Alcatraz Island is a small island about 1.25 miles offshore in San Francisco Bay, reached by ferry from San Francisco, California. The island has been used as a lighthouse, a military fort, a military prison, and a federal prison from 1934 until 1963.

San Francisco, CA
July 2008

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary by Paul Sager, on Flickr


As a federal prison, Alcatraz was intended for those prisoners who continuously caused trouble at other federal prisons, a "last resort prison" to hold the worst of the worst who had no hope of rehabilitation. The first batch of 137 prisoners arrived 11 August 1934.

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary


Alcatraz was notorious as the toughest prison in America, considered by many as the world's most fearsome prison of its day. By the 1950s, conditions at Alcatraz had improved, and inmates were gradually permitted more privileges, such as playing musical instruments, watching movies on weekends, painting, and radio use; the strict code of silence became more relaxed, and prisoners were permitted to talk quietly.

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary


A 1959 report indicated the facility was over three times more expensive to run than the average American prison; $10 per prisoner per day compared to $3 in most other prisons.

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary


Combined with the major structural problems and expensive operation, this led to the closure of Alcatraz as a federal prison on 21 March 1963.

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary


Today, the prison is a museum and one of San Francisco's major tourist attractions, Alcatraz draws 1.7 million visitors annually (2018). Visitors arrive by boat, and are given a tour of the restored buildings and the island.

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary


The first European reference to the island was by Spanish explorers in 1775 while charting San Francisco Bay. When California joined the Union in 1850, President Millard Fillmore ordered that Alcatraz Island be set aside specifically for the United States military.

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary


The Alcatraz water tower it tallest building on the island, at a height of 94 feet. It was used to store 250,000 U.S. gallons of potable water for drinking, water for firefighting, and water for the island's service laundry facility. During the 19-month "Occupation of Alcatraz" (Nov 1969 - June 1971), the water tower was subject to heavy graffiti by Native Americans protestors and has since become a cultural landmark.

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary


Alcatraz Island appears often in media and popular culture, including films dating from 1962: The Book of Eli (2010), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Rock (1996), Murder in the First (1995), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), The Enforcer (1976), Point Blank (1967) , Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and J. J. Abrams' 2012 television series Alcatraz.

San Francisco Bay


Images shared in this post come from reprocessing in Adobe Lightroom 6 of the original JPEGs from July 2008. I was looking for examples of the Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 lens "kit lens" with an EOS Rebel XTi. Instead, I ended up using images from the film era EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 USM.

These images are sized to fill your wide-screen display. Try using <F11> to maximize your browser window for the full effect. If the images overshoot your display, such as a laptop, just click on the image or the URL link and they'll resize to your screen from the host Flickr site. You can click a bit further into the image details on the Flickr page, if desired. EXIF data is available from the host Flickr pages as well. On the Flickr site, use your <L>key for Large and the <F11> for the full-screen.