inmates that—once released—walked a quick path back to prison, and in some cases even back to Alcatraz. Theodore Audett stood alone in this class. Once released from prison, he continued his crime parade, which landed him back in federal prison. He served three completely separate terms on Alcatraz under three separate register numbers.

  Alcatraz was designed under strict rule concepts and was intended to be a harsh prison. It was one of the toughest prisons in the federal system and it was meant to be uncompromising. It was the pioneer of the super-maximum prison concept; it was engineered to harbor the worst criminal element and to break the most incorrigible, violent, and escape-prone inmates within the federal system. Strict rule and harsh discipline set the tone for those who had reigned in other federal institutions.

  However, the torture experienced by inmates was much more psychological than physical. Many of the inmates had reconciled themselves to long sentences and abandoned any hope of being released. The remote and isolated conditions created by the native surroundings of freezing bay waters, provided a natural deterrent for escape. The reputation and lore of Alcatraz in other institutions demanded a yield to defeat. The rigid and relentless prison regulations offered little opportunity for individualism and forced uniformity. Surviving Alcatraz was to walk straight and follow the rules. The ultimate punishment for those who strayed was banishment to a cold and pitch-dark isolati
on cell with steel floors, where all of the external elements of sound and light were expelled.

  As Warden Paul Madigan would later emphasize:

  “Alcatraz was established to teach criminally minded men the importance of good character, not necessarily intellect.”

  My intrigue with Alcatraz has endured for well over three decades. Following the publication of my first book on Alcatraz, I thought it would satiate my interest and put Alcatraz to rest. I miscalculated, as this couldn’t be farther from the truth. The stories still intrigue me, the history forever fascinates me, and the human drama of living in the extreme still grips me. In the time since the publication of my first work, I’ve returned to Alcatraz numerous times. I’ve spent many of the early morning hours walking the empty and silent cellblocks before the waves of visitors swarm the island; the silence broken only by the occasional screech of a passing seagull or the fog horn of a passing ship. To me, the abandoned prison is still very much alive with history. Within its walls, the voices still remain.

  One of the most poignant stories to emerge from the cutting room floor belonged to former Alcatraz inmate Dale Stamphill, my very first formal interview over two decades ago.

  Dale Stamphill

  Arthur “Doc” Barker

  Dale had been shot by prison guards during a thwarted escape attempt with famed inmates Doc Barker, Henri Young, Rufus McCain, and Ty Martin in January 1939. He arrived at Alcatraz in January 1938, following a series of escape attempts at other institutions and a history of kidnapping and robbery. Stamphill would play a key part in their meticulously planned escape attempt, which originated inside what was thought to be one of the most secure areas of the prison (despite not yet having been walled off from other sections of the penitentiary). The cells in the segregation unit (Block D) had escaped the tool-proof bar retrofit initiated during the prison’s formal transfer from the military to the Bureau of Prisons in 1934, and the cells retained the original soft flat-iron bars. Using contraband tools, the inmates were able to break free from their cells with hacksaw blades. They climbed through a barred window of the cellblock using a makeshift bar spreader, and into the freedom of night under a silent sky.