Why
Alcatraz Island
is special

San Francisco's Alcatraz Island (nicknamed the Rock) is renowned for its decades of being a maximum-security prison for incorrigible inmates.

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Alcatraz
tips & insights

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Brief history
of Alcatraz Island

This travel wonder has four major historical periods.

1850-1934
Fortress (until 1907) and military brig.

1934-1963
Federal penitentiary.

1969-1971
Occupied by a small group of American Indians to protest government policy affecting Native-Americans.

1973-present
Run by the National Park System. Open to the public.

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Escaping

Few jailbirds attempted to escape Alcatraz island because of:

Tight security

Long distance to the mainland shoreline

Frigid, strong, bay currents which could rapidly pull them out to the deep ocean.

Rumors of man-eating sharks.

Still, there were 14 attempts involving several dozen convicts. Most of them were caught, but some drowned or were shot. No one knows for sure what happened to several others. Officials think they drowned, some writers say they made it and settled elsewhere.

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Alcatraz Island
pointers

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