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Island Alcatraz is located in the center of San Francisco Bay in California , USA . Initially, a fortress was built , Fort Alcatraz , and later the famous "Alcatraz" prison, closed in 1963 , today a tourist attraction.
The island is made of sandstone , with a length of 500 m, a height of 41 m, with an area of 85,000 m². On this surface were built the prison and the oldest lighthouse on the west coast of America.
The Spanish researcher Juan Manuel de Ayala sailed in the gulf in 1775 discovering the island. The name comes from Isla de los Alcatraces (Pelican Island), birds that populate the island.
In 1847 , Lord John Charles Fremont , the military governor of California , bought Alcatraz Island for $ 5,000 from Mexico for the United States . In 1854, the lighthouse was built, and in 1859 the fortress was completed. Since 1861 , Alcatraz has been used as a prison for prisoners of war in the American Civil War . In 1903, the prison was closed, the condition of the building being very poor. Renewal preparations began in 1906, but in the same year, the earthquake destroyed the building again. Thus, the reconstruction of the fort lasted from 1906 to 1911. In 1933, the fort is permanently transformed into a federal prison.
On October 12, 1933, work began on transforming the fortress into a prison, and it was put into operation on January 1, 1934 , as a US federal prison .
Due to the cold water and strong currents in the gulf, "The Rock" becomes an ideal prison in terms of security. The first to be brought here (in 1934) were 53 Atlanta detainees . Alcatraz remained in prison for 29 years with 302 (1,576 in total) detainees, despite protests and human rights demonstrations, until March 21, 1963 , when it was permanently closed. Here were detained famous gangsters such as: Al Capone (1934-39), Robert Franklin Stroud (1942-59), George "Machine Gun" Kelly (1934-51) și Alvin "Creepy" Karpis (1936-62).
There are 302 detainees on the island, the guards with their families being 300 civilians, of which 80 are children. In 29 years there have been 36 escape attempts, none of which have been successful. The detainees' cells had an area of 1.5 x 2.7 m, with a washbasin, toilet and bed. The time spent in the cell was between 18 and 23 hours a day, exceptions were made (which also means the right to work) to those who proved exceptional behavior. Openings for tear gas were installed in the canteen, if necessary.
Alcatraz was the only prison in the United States with hot showers to prevent detainees from getting used to the cold water in the bay.
In 29 years no detainee has managed to escape; according to statistics, those who tried to escape died shot or drowned in the cold water of the San Francisco Bay .
Alcatraz Prison was permanently closed in 1963 for various reasons, one of which was that 2 detainees managed to escape a year earlier, in 1962.
