How Alcatraz Became a Federal Penitentiary in 1934

When Alcatraz opened as a federal penitentiary in 1934, it was a direct response to a decade of headline crime. This page explains the reasoning behind the decision, the kind of inmate chosen for the island, and how the first arrivals were brought across the bay.

A country worried about crime

The years between the two world wars gave Americans plenty of reasons to believe crime had slipped out of control. Kidnappings, shootouts between gangsters and large-scale robberies filled front pages. Attorney General Homer S. Cummings, serving under President Roosevelt, faced strong pressure to act against criminals who roamed from state to state smuggling liquor, robbing banks and kidnapping wealthy victims, then paid off police, judges and officials to protect their operations.

Catching these men was not enough, because they often did not stay caught. Spectacular jailbreaks by figures such as John Dillinger, Willie Sutton, “Jelly” Nash and “Baby Face” Nelson turned some of them into folk heroes.

The federal response

Alcatraz was only one part of a wider federal campaign. The first step was to make crimes such as bank robbery and kidnapping federal offences. This mattered because local police had no authority beyond their own state. In 1932 there were 631 bank robberies, many of them in small towns near a state border, and a gang that crossed the line was effectively safe. Once the offence became federal and the new Federal Bureau of Investigation could follow suspects anywhere, the picture changed. By 1943 the yearly figure had dropped to 26.

Success created a new problem. As more gangsters were convicted, the existing federal prisons at Leavenworth, Atlanta and elsewhere saw riots and escapes that shook public confidence. The turning point came in 1933 with the “Kansas City Massacre”, a gun battle in which federal agents died while transporting Frank “Jelly” Nash back to Leavenworth after an escape.

The answer was to remove the ringleaders. A relatively small number of troublemakers and escape specialists from each federal prison would be gathered in one secure place, away from their gangs and from public attention. That place was Alcatraz.

Before 1934 the Bureau of Prisons ran five major institutions: Atlanta, Leavenworth, the Leavenworth Annex, Lewisburg and McNeil Island in Washington State. Nearly all of the Alcatraz population would come from them. Warden Johnston described the intended inmates as men with the longest sentences, the most extensive records, the worst behaviour and the cleverest plans for breaking out.

Turning an army prison into a fortress

The conversion was mostly a matter of steel. Doors were replaced or covered, unused corridors were screened off, outside doors received steel grating, inside doors were double plated, and window and cell bars were replaced with tool-resistant versions. Two raised, barred gun galleries were added inside the cellhouse, towers were built around the island, and fences with barbed wire ran along the perimeter.

What made it different

Alcatraz did not hold ordinary burglars or assailants, since those crimes are normally handled by the states. Its inmates had been convicted in federal court of federal crimes and were then judged too dangerous, notorious or escape-prone for a regular institution. In the early 1930s the federal prisons were full of bootleggers, post office robbers and minor criminals, and the addition of escape artists and gangster bosses created trouble. Officials saw something close to the 80/20 rule: about eighty percent of the problems came from twenty percent of the men.

The Bureau’s director, Sanford Bates, and his assistant James Bennett, who later took over the job, belonged to a newer school of thinking. Critics sometimes called them soft reformers, but they believed in sorting convicts by criminal history, offence, escape risk and chance of rehabilitation, and then placing each in a suitable institution. Options ranged from unlocked honour farms to Alcatraz at the far end. Men who could be turned away from crime went to places that offered rehabilitation. Alcatraz was not one of them. It existed to punish and to correct behaviour, after which the inmate could be moved back to a regular prison.

The guiding phrase was “maximum custody, minimum privilege.” Every inmate was guaranteed four things: food, clothing, shelter and medical care. Everything else had to be earned through good conduct. A newcomer who followed the rules might first win the right to leave his cell for a work assignment, then access to the recreation yard at weekends, mail and letter writing, approved magazines, library books and finally a family visit. Breaking rules could take all of that away and leave a man in his cell for close to 23 hours a day, leaving only for meals, showers and the infirmary.

Who was sent there

The prison was built for career offenders. Roughly a third of the early inmates had five or more felony arrests, and authorities said about a third had pulled off at least one successful jailbreak. Others had rioted, led strikes or attacked prisoners and staff elsewhere. The Bureau called them “habitual, intractable” offenders, and Warden Johnston spoke of incorrigibles, gangsters whose connections needed breaking up, men wanted in other jurisdictions and escape artists who had shown ingenuity in getting weapons.

Getting to the island

The first residents were already there, since 32 military prisoners stayed behind when the Army left. On 11 August 1934 they were joined by 14 men from McNeil Island, described by their warden as surly, desperate and slippery. Further groups came from the other federal prisons. They were shackled, chained together at the waist and loaded onto a special train nicknamed the “rolling prison”. Its cars were uncoupled at quiet docks on San Francisco Bay, in Richmond and Tiburon, pushed onto a barge and towed to the island, so the men stepped off the train onto the rock.

Later replacements travelled individually or in small groups under ordinary transfer rules. Their last departure point was Fort Mason, beside Muni Pier in San Francisco, where they boarded the prison launch.

The first day

The earliest groups were marched around the island, still shackled, and up the recreation yard stairs to the cellhouse, where the warden and other officials waited. Later a vehicle carried new arrivals from the dock. Escort officers from the previous prison handed the men over, and the warden gave an introductory lecture. Each inmate then showered, was inspected and disinfected, received an Alcatraz uniform and a copy of the rules, and was sent upstairs to his cell.

To continue, read about the “maximum custody” regime, minimum privileges and the Army years on the island.