Alcatraz is a small island in San Francisco Bay, 1.5 miles from San Francisco.
From Alcatraz, you can see the famous Golden Gate Bridge.
Alcatraz is also famous and is now a major tourist attraction.
Tourists can reach the island by boat from the city.
Alcatraz has often appeared in movies, including "Escape from Alcatraz" which was made in 1979.
One reason it’s famous is because it used to be a prison, a very special prison.
It was designed for prisoners who were causing trouble in other prisons, such as trying to escape.
It was a maximum security prison, so escape was almost impossible.
The waters around it are cold, and only very strong swimmers can swim from the island to San Francisco.
The first group of prisoners arrived in 1934.
There were 137 prisoners, including bank robbers and murderers.
They came by train from another prison in the state of Kansas.
During that trip there was heavy security.
The prisoners were under guard and handcuffed.
Nobody wanted them to escape.
The prison was designed to hold up to 336 prisoners.
However the average population was only about 270.
Although there were several notorious inmates, such as Al Capone, most of the inmates were not well-known.
Many had tried to escape from other prisons or were considered violent.
If a man did not behave at another prison, he could be sent to Alcatraz.
At Alcatraz there was just one inmate in each prison cell.
Prison life at Alcatraz was highly structured and boring.
It was designed to teach prisoners to follow rules.
They had four rights: food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.
Everything else was a privilege that had to be earned.
Privileges included working, visits from family members, and access to the prison library.
There were also activities such as painting and music.
Once a prisoner showed that he could follow the rules, he could be transferred back to another prison to finish his sentence.
Alcatraz was used as a prison for 29 years.
During that time, no prisoner escaped successfully.
There were 14 escape attempts, involving 36 prisoners.
Twenty-three were caught alive, and six were shot and killed.
2 men tried to escape twice.
2 drowned and 5 were listed as missing and presumed drowned.
The most violent escape attempt occurred on May 2, 1946 when 6 prisoners tried to escape.
That event is called the "Battle of Alcatraz."
While it was in use, Alcatraz held some of the most notorious criminals in American history, such as Al Capone.
Al Capone was a crime boss who built his career in Chicago.
The prison was finally closed in 1963.
It was closed because it was too expensive to operate.