Why was alcatraz decommissioned

Hamilton was initially presumed drowned. However, after hiding out for two days in a small shoreline cave, Hamilton made his way back up to the industries area, where he was discovered by correctional officers.

August 7, -- Huron "Ted" Walters disappeared from the prison laundry building. He was caught at the shoreline, before he could even attempt to enter San Francisco Bay. July 31, -- In one of the most ingenious attempts, John Giles was able to take advantage of his job working at the loading dock, where he unloaded army laundry sent to the island to be cleaned - over time, he stole an entire army uniform.

Dressed in the uniform, Giles calmly walked aboard an army launch to what he thought was freedom. He was discovered missing almost immediately. As Giles set foot on Angel Island, he was met by correctional officers who returned him to Alcatraz. May , -- During this incident, known as the "Battle of Alcatraz" and the "Alcatraz Blastout," six prisoners were able to overpower cellhouse officers and gain access to weapons and cellhouse keys, in effect taking control of the cellhouse.

Their plan began to fall apart when the inmates found they did not have the key to unlock the recreation yard door. Shortly thereafter, prison officials discovered the escape attempt. Eventually Shockley, Thompson, and Carnes returned to their cells, but not before the officers taken hostage were shot at point-blank range by Cretzer encouraged by Shockley and Thompson.

One officer, William Miller, died from his injuries. A second officer, Harold Stites who stopped the third escape attempt , was shot and killed attempting to regain control of the cellhouse. About 18 officers were injured during the escape attempt. Marines were eventually called out to assist, and on May 4, the escape attempt ended with the discovery of the bodies of Coy, Cretzer, and Hubbard.

Shockley, Thompson, and Carnes stood trial for the death of the officers; Shockley and Thompson received the death penalty and were executed in the gas chamber at San Quentin in December Carnes, age 19, received a second life sentence.

July 23, -- Floyd Wilson disappeared from his job at the dock. After hiding for several hours among large rocks along the shoreline, he was discovered and surrendered.

September 29, -- While working on the garbage detail, Aaron Burgett and Clyde Johnson overpowered a correctional officer and attempted to swim from the island. Johnson was caught in the water, but Burgett disappeared. An intensive search turned up nothing. Burgett's body was found floating in the Bay two weeks later. June 11, -- Made famous by Clint Eastwood in the movie Escape from Alcatraz, Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin vanished from their cells and were never seen again.

A fourth man, Allen West, believed by some people to have been the mastermind, was also involved; however, he was still in his cell the next morning when the escape was discovered. An investigation revealed an intricate escape plot that involved homemade drills to enlarge vent holes, false wall segments, and realistic dummy heads complete with human hair placed in the beds so the inmates would not be missed during nighttime counts.

Behind the rear wall of the cells is a utility corridor that had locked steel doors at either end. The three men climbed the utility pipes to the top of the cellblock, and gained access to the roof through an air vent the men had previously bent the iron bars that blocked the air vent.

They then climbed down a drainpipe on the northern end of the cellhouse and made their way to the water. They used prison-issued raincoats to make crude life vests and a pontoon-type raft to assist in their swim. A cellhouse search turned up the drills, heads, wall segments, and other tools, while the water search found two life vests one in the bay, the other outside the Golden Gate , oars, and letters and photographs belonging to the Anglins that had been carefully wrapped to be watertight.

But no sign of the men was found. He and brothers John and Clarence Anglin dig away the concrete around the ventilation grates in their cells, allowing them into a utility corridor between rows of cells. They slip down to the ground, scale a barbed-wire fence and make their way to the shore, where they inflate a makeshift raft. The men are presumed to have drowned, though that is not known for certain.

Today — Alcatraz receives nearly 1. Later, it was used to discourage Confederates from trying to seize control of San Francisco in the Civil War. That presence led to some federal prisoners being housed on site—a foreshadowing of the general-population prison it would one day become.

When the need for armed monitoring of the bay ended, the U. Army deconstructed the fortress, leaving only the basement foundation intact. From to , the military prisoners were put to work building a new structure that would house disciplinary barracks for the West Coast. That building is the one standing today.

Inmates often got their own cell, and some even asked to be transferred there because the potential for violent trouble was low. Prisoners had little leeway or privileges outside of the four basics: food, shelter, clothing, and medical care.

One perk? Hot showers. Many know the story of Frank Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin, who famously attempted to escape the prison island in using a raft made out of raincoats. No one knows whether the men made it, but the odds were stacked against them. The Army's first plans were for forts on each side of the Golden Gate, with Alcatraz as a secondary defense. However Alcatraz became a primary fort almost immediately, when there were major obstacles to building a fort on the north side of the Golden Gate.

San Francisco's first defenses, eleven cannons, were mounted on Alcatraz in By the early 's Alcatraz had cannons. Some were enormous, firing a fifteen-inch ball weighing pounds.

Defenses included a row of brick enclosed gun positions called casemates to protect the dock; a fortified gateway or Sally Port to block the entrance road; and a three-story citadel on top of the island. This served both as an armed barracks and as a last line of defense. Ironically, while built to guard against a foreign invasion, Alcatraz's most important period militarily was during the Civil War, Since it was the only completed fort in the bay, it was vital in protecting San Francisco from Confederate raiders.

Early in the war ten thousand rifles were moved to Alcatraz from a nearby armory to prevent their being used by southern sympathizers, The crew of a Confederate privateer were among the island's first prisoners. There was some limited modernization of the island's defenses after the Civil War. Rifled cannons were mounted.