Ministerul Educaţiei, Cercetării, Tineretului si Sportului

Colegiul Tehnic Turda

Lucrare pentru Atestarea Competenţelor Profesionale

ALCATRAZ

Profesor îndrumător: Hodorogea Dana Elev: Ciulea Răzvan

Mai 2010

The Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports

Technical College Turda

English Attestation Paper

ALCATRAZ

Coordinative teacher: Hodorogea Dana Student:Ciulea Razvan

May 2010

Table of contents

Argument1. ALCATRAZ-The Island

1.1 History, Location…………………..........................................11.2 Planning and Construction……………………………………21.3 Fort Alcatraz……………….……….......................................31.4 Alcatraz Military………………………………………………..4

2. WELCOME HOME, WELCOME TO ALCATRAZ2.1 Alcatraz Island Federal Penitentiary ………………….…….72.2 Daily inmates Routine………………………/………………..82.3 Most Famous Inmates…………………….…………………10

2.3.1. Al Capone…………………………..……………...132.3.2. “Birdman of Alcatraz"………………………..……14

2.5 The great escape from Alcatraz………….…………….......152.6 Native American Occupation ………………..……………..17

3. Alcatraz Nowadays 3.1 Ghost Stories of Alcatraz …………………………………19 3.2 Golden Gate National Recreation Area…………………..203.3 Habitats and Fauna ……………………….………………..20

ConclusionsBibliography...............................................................................................21

Argument

I’ve decided to write about Alcatraz Prison since I was interested in knowing more about the history of the most famous prison, its stories and legends. There is no other jail more reputed or better known than Alcatraz in the history. How can such a horrific place become so famous? Why its legends persist over the years and fascinate generations after generations?

Even now, the place is known for its magnetism for tourists coming from all over the world. Alcatraz fame is due to its famous prisoners locked there during the time but also due to the security measures meant to discourage any escape attempt. Both of these motives inspired many film makers to use their imagination and create memorable movies.

The way the leaders of the Mob were paying their crimes making their own justice (“Every Grandfather has his Grandfather”), the boldness of the captives to escape are some of the ingredients of Alcatraz’s celebrity and some of the main ingredients for its attraction.

The prison was established in a period when the federal government wanted to demonstrate the public that is extremely powerful and definitely against organized crime. Between the '30s till the '60s, Alcatraz was America's most secure jail and the "halt end" for the most dangerous criminals of the U.S.

I think every man is interested in reading or seeing facts about this place, real facts of that black hole. I have read the history of Alcatraz too and have also seen some of the legendary movies. That’s how I’ve decided to write about this particular theme.

I. ALCATRAZ - The Island

Sitting like a beacon in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, between San Francisco and Oakland, California, is Alcatraz Island. Though most prominently known for the years it served as a maximum security prison, the "Rock’s” history stretches far beyond those infamous days, and its legends and stories continue to find their way into American lore, complete with a number of ghosts who are said to remain upon the island.

1.1 History, Location

The first Europeans to visit the island were the Spanish in 1769, who named it "Isla de los Alcatraces,” or "Island of the Pelicans,” for its large pelican colony. Later the name was shortened to Alcatraz. When the Spanish began to build the many missions of Southern California, many of the native Ohlone utilized the island as a hiding place to escape the "forced” Christianity imposed upon them.

Long before Alcatraz became home to some of the most notorious outlaws in the country, it was known as a place to be avoided by Native Americans who believed it to contain evil spirits.

These Native Americans, called the Ohlone (a Miwok Indian word meaning "western people"), often utilized the island as a place of isolation or banishment for members violating tribal laws. Despite the legends of evil spirits, Alcatraz was also used by the Indians as an area for food gathering, especially bird eggs and sea-life.

1.2 Planning and Construction

The Alcatraz Island came under the control of the United States. It wasn’t long before the U.S. Army realized the strategic position of the island as a defensive position for the San Francisco Bay and began the work of building a fortress atop the sandstone outcropping in 1853.

Construction began with a temporary wharf, shops, barracks and offices. Incorporating the ruggedness of the land into the defense plan, the laborers blasted the rock and laid brick and stone to create steep walls around the island. By 1854, the lighthouse was completed and eleven cannons were mounted.

However, the fortress slowly took shape, as roadways, additional outbuildings and the final defensive position – the Citadel, was built.

The rest of the fortress would take years to complete, as most the area laborers were much more interested in prospecting for gold, rather than the back breaking work of building.

Another cause of delay was the lack of quality building materials. While some sandstone was quarried on nearby Angel Island, much of the granite used in the building had to be imported from China.

1.3 Fort Alcatraz

The Alcatraz Fort slowly took shape, as roadways, additional outbuildings and the final defensive position – the Citadel, was built. Completed in 1859, the fortress included a row of enclosed gun positions to protect the dock, a fortified guardhouse to block the entrance road, and the three-story citadel atop the island, that served as an armed barracks and the last line of defense.

The only access to the citadel was a drawbridge over a deep dry moat that surrounded the entire building. The structure was designed to hold as many as 200 soldiers with provisions that could withstand a four month siege.

Fort Alcatraz soon took the lead role as the most powerful coastal defense in the west. In addition to its strategic defensive position, the island also took on the additional role of serving as a stockade for enlisted men. Recognizing that the cold water (53° F) and the swift currents surrounding the island made it an ideal site for a prison.

In April, 1861, Alcatraz took on another role -- that of defending the Union state of California from Confederates when the Civil War broke out. As California's population included both Union and Confederate supporters, tensions ran high on the California coast, and the fort and its men were tasked with calming the threat of local war and protecting the City of San Francisco.

1.4 Alcatraz Military

On August 27, 1861, Alcatraz was officially designated as the military prison for the Department of the Pacific, which covered most of the territory west of the Rocky Mountains.

Like most prisons of the time, the conditions in the cell house were terrible, with men sleeping on the stone floors, side-by-side. With no heat, running water or sanitary facilities in the cells, sickness became common among the prisoners.

During the Civil War, Alcatraz's role as a military prison increased. When the Confederates were arrested from the schooner, they joined numerous other military prisoners and local civilians who had been arrested for treason.

Soon the rooms in the guardhouse were filled and a temporary wooden prison was built in 1863 just north of the guardhouse. Later it was replaced with several adjoining structures called the Lower Prison. Built by jailhouse labor, as part of their punishment, the prisoners also constructed additional housing on the island.

As the Civil War continued on, the U.S. Army devoted more resources to Alcatraz, and in 1864, the first 15-inch Rodman cannons were mounted. Additional "bomb proof barracks” were also built. By the time the Civil War ended in 1865, the island contained over one hundred cannons. However, the only time they would be used was during the official mourning salute during San Francisco's honorary funeral procession for President Lincoln.After the Civil War, Confederate sympathizers caught celebrating the deaths of President Lincoln were sent to Alcatraz along with other military convicts and various malcontents of society. At this time, Indians were often utilized by the cavalry as scouts and those convicted of mutiny or other crimes, were sent to Alcatraz, housed side by side with some of the worst murderers, rapists and criminals in the West. Other Native Americans who thwarted the U.S. Government were also sent to the "Rock. The first Native American to be sent to Alcatraz was a man named Paiute Tom, who was transferred from Camp McDermit in Nebraska on June 5, 1873.

Two days later, he was shot and killed by a guard. The reason for the transfer and the killing have been lost in history.Other Native Americans, accused of mutiny, Indian campaigns against the army, or escapees from other prisons were also sent to Alcatraz.As the ships of the U.S. military became more and more powerful, the defensive purposes of Alcatraz became obsolete. In 1907, Alcatraz was re-designated as the "Pacific Branch, U.S. Military Prison” and prison guards replaced infantry soldiers.

New projects soon began to accommodate the many military prisoners and during World War I, the prison housed German prisoners of war. The upper citadel was torn down and a huge cell house was built over the citadel basement and moat.The new cell house, completed in 1912, was the largest reinforced concrete building in the world at the time, containing four cellblocks with a total of 600 cells, each with a toilet and electricity.Throughout these years, several inmates tried to escape the island by boarding boats heading to the mainland, swimming, or clinging to wooden objects.

Most of those who attempted escape through the water never made it to shore. Of those who tried, some were rescued and returned to the island, but others drowned.As a Military Prison, there were at least 80 men who attempted to escape in 29 separate attempts.

Of those, 62 were captured and returned to the prison, one may have drowned and the fates of 17 others were unknown.

By 1933, the army decided that the island was too expensive to operate. Its location was the biggest problem, with the high costs of importing water, food and supplies.

The most successful escape was on November 28, 1918 when four prisoners managed to escape with rafts. The authorities assumed they had drowned in San Francisco Bay, but they later appeared in Sutro Forest. Only one of them was recaptured.

By the early part of 1934, eighty years of U.S. Army occupation ended. With the exception of 32 hard case prisoners, who were to remain on the island and incarcerated in the "new” prison when it was completed; the others were transferred to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and Fort Jay, New Jersey.

II WELCOME HOME, WELCOME TO ALCATRAZ

2.1 Alcatraz Island Federal Penitentiary

January 1, 1934, much to the chagrin of the people of San Francisco, the Bureau of Prisons began the process of selecting a warden and upgrading Alcatraz to an "escape-proof” maximum security prison.

Each and every window in the prison building was also equipped with tool-proof steel window guards and two gun galleries were erected in the cell block that allowed guards, armed with machine guns, to oversee all inmate activities.New technology allowed electromagnetic metal detectors to be utilized, positioned outside the mess hall and at the workshop entrances.Electricity and sanitary facilities were upgraded in each cell, and all of the utility tunnels were cemented so that no prisoner could enter or hide in them.

Appointed as the first warden, James A. Johnston came with more than twelve years of experience in the California Department of Corrections at San Quentin and Folsom Prisons. Johnston had already developed a reputation for strict ideals and a humanistic approach to reform.He and his hand-picked correctional officers then enforced the guidelines by rewarding inmates with privileges or sentence reductions for hard work, and harshly punishing inmates who defied prison regulations.

The collaborative effort of U.S. Attorney General, Homer Cummings, and Director of the Bureau of Prisons, Sanford Bates, produced a legendary prison that seemed both necessary and appropriate to the times. It was so forbidding that it was eventually nicknamed "Uncle Sam's Devil's Island.”

As part of its maximum security efforts, the ratio of guards to prisoners was one to three, compared to other prisons, where the ratio averaged one to twelve. In addition, inmates were allowed no visitors for the first three months, and afterwards, were only allowed one visitor per month, a privilege that had to be earned.While prisoners were allowed limited access to the prison library, no newspapers, unapproved books, or radios were allowed. All incoming and outgoing mail was screened, censored, and retyped.

Though the prison was heavily fortified and it was assumed that the "treacherous waters” of the San Francisco Bay would prevent any escape, several attempts were made throughout the years.

Primarily due to rising costs, its isolated location, and deteriorating facilities, Alcatraz was the most expensive of any state or federal institution.

At this same time, prison operating philosophy was changing to reinstitution and rehabilitation, rather than the wholesale warehousing of inmates. The government soon began to build a new prison at Marion, Illinois, with plans to shut down Alcatraz.

From 1963 to 1969, the island remained abandoned, with the exception of a short Native American occupation in 1964. Lasting for only four hours, the symbolic occupation was led by Richard McKenzie, with four other Sioux Indians, who demanded the use of the island for a Native American Cultural Center and Indian University.

2.2 Daily inmates Routine

07:00 hours: Prisoners are awoke by cell house bell. Prisoners are expected to get up, shave, get dressed, make their beds, and clean their cell before leaving.

07:20 hours: Second morning bell. Prisoners cell doors are opened. All inmates are to stand quietly outside their cell facing forward.

07:30 hours: Breakfast. Prisoners are allowed to take as much food as they like as long as they eat everything. The motto is well known among inmates

07:50 hours: Breakfast concludes. Inmates with work assignments in the industries are led to the Recreation Yard and lined up by work detail (primary details are laundry, tailor shop, glove, shoe, gardening, standard labor and metal shop).

08:00 hours: Inmates are led by division to their respective assignments down the steep stair ledge and through the snitch box (metal detector) and expected to line up at their duty post for counts. Counts are completed and validated by correctional officers.

08:20 hours: Work details begin.

10:00 hours: Inmates are given an eight-minute break. Inmates are allowed to smoke during the break in designated areas.

10:08 hours: Prison industries whistle signals end of break and allows inmates two

minutes to return back to their duty assignment.

11:35 hours: Prison industries whistle signals end of work period. Inmates are lined up and marched through the snitch box (metal detector), up the stair trail into the recreation yard for counts before lunch. After counts are validated inmates are led into the mess hall.

12:00 hours: Lunch begins.

12:20 hours: Lunch period concludes. In order, correctional officers count silverware for each place set and validate counts.

13:00 hours: Inmates assigned to work details are marched back to the recreation yard awaiting counts

13:20 hours: Work resumes…

15:00 hours: Prison industries whistle signals end of work period. Inmates are allowed to break in designated areas to smoke.

15:08 hours: Prison industries whistle signals end of break and allows inmates two minutes to return back to their duty assignment.

15:10 hours: Work resumes…

16:10 hours: Work period ends…

16:20 hours: Prisoners are led back to recreation yard, lined-up and prepared for counts. Prisoners are counted and led back to the dining hall for dinner.

16:35 hours: Prisoners not on work assignments are released from cells and marched into the dining hall for dinner meal.

16:40 hours: Supper

17:00 hours: Dinner period concludes. In order, correctional officers count silverware for each place set and validate counts.

17:30 hours: Final lock-up count…

21:30 hours: Inmate evening count and then lights out.

2.3 Most Famous Inmates

On July 1, 1934, the maximum security, minimum-privilege penitentiary, officially received its first prisoners. The 32 hard-case prisoners who had been "left” by the Army were turned over to Alcatraz authorities, the first of which was a man named Frank Bolt, who was serving a five-year sentence for sodomy. Other inmates in this first group of men had committed such crimes as robbery, assault, rape, and desertion. The next month, 69 more prisoners arrived from the McNeil Island and Atlanta Penitentiaries, the most famous of which, inmate #85, was Al Capone.

Arriving on the second "official" shipment to Alcatraz in September was George "Machine Gun" Kelly. First involved in bootlegging, he was sentenced to Leavenworth where he spent three years. Obviously not rehabilitated, he resumed a life of crime, this time robbing banks.He suffered another heart attack and died at the age of 59.

“Doc” Barker was arrested in January, 1935 and later sent to Alcatraz from Leavenworth. He was killed in an escape attempt from Alcatraz in 1939. “Carpis”, who was arrested in New Orleans in May, 1936, found himself in Alcatraz just a few months later. He spent the next 26 years on the "Rock” before being transferred to McNeil Island in April, 1962. In 1969, he was released and deported to his homeland of Canada. Carpis died in 1979.

Robert Stroud, known as the Birdman of Alcatraz, received very little notoriety until he gained attention in the 1962 movie "The Birdman of Alcatraz.” Stroud, who was convicted of manslaughter in 1909, was initially sent to McNeil Island to serve a 12 year sentence. While there, he was difficult to manage and after attacking an orderly, he was sent to Leavenworth.After he genuinely became ill, he was transferred to a Federal Medical Facility in Springfield, Missouri in 1959. Four years later, Stroud died of natural causes.

Al Capone He was so successful in gaining special privileges, that family members had taken up residence at a nearby hotel, through whom, continued to run his organization in Chicago.During Capone's sentence on the "Rock” he would make several other attempts to con Johnston into allowing him special privileges, but all would be denied. Capone spent 4 years at the "Rock” holding a variety of menial jobs at the prison.

Eventually, he became began to suffer symptoms of syphilis that he had contracted years earlier, and actually spent more time in the hospital than he did in the cell house. He was released in November of 1939, settled in Miami and died in 1947, at the age of 48.

2.3.1. Al Capone #85

Al Capone still remains one of the most notable residents of "the Rock." In a memoir written by Warden James Johnston, he reminisced about the intensity of public interest around Capone's imprisonment, stating that he was continually barraged with questions about "Big Al."

Before arriving at Alcatraz, Capone had been a master at manipulating his environment at the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta. Despite strict convictions from the courts, Capone was always able to persuade his keepers into procuring his every whim, and often dictated his own privileges.

Capone started his life of crime at a young age. Rumored to have started pimping prostitutes before reaching puberty, he was raised on the tough streets of Brooklyn and earned extra money as a bouncer in various brothels.By 1929, Capone's empire was worth over $62,000,000, and he was ready to wage war on his most prominent bootlegging rival, George "Bugs" Moran. Bugs was also one of the principal Chicago gangsters.

Capone eventually became symptomatic from syphilis, a disease he had evidently been carrying for years. In 1938, he was transferred to Terminal Island Prison in Southern California to serve out the remainder of his sentence, and was released in November of 1939. Capone died on January 25, 1947, in his Palm Beach Mansion from complications of syphilis.

2.3.2. “Birdman of Alcatraz" #594

Robert Stroud, who was better known to the public as the "Birdman of Alcatraz," was probably the most famous inmate ever to reside on Alcatraz. In 1909 he brutally murdered a bartender who had allegedly failed to pay a prostitute for whom Stroud was pimping in Alaska.

As a result of this privilege, Stoud was able to author two books on canaries and their diseases, having raised nearly 300 birds in his cells, carefully studying their habits and physiology, and he even developed and marketed medicines for various bird ailments.

In 1942 Stroud was transferred to Alcatraz, where he spent the next seventeen years - six years in segregation in D Block, and eleven years in the prison hospital.

In 1959 he was transferred to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, and there on November 21, 1963, he was found dead from natural causes by convicted spy, close friend, and fellow inmate Morton Sobell.

2.5 The great escape from Alcatraz

The famous escape from Alcatraz was on June 11, 1962, Frank Lee Morris,Allen West and the Anglins brothers. The plan was extremely complex and involved the design and fabrication of ingenious lifelike dummies, water rafts, and life preservers, fashioned from over fifty rain coats that had been acquired from other inmates - some donated and some stolen.

By May of 1962, Morris and the Anglins and had already dug through the cell's six-by-nine-inch vent holes, and had started work on the vent on top of the cellblock.The Anglins inhabited adjacent cells, as did West and Morris, who also resided nearby. The inmates alternated shifts, with one working and one on lookout. They would start work at 5:30 p.m. and continue till about 9:00 p.m., just prior to the lights-out count. Meanwhile John and Clarence started fabricating the dummy heads, and even gave them the pet names of "Oink" and "Oscar."They were decorated with flesh-tone paint from prison art kits, and human hair from the barbershop.After months of long preparation the inmates had completed fashioning all of the gear they needed for their escape, and they then continued working to loosen the ventilator grill on top of the cellhouse.On the night of June 11, 1962, Morris indicated that the top ventilator was loose enough, and that he felt that they were ready to attempt the escape.At 9:30 p.m., immediately after lights-out, Morris brought down the dummies from the top of the cellblock and announced that the escape would be staged that very night.

Clarence Anglin attempted to assist West in removing his ventilator grill by kicking at it from outside of the cell in the utility corridor, but his efforts were unsuccessful. Morris and the Anglins would have no choice but to leave him behind.The inmates made their final thirty-foot climb up the plumbing to the cellhouse roof, traversed 100 feet across the rooftop, and then carefully maneuvered down fifty feet of piping to

the ground near the entrance to the shower area. This would be the last anyone ever saw of Morris and the Anglin Brothers.

For decades speculated abounded as to whether this famous escape attempt had been successful. The FBI spent several years investigating, and later resolved that the inmates' plan had failed. The formal plan was to steal a car and then perpetrate a burglary at a clothing store. No reports of any such crimes were filed in Marin County within a twelve-day period following the escape.

Frank Morris Anglins Brothers Allen West

2.6 Native American Occupation

On November 9, 1969, Richard Oakes, a Mohawk Indian and group of supporters set out on a chartered boat to symbolically claim Alcatraz Island for the Native Americans.The initial occupation, planned by Richard Oakes, included a group of Indian students, as well as urban Indians from the Bay Area. Since so many different tribes were represented by the Native Americans, the name "Indians of All Tribes" was adopted for the group.The federal government initially insisted that the Indians leave the island and placed an ineffective barricade around it.

Less than two months after the initial occupation, the Indian group began to fall into disarray, with two groups rising in opposition to Richard Oakes.In the meantime, many of the Indian students returned to school in January, 1970.

The Native Americans were soon forced to resort to drastic measures in order to survive and began to strip copper wiring and tubing from the buildings to sell as scrap met.

On June 10, 1971, the occupation ended when 20 armed federal marshals, assisted by the Coast Guard, swarmed the island, removing five women, four children, and six unarmed Indian men.

The occupation was the longest of any federal facility by Native Americans to this day.

III Alcatraz Nowadays

Each year over one million tourists board the Alcatraz ferry and visit what was once considered the toughest Federal prisons in America. Today, Alcatraz is one of the biggest tourist magnets and most famous landmarks of San Francisco.

The island's mystique, which was created primarily by books and motion pictures, continues to lure people from all over the world to see firsthand where America housed its most notorious criminals.

This is a journey into a dim part of the American past, and few walk away fully comprehending. The clichéd expression, "if these walls could talk," is taken to a deeper level when probing the rigid silence of Alcatraz.

But, visit we do, so much so that if you are planning a trip to the island, reservations are recommended days in advance as the tours fill up fast. The tour provides a brief orientation from a park ranger, a ranger-led or self-guided tour, and an orientation film.

An audio tour is also available for a couple of extra dollars that is well worth it, as guards and former prisoners share their experiences of the prison. Today, the military base barracks, prison cell house, the oldest lighthouse on the west coast, and several other buildings remain.

3.1 Ghost Stories of Alcatraz

With its centuries old history from ancient Native Americans, to Fort Alcatraz, to a Military Barracks, and most often known service as one of the toughest federal penitentiaries in the Nation, it is no wonder that this place is said to be one of the most haunted in the nation.

Today, these spirits that continue to lurk in the shadows of the often fog-enshrouded island have been heard, seen and felt by both the staff and many visitors to Alcatraz. The sounds of men’s voices, screams, whistles, clanging metal doors and terrifying screams are said to be heard within these historic walls, especially near the dungeon.

Often it has been reported that on foggy nights, the old lighthouse will suddenly appear, accompanied by an eerie whistling sound and a flashing green light which makes its way slowly around the island. Appearing to both guards and visitors alike, the spectacle vanishes just as suddenly as it appears.

Today’s visitors and staff often report cold spots within the hallways of D-Block, as well sudden intense feelings. Cells and 12 and 14 D are the most active.

3.2 Golden Gate National Recreation Area

On October 12, 1972, Congress created the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the island became part of the National Park Service.But, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, is much more than just Alcatraz Island, it also is one of the largest urban parks in the world, with acreage spanning 2 ½ half times the size of San Francisco County.

The park includes Bolinas Ridge, Forts Baker, Barry, and Cronkhite; Gerbode Valley, Kirby Cove, Marin Headlands, Muir Woods National Monument, Beach and Overlook, the Nike Missile Site, Olema Valley, Point Bonita Lighthouse, Stinson Beach, and Tennessee Valley.The park was created thanks in large part to efforts to create it by Congressman Phillip Burton. In 1972, President Richard Nixon signed into law "An Act to Establish the Golden Gate National Recreation Area." The bill allocated $120 million

for land acquisition and development. The National Park Service first purchased Alcatraz and Fort Mason from the U.S. Army. Then to complete the national park in the north bay.

3.3 Habitats and Flora

Cisterns. A bluff that, because of its moist crevices, is believed to be an important site for California slender salamanders.

Cliff tops at the island's north end. Containing a onetime manufacturing building and a plaza, the area is listed as important to nesting and roosting birds.

The powerhouse area. A steep embankment where native grassland and creeping wild rye support a habitat for deer mice.

Tide pools. A series of them, created by long-ago quarrying activities, contains still-unidentified invertebrate species and marine algae.They form one of the few tide-pool complexes in the Bay, according to the report.

Western cliffs and cliff tops. Rising to heights of nearly 100 feet (30 m), they provide nesting and roosting sites for sea birds including pigeon guillemots, cormorants, Heermann's Gulls and Western Gulls. Harbor seals can occasionally be seen on a small beach at the base.

The parade grounds. Carved from the hillside during the late 19th century and covered with rubble since the government demolished guard housing in 1971, the area has become a habitat and breeding ground for black-crowned night herons, western gulls, slender salamanders and deer mice.

The Agave Path, a trail named for its dense growth of agave. Located atop a shoreline bulkhead on the south side, it provides a nesting habitat for night herons.

Gardens planted by families of the original Army post, and later by families of the prison guards, fell into neglect after the prison closure in 1963. After 40 years they are being restored by a paid staff member and many volunteers, thanks to funding by the Garden Conservancy and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

The untended gardens had become severely overgrown and had developed into a nesting habitat and sanctuary for numerous birds.

Now, areas of bird habitat are being preserved and protected, while many of the gardens are being fully restored to their original glory.

In clearing out the overgrowth, many of the original plants were discovered to still be growing where they had been planted - some over 100 years agoumerous heirloom rose hybrids, including a Welsh rose that had been believed to be extinct, have been discovered and propagated.

Many species of roses, succulents, and geraniums are to be found growing among apple and fig trees, banks of sweet peas, manicured gardens of cutting flowers, and wildly overgrown sections of native grasses with blackberry and honeysuckle.

Conclusions

Bibliography

http://www.alcatrazhistory.com

http://www.legendsofamerica.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz_Island

http://www.Alcatraz photo.com

‘’Escape from Alcatraz’’ (1979) by Don Siegel

“Birdman of Alcatraz” (1962) by John Frankenheimer