by David Ward
25. San Francisco Chronicle, April 23, 1941.
26. San Francisco News, April 23, 1941.
27. Unidentified and undated San Francisco newspaper article by John U. Terrell, in Young file.
28. Ibid.
29. Several prisoners provided testimony that staff members carried, and used on prisoners, blackjacks or “saps,” hunks of lead sewn up in pieces of leather, which contributed to the impression that harsh means of punishment were used on the island.
30. An example of callous treatment directed toward a seriously mentally disturbed prisoner is the death of Vito Giacalone after he left Alcatraz for the Federal Medical Center at Springfield, Missouri. An Italian immigrant who could not read, write, or speak intelligible English, and a first offender serving a ten-year sentence for counterfeiting, Giacalone was one of a number of puzzling choices for a prison intended for “public enemies.” He was initially committed to Leavenworth, where he had a fight with another inmate but, because he was regarded as “strange” and physically powerful, he was transferred to Alcatraz. Within two months of his arrival in March 1937 Giacalone was experiencing mental health problems. In various incidents he fought with other inmates, engaged in frenzies and tore up everything in his cell, and on one occasion made growling sounds as he pulled out his hair. He repeatedly took his clothes off and pounded the walls of his cell with his hands and his head. He spent “much time playing in the water [washbowl]” in his cell. He was confined to an isolation cell in A block but one day when a guard opened his cell door to recover a food tray, Giacalone kicked the officer in the stomach, knocking him to the floor. Another guard subdued him by a blow to the head with a gas billy club. His transfer to Springfield was “urgently recommended” by a neuropsychiatric board in February 1939.
The following July Giacalone, along with four other prisoners and accompanied by Alcatraz and Leavenworth guards, was placed in a barred prison car operated by the Santa Fe Railroad. As the train passed through Needles, California, on its way to Leavenworth and Springfield he was observed lunging forward and backward in his seat. Alcatraz Chief Medical Officer Emanuel Horwitz, sitting in an air-conditioned parlor car, was called back to the prisoners’ car to treat Giacalone, who had a temperature of 107°. Ice packs and medications were applied, but Giacalone never regained consciousness; he died at 7:30 A.M. from heat prostration. The train did not stop from the time he became unconscious at 5 P.M. until the next day when his body was removed from the prison car at Willard, New Mexico, to be shipped by a local undertaker to Leavenworth. When his only relative, a cousin, declined to claim his body, he was buried in a cemetery for prisoners.
In the inquiry that followed, Alcatraz Lt. J. M. Concannon reported that the temperature in the steel prison car—the only coach without insulation or air conditioning—was estimated to have been 120° or higher. This incident prompted strong complaints from the accompanying officers who, like the prisoners, were confined to the prison car. Bureau officials, always sensitive to allegations that Alcatraz produced mental health problems, asked Warden Johnston for a report on Giacalone. According to Dr. Ritchey, the prisoner’s “mental condition seems to have been present for some time before his admission to Alcatraz and was noted soon after arrival. There was nothing to indicate that his residence here had affected him adversely any more than confinement in any prison would bring about.” If at a later date the inmate’s family had cared enough to protest, Giacalone’s death would likely have resulted in a civil suit challenging his death as a result of cruel and unusual conditions on a prison train. Giacalone Alcatraz file.
31. In regard to allegations of reprisals for testifying in the trial, Waley told the author, “Outside of dirty looks no [guard] said a word to me on the way to court and back.”
32. San Francisco Call-Bulletin, April 24, 1941.
33. San Francisco Chronicle, April 26, 1941.
34. San Francisco Examiner, April 26, 1941. The balance of quoted material for Young’s trial comes from this source.
35. This was the same Frank Murphy who served as attorney general in 1939, and to whom Bureau of Prisons director Bennett had sent his proposal to close Alcatraz. President Roosevelt had appointed Murphy an associate justice of the Supreme Court on January 4, 1940.
36. Young Alcatraz file.
37. San Francisco Chronicle, May 3, 1941.
38. Statement of James V. Bennett, May 2, 1941.
39. James V. Bennett to Attorney General McGuire, May 29, 1941.
40. A. H. Connor to James V. Bennett, August 5, 1941.
41. James A. Johnston to Director, May 29, 1941. These reports were not for use in any federal court or congressional hearing but were prepared for Bureau of Prisons headquarters. The question of whether subordinates in a paramilitary organization can be expected to report improper behavior on the part of their superiors was of secondary concern to Bureau administrators, whose intention was to communicate to personnel in the field that they would be held accountable for actions that might bring discredit or embarrassment to the agency as a whole. Internal investigations were intended to influence the behavior of the custodial force because being instructed to answer these charges and to explain their own actions communicated clearly the message that Washington, D.C., not Warden James A. Johnston, was ultimately responsible for operations at Alcatraz.
42. Ibid., pp. 9–10. Johnston went on describe the policy regarding meals for men in solitary:
Now as to solitary: we have followed the instructions . . . to increase the amount of food given to men confined to solitary on restricted diet. . . . If a prisoner is placed in solitary in the morning after he has had his breakfast, he is furnished bread at the noon-day meal and salads and one-fourth of the evening meal from the regular main-line menu. If he is placed in solitary in the afternoon, that is after he has had his full noon-day meal, then he gets only bread for the evening meal.
In all cases the second day menu consists of a breakfast of cereal, milk and coffee; the noon-day meal, bread and soup; the evening meal is one-fourth of the allowance from the regular main-line menu leaving out the soup but feeding the salad and greens and bread and the hot drink, whether it happens to be tea or coffee.
On the third day a man in solitary receives the full dinner meal at noon, also the one-quarter quantity, that is the light breakfast of cereal and milk and coffee and the light supper consisting of the salad and greens and bread and hot beverage, tea or coffee.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid., p. 15. In a subsequent letter, Johnston gave his own analysis of the mortality rate at Alcatraz. To the deaths of three inmates by natural causes, he added the deaths by violence of three escapees (Joe Bowers, Thomas Limerick, and Arthur Barker) to that of Rufe McCain, who died at the hand of Henry Young, Edward Wutke’s suicide, and the death on the prison train of Giacalone for a total of nine deaths in seven years of prison operation. Johnston argued that since the death rate for the general population in the Bay Area was nine per thousand for one year, the record of deaths at Alcatraz should be regarded as exemplary. James A. Johnston to Director, June 9, 1941.
45. Howard B. Gill to James V. Bennett, May 12, 1941.
46. Gill to Bennett, May 24, 1941.
47. The trial of Henry Young and Alcatraz did not fade into a footnote in the Bureau’s files, as Commissioner Connor suggested. Young, the dungeons, and the treatment of the prisoners returned as issues forty-five years later in the 1995 Hollywood movie Murder in the First: The Trial That Brought Down Alcatraz. Bureau of Prisons officials who had had nothing to do with the management of Alcatraz found themselves defending the policies and actions of their predecessors.
CHAPTER 8
1. Arnold Kyle, interview with the author, September 24, 1980. Kyle was gravely ill when I called to request an interview. His wife said she thought he was too ill, “but he wants to talk with you.” I tape-recorded my interview in their home, and when I heard a loud click from behind the sofa it became apparent that Mr. Kyle
was making his own recording of our meeting. He passed away several months later.
2. Lloyd Barkdoll began his long stay in the federal prison system at McNeil Island Penitentiary. The classification committee at McNeil Island described Bark-doll as hopeless and resentful about having received a life sentence for bank robbery, and he was considered “a serious custodial problem in that he is an organizer.” Barkdoll was soon transferred to Alcatraz, where several months after his arrival he was locked up in isolation for “trying to agitate other inmates to strike.” Lloyd Barkdoll Alcatraz file.
3. These elements of the escape plan have not been included in any previous accounts, including Warden Johnston’s account in his book, Alcatraz Island Prison. Kyle described them in an interview, as did Floyd Hamilton. Hamilton also described this escape attempt in his book, Public Enemy Number 1, Acclaimed Books (Dallas, TX: International Prison Ministry, 1978), 138–42.
4. Kyle interview.
5. This is one of many examples at Alcatraz in which the prohibition in the convict code against snitching worked: no inmate in the Model Shop tried to barter to the staff the information he had about Hamilton’s role for some gain for himself.
6. San Francisco Call-Bulletin, May 22, 1941.
7. James V. Bennett, Director, BOP, to the Attorney General, May 22, 1941.
8. N. J. L Pieper, Special-Agent-in-Charge, to the Director, FBI, May 22, 1941, file 91–626–42.
9. Ibid.
10. William T. Hammack to J. V. Bennett, June 12, 1941, “Alcatraz: Escape Procedure,” PR-G.
11. Ibid.
12. James A. Johnston, Warden, to James V. Bennett, Director, September 20, 1941, John Bayless Alcatraz file. Johnston informed Bennett that the junior officer who had lost track of Bayless had been given a five-day suspension. Despite this experience, Bayless was not finished with escape attempts. In federal district court in San Francisco on December 21, 1942, for a hearing on a writ of habeas corpus related to his twenty-five-year sentence, Bayless leaped over the railing of the jury box and ran toward a courtroom door but was caught by a deputy U.S. marshal. Eventually, Bayless had his original sentence for bank robbery reduced from twenty-five to ten years and regained the days of good time he had lost for his attempt to swim away from Alcatraz. Facing a much shorter sentence, he settled down to do easier time.
13. James A. Johnston to James V. Bennett, January 28, 1942.
14. U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Gearing Federal Prisons to the War Effort (USP Atlanta, 1942), 49–51, 89. See also John A. Martini, Alcatraz at War (San Francisco: Golden Gate National Parks Association, 2002), 59–71.
15. That Franklin was allowed out of his cell without supervision is surprising given the characterization by the officer in charge of D block that he was “a defiant agitator . . . a sneaking, treacherous man and should be watched closely at all times.” Rufus Franklin Alcatraz file.
16. Fred Hunter Alcatraz file.
17. Brest had demanded a retrial on the kidnapping charge on the grounds that he was tried without competent counsel. A federal judge agreed with Brest, and he was returned to Pittsburgh, where he was provided new counsel. But in the second trial he was convicted again, again sentenced to life, and returned to Alcatraz.
18. L. E. Cranor, U.S. Marshal, to Attorney General, May 13, 1941, James Boarman Alcatraz file.
19. Floyd Hamilton, interview with the author, April 27, 1981, Dallas, Texas. All subsequent quotes attributed to Hamilton in this chapter are taken from the same interview.
20. Special-Agent-in-Charge Pieper to the Director, FBI, May 13, 1943, file 76–9499–11.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid., pp. 27–28.
23. Ibid., pp. 29–30.
24. Hamilton’s Alcatraz file, when examined by FBI agents, contained the following entry: “This inmate, while attempting to escape was drowned, the body was seen to sink by Warden Johnston and Chief Medical Officer Ritchey.”
25. A. Rosen, memorandum to Director, FBI, Washington, D.C., April 16, 1943, file 76–9549–9X.
26. J. E. Hoover, Director, FBI, to J. V. Bennett, Director, BOP, June 16, 1943, file 76–9549–11.
27. James A. Johnston to James V. Bennett, August 8, 1943.
28. James V. Bennett, Director, to A. H. Connor, McNeil Island Penitentiary, August 12, 1943.
29. A. H. Connor, Associate Commissioner, to James V. Bennett, Director, August 25, 1943.
30. William T. Hammack, Assistant Director, to Warden Johnston, August 27, 1943.
31. Deputy Warden E. J. Miller, memorandum to Warden Johnston, May 23, 1944, “Findings in D Block.”
32. John K. Giles Alcatraz file.
33. “10 Years of Planning—Brief Moment of Freedom” and “Alcatraz Guest Nonchalantly Sails Away,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 1, 1945.
34. Other items found on Giles when he was searched on Angel Island included several pouches, a comb, two flashlight bulbs, small change, a memo book, a flashlight, a box of blank furlough forms, a Colgate toothpaste tube containing glue, a medicine bottle containing ink, a razor, five safety pins, three matches (each wrapped with a small needle and thread), and a small bar of green soap. Details of the escape are taken from the FBI report compiled by William H. Hartley, August 6, 1945, file 76–806.
35. James A. Johnston, Warden, to Captain A. H. Connor, Acting Director, BOP, July 31, 1945.
36. Connor to Johnston, August 9, 1945.
37. San Francisco News, October 1, 1945. Giles promptly filed an appeal, arguing that he had not “escaped from custody” because at the time of his escape no guards were supervising him and thus he was not in “custody.” Two judges agreed with the government that Giles was in custody even though not under physical restraint at the time of the escape, the third judge agreed with Giles. J. K. Giles v. United States of America, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Denman dissenting, no. 11,187, October 14, 1946.
38. The account of this escape plot is based on interviews conducted by Anthony Calabrese with James Quillen (September 26, 1981) and fictitious no. AZ-1700 (June 18, 1980). Official reports of this escape attempt never identified 1700 as a participant, but his role was verified by Quillen, who described the events in his book, Alcatraz from Inside: The Hard Years, 1942–1952, ed. Lynn Cullivan (San Francisco: Golden Gate National Parks Association, 1991), 67–80.
39. Number 1700 explained that the tunnel plot was exposed after a steam pipe broke and employees who went into the tunnel to repair the damage found the tools and saw evidence of the digging. According to 1700, the men had succeeded “in getting sixteen or eighteen feet” into the tunnel and “were underneath the foundation of the building.”
40. If an informant had revealed the escape plot and named Quillen and Pepper, it is likely that the staff would have pressured him to identify the men who had secured the tools and transported them from the industries area to the kitchen. The lack of follow-up in this case by the deputy warden, the warden, and BOP headquarters is difficult to understand.
41. Quillen interview.
CHAPTER 9
1. This account is based on interviews with prisoners and custodial personnel who were present on the island during the attempted escape and ensuing events, FBI files, and BOP reports and correspondence. Quotations and information on the backgrounds of the central inmate participants were obtained from their Leavenworth, Atlanta, and Alcatraz files. The author interviewed the inmates Charles Berta (August 2, 1987; February 19, 1988), Floyd Hamilton (April 27, 1981), Floyd Harrell (July 10, 1983), Arnold Kyle (September 24, 1980), William Radkay (April 24, 1981), Morton Sobell (January 11, 1980), Dale Stamphill (April 23, 1981; October 15, 1995), and Harmon Waley (September 23, 1980); the author and Anthony Calabrese each interviewed James Quillen (respectively, August 18, 1980, and September 26, 1981); Anthony Calabrese also interviewed AZ-1700 (June 18, 1980). The author interviewed staff members Robert Baker (September 3, 1980), Philip Bergen (April 29, 1983), George Boatman (September 4, 1980), Lawre
nce Delmore, Jr. (September 22, 1980), Don Martin (August 28, 1978), Maurice E. Ordway (July 18, 1977), Edward Stucker (July 28, 1981), senior officer X (January 16, 1980), and senior officer Y (April 30, 1981); Anthony Calabrese interviewed Loring O. Mills (May 21, 1980).
2. Coy’s adjustment to life on the Rock seemed to be quite positive, as evidenced in a letter sent to his brother, who was locked up at the Atlanta Penitentiary:
Contrary to general belief, we have an ideal home here at Alcatraz . . . [prior] to my arrival here on the island, I failed to determine heads from tails. I think I have it now however. The idea here in Alcatraz appears to be one of protection—not persecution. No place on earth have I been better provided for, nor more humanely treated. No one ever gets in our whiskers. And we go to great ends to reciprocate in consideration. Our food is remarkable, Dick. I shan’t go into a detailed explanation, but how do you like chop suey, creamed ham on toast, and candied yams, creamed sweet peas, breaded steak, hot griddle cakes, and butter, and biscuits, and coffee with cream and sugar, whole wheat bread, or rye, or white, or raisins? And how do your teeth react to cream pies, spice layer cakes, cream puffs, apple turnovers, and chocolate eclairs? This is some of it. Our menu runs American one week and Spanish the next. And we do not know today what will be for tomorrow’s dinner, not to mention what will repeat itself at dinner tomorrow ten years from now. I am doing my work in the bakery, and I know that what I eat the main line eats also. There is no big-shot tables here. They’re all for cap-pistol guys in Alcatraz.
