Attorney General Homer S. Cummings and Warden James Johnston inspecting the staff of correctional officers during the opening of the prison in 1934. The officer standing second from the left is future Associate Warden E.J. Miller.
The first official group of fourteen federal inmates arrived at Alcatraz from McNeil Island on August 11, 1934. Their identities were kept completely secret from an aggressive press, hungry to report on the first arrivals. Their train pulled into Oakland at 9:40 a.m., and the inmates were led in handcuffed pairs to the prison launch General McDowell. As the prisoners were lined up in formation along the dock, the island’s residents peered down through their curtains to get a glimpse of their new neighbors. The inmates were forced to walk up to the main cellhouse heavily shackled, and under heavy guard. Once they arrived at the receiving area in the prison basement, they were photographed, stripped, and assigned their inmate numbers. They were then each given a medical examination, showered, and marched naked to their new cells carrying their clothes and utensils. Renowned inmate Darwin Coon recalled his first experience of arriving at Alcatraz, in his compelling personal memoir entitled Alcatraz – The True End of the Line:
Five or six officers were standing in front of the prison. Without ceremony, they ushered us through a solid steel door with an electric lock. Then we had to wait for a key to be lowered down so that the officer could open a barred gate in front of us. We went into a room where they removed the handcuffs and leg irons. I was so happy to get those things off I didn’t care where I was. Then we were strip searched and marched naked to the showers. After that we were taken to fish row where we were each assigned a cell in an area that came to be known to us as Broadway.
The first groups of inmates transferred from other Federal penitentiaries were brought to the island still shackled in the train cars that had carried them across the United States. They were considered the nations’ most incorrigible criminals, and no chances would be taken by off-loading the train cars on the mainland. During the transfers, newspaper reporters followed the trains across the country, with onlookers flocking to see America’s worst public enemies.
The second group of fifty-three inmates arrived at 5:45 a.m. on August 22, 1934, three and a half days after it left Atlanta, and the third and largest group consisting of 106 inmates came from Leavenworth on September 4, 1934. In later a newspaper report covering the arrival of the Atlanta cars, it provided late details of the route. Rather than taking any direct route, it made an excursion which added an additional 60-mile route through northern Bay Area cities:
Two miles east of Martinez, a switchman shifted the train onto the Southern Pacific track that took it over the railroad bridge heading toward Suisun City. It turned left at Fairfield passed through Cordelia and Napa Junction. At Shellville, the train went on the tracks of the Northwestern Pacific and turned south, passing Black Point, Ignacio and San Rafael, finally stopping at Tiburon. Awaiting it there (Tiburon) was the Red Stack Sea Rover, under Captain Webster Hargins with 25 special guards and federal operatives, ready to take the prisoners out to Alcatraz.
The routine for admission would essentially remain unchanged throughout the history of the prison. When the first groups arrived, Associate Warden C.J. Shuttleworth distributed a brief set of rules describing the disciplinary matrix that would govern their confinement. In this communication he also described the system that would be employed to discipline inmates who refused to abide by the rules set down by the Warden:
You will receive your punishment of perhaps 10 days in isolation on a restricted diet of bread and water. That practice will continue while you remain in isolation, and you will be provided with medical care if required for any illness. Isolation is a dark cell known here as “the Hole.” It consists of nothing but four walls, a ceiling and a floor. When you sleep, you will be provided blankets for warmth and a pillow for your head, but you may be required to do so on concrete. When a prisoners’ required number of days in the hole expires, he is placed in what is known as Solitary Confinement. Here he enjoys the nighttime use of a bunk. He gets bread and water for breakfast, a noon meal the same as on the prison main line, and bread and water before he goes to bed.
When he is released from solitary he goes to his regular cell in the main prison. He will be placed in “grade.” Grade will consist of the following: He will have a red tag placed on the cell plate of his door, which will indicate third grade. He may leave his cell only to go to the mess hall for scheduled meals. This will continue for three months. If he has not violated any rules for this period, he will be elevated to second grade. Now he will be able to write and receive a restricted number of letters. When he performs satisfactorily at this level, he will be promoted to first grade, where he will enjoy instatement of all normal prison privileges.
Among the first inmates to arrive were notorious gangsters Al Capone and Doc Barker (the last surviving son from the famous Ma Barker Gang), as well as George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Harvey Bailey, Roy Gardner, Floyd Hamilton (a gang member and driver for Bonnie & Clyde), and several other gangland criminals. Warden Johnston was openly concerned over the security of the new arrivals. The inmates would not even be permitted to leave the train, which would be transferred onto a floating barge and towed across the Bay. The train was diverted to Tiburon, and then ferried to Alcatraz. There was an officer stationed in each railcar, who sat inside a reinforced cage with a loaded shotgun. It was later noted that the train cars seemed horribly unstable, and many feared that they could tip and plunge the inmates into the frigid water, to meet their demise by drowning. It was also during this trek across the turbulent San Francisco Bay waters that rumors of man-eating sharks and fin sightings started to circulate among the inmates.
New inmates are seen here shackled in leg irons during the admissions process. They are standing in the basement hall next to the shower room.
Machine Gun Kelly under heavy guard, boarding an armored train car.
The Daily Routine
Inmate graffiti of a calendar etched on the floor of a cell, and a caricature found on a soft iron bar, drawn by inmate Olin Stevens in the late 1930’s.
The life of the Alcatraz convict was repetitious, regimented, and monastic. Everything was done in accordance with a strict schedule, and the methodical routine cycle was unforgiving and relentless. It never varied through the years, and became a definitive model of clockwork organization. The daily schedule was established by Warden Johnston as one of his original directives in 1934, and it would remain fairly consistent throughout the prison’s tenure.
06:30 AM: Morning Bell. Prisoners arise, make beds, place all articles in prescribed order on shelf, clean washbasin and toilet, bowl, wipe off bars, sweep cell floor, fold table and seat against the wall, wash, and dress.
06:45 AM: Detail guards assigned for mess hall duty; they take their positions so as to watch the prisoners coming out of cells and prepare to march into the mess hall with them. The guards supervise the serving and the seating of their details, give the signal to start eating, and the signal to rise after eating.
06:50 AM: Second Morning Bell. The prisoners stand by the door facing out and remain there until the whistle signal, during which time the lieutenants and cellhouse guards of both shifts make the count. When the count is found to be correct, the lieutenant orders the cells unlocked.
06:55 AM: Whistle signal given by deputy warden or lieutenant; all inmates step out of their cells and stand straight facing the mess hall. Upon the second whistle.
07:00 AM: Third whistle signal; lower right tier of Block 3 (C) and lower left tier of Block 2 (B) move forward into mess hall, each line is followed in turn by the second and the third tiers, then by the lower tier on the opposite side of their block, followed by the second and the third tiers from the same side. The Block 3 line moves into the mess hall, keeping to the left of the center of the mess; Block 2 goes forward at the same time, keeping to the right. Both lines proceed to serving the table; the right line ser
ved from the right and occupies the tables on the right; the left line to left, etc. As each man is served, he will sit erect with his hands at his sides until the whistle signal is given for the first detail to begin eating. Twenty minutes are allowed for eating. When they are finished eating the prisoners place their knives, forks, and spoons on their trays; the knife at the left, the fork in center, and the spoon on the right side of the tray. They then sit erect with their hands down at their sides, After all of the men have finished eating, a guard walks to each table to see that all utensils are in their proper place. He then returns to his position.
07:20 AM: Upon signal from deputy warden, the first detail in each line arises and proceeds through the rear entrance door of the cellhouse to the recreation yard. Inside detail, are those not assigned any detail; proceed to their work or cells.
07:25 AM: Guards and their details move out in the following order through the rear gates:
1. Laundry
2. Tailor shop
3. Cobblers
4. Model shop
5. All other shops
6. Gardening and labor details
The guards go ahead through the rear gates and stand opposite the rear gate. There they count prisoners passing through the gate in single file and clear the count with the rear-gate guard. The detail stops at the foot of the steps on the lower level road and forms into two ranks. The guard faces them to the right and proceeds to the shops keeping himself in the rear of his detail. Upon arrival in the front of the shops, the detail halts and faces the shop entrance.
07:30 AM: Shop foreman counts his detail as the line enters the shop and immediately phones his count to the lieutenant of the watch. He also signs the count slip and turns it over to the lieutenant making his first round.
07:35 AM: Rear gate guard makes up detailed count slip, phones it to the lieutenant of the watch, signs it, and proceeds with it to the lieutenant’s office.
09:30 AM: Rest period, during which the men are allowed to smoke in places permitted, but are not allowed to congregate.
09:40 AM: Foreman or the guard gives whistle signal; all of the men on each floor of the shops assemble at a given point and are counted, and return immediately to work. This assembly and count is quickly done, the count is written on a slip of paper, signed by the foreman or guard, and then turned over to the lieutenant making his next round.
11:30 AM: Prisoners stop work and assemble in front of the shops. The foreman or the guard takes the count. The foreman phones in the count and signs the count slip, turning it over to the guard, who proceeds with the detail to the rear gate and checks his detail in with the rear-gate guard.
11:35 AM: In the recreation yard the mess hall line is immediately formed in the same order as in the morning. The details proceed in the same lines to the mess hall.
11:40 AM: Dinner routine is the same as for breakfast, except at the completion of dinner, when the details immediately proceed to the cells.
12:00 PM: Noon lockup cell count; the detail guards remain in front of cells until the prisoners are locked up and the count made.
12:20 PM: Unlock and proceed the same as before going to breakfast, except that the prisoners march in single file into the yard #3 cellblock first. Shop details again form in front of their guards.
12:25 PM: Details are checked out of the rear gate the same as in the morning.
12:30 PM: Details enter the shops and are counted by the foreman and the guard. Procedures are the same as at 07:30 hours.
2:30 PM: Rest period: the procedure and count are the same as in the morning.
4:15 PM: Work stopped with standard count procedure.
4:20 PM: Prisoners enter the rear gate, with count.
4:25 PM: Prisoners march into the mess hall, with count.
4:45 PM: Prisoners return to their cells.
4:50 PM: Final lockup.
5:00 PM: Standing count in the cells by both shifts of the lieutenants and the cell housemen.
8:00 PM: Count in the cells.
9:30 PM: Lights out count.
12:01 AM: Count by the lieutenants and the cell housemen of both shifts.
03:00 AM: Count in the cells.
05:00 AM: Count in the cells.
A total of thirteen official counts were made in a hour 24-hour period, with several other unscheduled and unofficial counts. In addition, the shop foremen made six verification counts during the scheduled workdays. Sunday and holiday routines required their own schedules, with time reserved for haircuts, showers, clothing changes, and recreation.
COUNT PROCEDURES
Warden Johnston drew up careful, detailed procedures for taking official counts and unlocking and locking cells in the morning, at noon, and at the end of the day.
1. The deputy warden is in command and gives the signals. He takes a position at the east end of the cellhouse, between blocks B and C.
2. The lieutenant of the watch takes a position at the west end of the cell house, between blocks B and C; there he receives reports of count from the guards.
3. The guards take their assigned positions, ready to take the count when the signal is given. On signal, the count is started on the south side of B Block and the north side of C Block.
4. As each guard completes his count he goes to the west end of the cellblock and reports to the lieutenant. The count must be accurate and the report must be made as soon as it is ready.
5. After his report of count, each guard returns quickly to his position. Upon the whistle signal guards open the cells in the same order of movement as when taking count. Example: Guard in position 1, Block B, lower east end, opens the cells controlled by Box 1C, then proceeds quickly to opening the cells controlled by Box 7.
6. After the prisoners have stepped out of their cells, the deputy warden and the lieutenant give hand signals for locking.
PROCEDURES FOR OPENING CELL DOORS
Work Area and Yard Turnouts:
1. This will be done by tiers, taking lower tier on “C” outside, working on the same side top to top. Then, coming over to “inside” of “C”, and working down to lower tier. Then proceed to “B” Block and starting on lower “inside” tier, working to the top. Then turn out other side of Block by starting on top and working down.
2. Officers operating doors will not be required to wait until line clears control box, as aisle will be covered by other officers.
3. Inmates should be let out in a steady stream, but overcrowding should be avoided. Note: East end officer must synchronize his opening with West end officer.
Main Line Dining Room Turnouts:
1. This will be done by blocks, beginning on lower tiers, either inside or outside, and working up to top tier as schedule calls for. Then proceeding to other block, beginning at the lower tier and working up to the top.
2. A weekly schedule should be prepared by cellhouse Lieutenant and Officers, verifying the turnouts as much as possible, but still beginning on the lower tiers, one block at a time.
3. Cellhouse officer will give signal when each tier is to be turned out.
4. Officers opening doors will check tiers immediately after inmates have left the tier, taking the number and locking up any inmate remaining in his cell.
Bath Turnouts:
1. Bath turnouts on Saturday mornings will be done by blocks as directed by the cellhouse Lieutenant.
Inmates were required to shave three times a week, with no exceptions. Men who refused to shave were immediately placed in solitary confinement, and they would be force-shaved with a dry razor by guard staff until they complied. No inmate was allowed to grow facial hair of any kind, including mustaches, sideburns, or beards. Each inmate was provided with a personal shaving mug, a shaving brush, and soap. The guard staff would pass out razors to a small number of inmates at a time, and then collect the blades from each person once they were finished. The inmates were allowed a three-hour window in which to shave, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Prisoners in B Block were assigned to shav
e on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and C Block inmates were assigned on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Period photographs showing the shower room in the cellhouse basement, and the clothing issue station located in the same area. All new inmates were processed in this area.
A present-day photograph showing the basement shower area.
General population inmates were required to shower twice a week, and the water temperatures were fully regulated by the on-duty correctional officers. The water was kept hotter than average to eliminate the possibility of inmates becoming acclimated to the temperature of the chilly bay waters. The showers were located in the basement area and were considered one of the more dangerous parts of the prison. There was a large community shower room with water pipe columns suspended from the ceiling above cement basins on the basement floor. Guards stood at the doorway, controlling the flow of inmates entering and exiting the room. The inmates were marched down to the basement in their bathrobes, and once they had finished showering, they were issued new underwear, socks, tooth powder, toilet paper, hand towels, bed linen, and a handkerchief.
The Rule of Silence and Strict Regimen
In the early years of Alcatraz, Warden Johnston employed a silence policy that most inmates considered to be the most unbearable punishment of all. Prisoners were not allowed to talk with each other while confined to their cells, walking in line formation through the cellhouse or during counts. They were only allowed to talk quietly in the Dining Room when seated; at their job assignments, and only if it didn’t interfere with their work. Exceptions were made during community events such as motion picture shows and church services; however, their voices were expected to remain at quiet levels.
Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years Page 10
