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Alcatraz, the infamous US federal penitentiary
prison
Alcatraz

Alcatraz, the infamous US federal penitentiary in the San Francisco Bay, closed its doors on this day in 1963.

Active for just under thirty years, the "last resort" prison incarcerated some of the most notorious gangsters and criminals of that time period, including Al Capone, Robert Franklin Stroud, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, and Alvin "Creepy Karpis" Karpowicz. It was initially a US Army military prison, before becoming a maximum high-security federal prison.

Over thirty escape attempts have been made, though the prison claims none of them were successful.

The prison's corridors are named after major American streets. The photo here shows inmates walking on Broadway, on the day the prison was closed.

The Indians of All Tribes (named as such because the group was comprised of many tribes) occupied the island on three occasions in the 1960s and 1970s, in protest of federal policies against Native Americans.

Forced to close down due to high operating costs (which were three times higher per inmate than other prisons), the prison was converted into a museum in 1973, and runs the oldest operating lighthouse on the West Coast of the US.
San Francisco Bay, California USA
March 21,1963
post by Chanez Baali
project: The Glass Files #onthisday via Instagram
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Created on 2017-07-19 at 20:25 and last updated on 2018-08-20 at 05:42.