Letters from Alcatraz

by Esslinger, Michael

  But no newspapers, radios, or other non-approved reading materials were allowed. Receiving and sending mail would be considered a privilege, and all letters—both incoming and outgoing—were to be screened and typewritten after being censored by prison officials. Work was also seen as a privilege and not a right, and consideration for work assignments was based on an inmate’s conduct record.

  Each prisoner would be assigned their own cell, and only the basic minimum life necessities would be allotted, such as food, water, clothing, and medical and dental care. The prisoners’ contact with the outside world was completely severed. Convicted spy Morton Sobell would later state that this policy was so rigidly enforced that the inmates were never even allowed to explore the cellhouse. They would be marched from one location to another, always in a unified formation. The prison routine was rigid and unrelenting, day after day, year after year. As quickly as a given privilege could be earned for good behavior, it could be taken away for the slightest infraction of the rules.

  Wardens from the various federal penitentiaries were polled, and they were permitted to send their most incorrigible inmates into secure confinement on the Rock.

  Alcatraz was designed to lockdown America’s most notorious inmates. The first groups of prisoners were sent via special train cars designed specifically for the transportation of high-risk escape-prone inmates. As the trains traveled across the nation, the public gathered to get a glimpse of the inmates being transferred to America’s Devil Island. Upon their arrival in San Francisco, no security risks were taken and the train cars were loaded onto barges and transported directly to the island.

  A group photograph of the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary personnel, taken on June 4, 1936. Warden James Johnston is seen sitting in the middle. To his left is Deputy Warden C.J. Shuttleworth, and to his right is future Deputy Warden E.J. Miller. Various other prominent officers are pictured who have historical ties to key events. Most notably Royal Cline, second officer on right in back row. Cline was murdered during the May 23, 1938 escape attempt by Rufus Franklin. Captain Henry Weinhold, (seated four down from Johnston on his immediate right) was critically injured when he was shot in cold blood by Joseph Cretzer during the May 1946, Battle of Alcatraz.

  The prison population at Alcatraz was thus made up of inmates who had histories of unmanageable behavior or escape attempts, and high-profile inmates who had been receiving special privileges because of their public status and notoriety. In July 1934, there were only 32 military prisoners who had been left to serve out their sentences on Alcatraz. A month later, Alcatraz had begun to receive inmates from USP McNeil Island in Washington (11 inmates), USP Atlanta (53 inmates), and USP Leavenworth in Kansas (102 inmates). Among the first to be sent to Alcatraz were Al Capone, Doc Barker (the last surviving son from the famous Ma Barker Gang), George “Machine Gun” Kelly, Robert “the Birdman of Alcatraz” Stroud, Floyd Hamilton (a gang member and driver for Bonnie and Clyde), and Alvin “Creepy” Karpis. Inmates arriving at Alcatraz were driven in a small transfer van to the top of the hill. They were processed in the basement area, and then provided with all of their basic amenities and allowed a brief shower.

  Roy Gardner, wrote about his arrival at Alcatraz and offered personal reflections on the iron rule concept:

  When we were all checked in we were marched into the mess hall and Warden Johnston got up and told us plainly what we were up against. “The rules have been laid down by the government in Washington,” he said, “and there will be no deviation. I did not make the rules, but as long as I’m here I will enforce them.” He sat down – and we all knew he meant every word, but we didn’t know, or dream what the words really meant.

  A bare idea of what they came to mean to us may be gleaned from a few factors, which add to the fuel of “Hellcatraz”:

  Lost hope. The backbone of the hardest con melts to jelly under the lash of discipline without hope.

  The rule of silence/No talking in the cellhouse or in the mess hall; mute men alone with their thoughts.

  Complete isolation from the outside word. No newspapers, radio or any other means of knowing what’s going on outside.

  The brand of hatred—a hatred peculiar to one small rock alone—that brews in the minds and hearts of men thus shut up.

  Over and above all, discipline. Rigid, severe, unrelenting. Rules on Alcatraz, like the bars, are steel. Both are inflexible; nether bends.

  When Al Capone arrived on the island, he quickly attempted to flaunt the power he had enjoyed at USP Atlanta. Capone had taken advantage of many of the leniencies allowed in the other prison. In fact, he had constantly solicited guards to work for him, belittling their low wages and attempting to get their help in running his rackets from inside the prison. Capone, however, was unlike most of the other new inmates who had come to Alcatraz with long criminal records, as veterans of the penal system. Capone had only spent a short time in prison, and his stay had generally been much different from that of the other convicts. Capone had enjoyed the ability to control his environment by getting wardens to arrange unlimited visits from family and friends, and he was even believed to have had booze smuggled into his cell, along with special uncensored reading materials.

  Warden Johnston had a custom of meeting the new inmates when they first arrived at Alcatraz, and he usually participated in their brief orientation. Johnston wrote in a personal memoir that he had little trouble recognizing Capone as he stood in the lineup. Capone was grinning, and was making quiet smug comments from the side of his mouth to other inmates. When his turn came to approach Warden Johnston, it appeared that he wanted to show off to the others by asking questions on their behalf, affecting a leadership role. Johnston quickly gave him his AZ prison number, and made him get back in line with the other convicts. During Capone’s time at Alcatraz he made several attempts to persuade Johnston into allowing him to have special privileges, but all of his attempts were denied. Johnston maintained that Capone would not be given any special rights, and would have to follow the rules like any other inmate.

  Capone eventually conceded defeat, and one day he would comment to Johnston, “It looks like Alcatraz has got me licked.” Capone spent four and a half years on Alcatraz, and during this time he held a variety of jobs. Capone’s term at Alcatraz was not easy time, and he had to cope with his share of trouble as well. For example, he once got into a fight with another inmate in the recreation yard, and was placed in isolation for eight days. Then while Capone was working in the prison basement, an inmate who was standing in line waiting for a haircut exchanged words with him, and then stabbed him with a pair of shears. Capone was admitted to the prison hospital with a minor wound, and was released a few days later. He eventually began showing symptoms of syphilis, a disease he had evidently been carrying for years. In 1938 he was transferred to Terminal Island (Federal Correctional Institution), Los Angeles, California, to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

  George “Machine Gun” Kelly was also in the first group of inmates to arrive at Alcatraz in August 1934.

  George “Machine Gun” Kelly being escorted under heavy guard to prison. Kelly would arrive with one of the first groups transferred by train to Alcatraz in 1934.

  A group of correctional officers standing inside the main entrance to the prison cellhouse.

  Kelly’s time on the Rock would be far less eventful than Capone’s, and he was said to have been a model prisoner. Kelly worked in the Industries building, lived on the second tier of Block B, and quietly transferred back to Leavenworth in 1951 after spending seventeen years on the Rock.

  Alcatraz would continue to be a magnet for many famous gangsters throughout its tenure as a federal penitentiary. Most men followed the stringent routines with little or no defiance, and their public identity on the outside was completely erased once they arrived on the Rock.

  The inmates’ day began when they were woken at 6:30 AM. They were given 25 minutes to tidy their cells and stand to be counted. At 6:55 AM indi
vidual tiers of cells would be opened one by one, and the inmates would march in single file into the dining room.

  The main cellblock corridor known as “Broadway” photographed in 1934.

  A contemporary view of “Broadway.”

  Inmates filing into the dining room, termed the “Gas Chamber” by prisoners, circa 1950. Special fixed tear gas canisters were installed throughout the dining area and could be activated remotely in the event of any mass disturbance.

  They would be given only twenty minutes to eat, and then would be marched out to line up for their work assignments. The methodical cycle of the prison routine was unforgiving and utterly relentless. It never varied through the years, and was as precise and reliable as clockwork. Monotony was the Alcatraz theme and dominated the life of inmates.

  The main corridor of the cellhouse was christened “Broadway” by the inmates, and the cells along this passageway were considered the least desirable in the prison.

  A solitary officer supervises prisoners while locked in their cells on Broadway, circa 1940. Officers were not allowed to carry firearms inside the perimeters of the cellhouse. Their only leverage was an officer located inside the gun galleries situated at each end of the cellblock. The gallery officers carried high-powered rifles and were a constant presence while watching over inmates.

  Block B as seen from the second tier looking toward the East Gun Gallery.

  A contemporary photo looking down the “Broadway” corridor towards “Times Square.”

  An officer seen patrolling the Block C corridor, an area known to inmates as “Park Avenue” in March 1956.

  Standard Alcatraz 5x9’cell.

  The cells on the bottom tier were inherently colder because they stood against the long slick run of cement, and they were also the least private, as inmates, guards, and other prison personnel frequented this corridor. Newer inmates were generally assigned to the second tier of Block B, and were placed in quarantine status for the first three months of their imprisonment on the Rock.

  There was a ratio of one guard to every three prisoners on Alcatraz, as compared with other prisons, to which the ratio exceeded one guard to every twelve inmates. With the Gun Galleries at each end of the cellblocks and the frequent inmate counts (twelve official counts per day), the guards were able to keep extremely close track of each and every inmate. Because of the small total number of prisoners at Alcatraz, all of the guards usually knew each inmate by name.

  In the early years at Alcatraz, Warden Johnston maintained a grim silence policy that many inmates considered to be their most unbearable punishment. Silence was mandatory in the cellblocks and in general formation. Inmates were permitted to talked quietly only during meals when seated, and at their work post when it didn’t interfere with their assigned tasks. There were reports that several inmates were being driven insane by the severe rule of silence on Alcatraz. One inmate, a former gangster and bank robber named Rufe Persful, went so far as to take a hatchet and chop off the fingers of one of his hands while working in one of the shops. This event was later inaccurately depicted in the movie Escape from Alcatraz starring Clint Eastwood, which chronicled the 1962 escape attempt by Frank Lee Morris and the Anglin Brothers. The silence policy was later relaxed, but this was one of only a few policy changes that occurred over the prison’s history.

  The sinister mythology surrounding life on Alcatraz was created primarily out of a lack of reliable information, and because of the negative publicity,

  Hollywood was one of the primary architects in helping shape the myths and lore surrounding Alcatraz. The media was strictly isolated from the inner workings of the prison. Hollywood film sets designed during the same era relied mainly on second hand descriptions and early press release photos that offered only limited views of the interior sections. Alcatraz Island was released by Warner Brothers in 1937 and was the first motion picture to spotlight the island on screen, a tradition that would continue into the next century.

  Actor John Litel is seen here during the filming of Alcatraz Island on a Hollywood sound stage.

  Alcatraz became known to the public as “America’s Devil’s Island.” Warden Johnston had done a good job of keeping the media at a distance and this resulted in the publication of several misleading stories. The fact that inmates were never directly paroled from Alcatraz only added to the mystique. The media had a difficult time finding men who had lived on the inside, because when they were released from Alcatraz, they were sent on to other prisons to finish out their sentences. When the press would talk with former inmates, the ex-prisoners usually depicted horrific scenes about the brutalities they had experienced while incarcerated there. Most of these portrayals were flawed, but the stories of horrid beatings, rigid disciplinary measures, and extreme isolation nevertheless fueled the public’s interest.

  Following the famed and controversial Henri Young trial in 1941, although not necessarily to coincide, the Treatment Unit (Block D) underwent a complete renovation. This unit was comprised of 42 cells that provided varying degrees of security and isolation. The most serious offenders of prison rules could be confined to the “strip cell.” This cell was by all accounts the most severe punishment that any prisoner could endure, as it ensured complete sensory deprivation.

  Alcatraz Isolation Unit (Block D). This section of the prison consisted of 42 isolations cells, with six, having closed front heavy gauge steel doors to punish hardcore offenders. Inmates held in this section of the prison were confined to their cells 24-hours a day, with a limited weekly visit to the recreation yard and shower (located at the end of the cellblock).

  Serious violators of the prison rules were locked in a pitch black strip cell with no clothing or blankets during the day, where they could only sit or lie on the cold steel flooring. There was a hole in the floor for the inmate to relieve himself, and the contents could only be flushed remotely by a guard. The maximum duration permitted for confinement in full darkness was nineteen days. At night, inmates were provided with a mattress and a set of blankets. These were removed immediately at daybreak.

  An interior view of one of the six solitary confinement cells with the heavy-gauge steel door in the closed and locked position. The door design allowed for complete sensory deprivation, with no light and only muffled sounds seeping in from outside. The cell was box-steel and the inmates enduring this severe punishment were provided with a blanket only at night.

  Ceramic isolation cell located in the prison hospital ward.

  The strip cell was a dark steel-encased cell with no toilet or sink. There was only a hole in the floor for the inhabitant to relieve himself; the ability to flush the contents was controlled by a guard. Inmates were placed in the cell without clothing, and were put on severely restricted diets. The cell had a standard set of bars with an expanded opening through which to pass food, and a solid steel outer door that remained closed, leaving the inmate in pitch black darkness. Inmates were usually subjected to this degree of punishment for periods of only one to two days. The cell was cold, and the sleeping mattress was only allowed during the night, and was taken away during the daylight hours. This was considered the most invasive type of punishment for severe violations and misconduct. It was genuinely feared by the general population inmates.

  “The Hole” was the nickname given to a similar type of cell that made up the remaining five dual-door cells on the bottom tier.

  These cells contained a toilet as well as a low wattage light bulb. Inmates could spend up to nineteen days in this level of isolation, which was also considered to be a severe form of punishment by general population inmates. The mattresses were taken away during the day, and the inmates were left in a state of constant boredom and severe isolation. Officers would sometimes open the small window in the solid steel outer door, to allow in a little light for inmates who were serving their time in solitary peacefully.

  The remaining 36 segregation cells were similar in form to the cells of the general prison population, alth
ough they were significantly larger. Inmates being held in basic segregation were allowed only one visit to the recreation yard per week. They were allowed two showers. The prisoners spent the remaining time in their cells. Even meals were served in the cells, and the inmates’ only means of psychological escape was through reading. The city views from the upper tiers were also considered by prisoners to be a form of torture, because the sounds and sights of freedom were so near, yet so far.