Alcatraz Prison Research Paper

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Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary is arguably one the most infamous maximum security prisons in United States history that has witnessed the devastating aftermath of riots and attempted escapes resulting in numerous tragic casualties. After the Great Depression, a wave of crime flooded the nation, taking news headlines by storm and demonstrating a new era of organized crime by bank robbers, kidnappers, bootleggers, gangsters, and gamblers. These headlines put the spotlight on some of the most notorious criminals of their time including Al Capone, Gun Kelly, and Robert Stroud. In response to the alarming rise in organized crime, the head of the Federal Bureau of Prisons advocated for a prison to be built to house and contain the nation's most dangerous criminals unable to be tamed by any other penitentiary and place them in a remote location nearly impossible to escape from, …show more content…

Alcatraz was constructed to house the most dangerous criminals of the nation in a facility deemed to be inescapable. The events of May 2nd, 1946 proved that the prison wasn't as advanced and escape proof as rumored to be and staff never expected an escape to be possible, thus lowering their guard and allowing this battle to escalate farther than it should have. In the wake of the tragic conflict, fourteen guards and one inmate were left injured, while two correctional officers and three inmates lay dead after being shot. Of the three remaining escapees, Thompson and Shockley were later executed together in the Gas Chamber for their role in the murder of Officer Miller, and Carnes, the youngest inmate to ever be sent to Alcatraz was spared from execution due to his age but received an additional 99-year sentence. None dared try to escape from Alcatraz for the next ten