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Located on a twenty-two acre island in San Francisco Bay, about a half mile off shore (National Geographic), Alcatraz was built out of an old military fort. It consisted of a cellhouse, the old fort, work buildings, a lighthouse, and a mess hall. Some considered Alcatraz escape proof. The entire structure was surrounded by a cyclone fence topped with barbed wire. The cellhouse was three stories of reinforced concrete. Elevated gun galleries were built at each end of the cellhouse. Inmates were monitored constantly by guards on a central walkway surrounded by bars. All doors on the island were electronically operated and were designed to slam and let the inmate know the guards were in total control. Coming back from work i
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Because nobody was ever sent directly to Alcatraz (they had to earn their way there by being a threat in other prisons), Alcatraz was filled with horrible criminals. Sure life was brutal but every convict in there had earned it one way or another. They made an inflatable raft out of stolen rain jackets The preparation took 6 months. Then you return to your cell while everyone else eats. There were about one hundred other prison employees. Some of these probably are still hidden today. You then go down to the workshops for several hours of hard labor. Then you go back to your cell for the lunch rotation After, you spend hours in your small cell, passing the time however possible.
While many people thought Alcatraz was inescapable, they were wrong. They would tie strings to these objects and hide them in toilets or down drainpipes. One-hundred-nineteen inmates were assaulted every year. You spend twenty minutes in the mess hall, hoping the tear gas canisters above your head don’t “malfunction” and go off (Corrections 54). Promptly at 9:30 the lights all shut off, leaving you in utter darkness. If they continued to be bad, they were put in the D Block, nicknamed “The Hole”.
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