A Visit to the Infamous Alcatraz in San Francisco

In the middle of San Francisco Bay lies one of the most infamous locations in America, Alcatraz. I remember as a kid hearing about Alcatraz and that the really bad criminals went there. In 1963 the government closed the prison, but even after that the stories continued to circulate. Today Alcatraz is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area managed by the National Parks and is open to the public.

To visit Alcatraz visitors must get a ticket from a company which will take you out to Alcatraz by boat. Currently City Experiences is the one which the National Parks has contracted with to provide this service. Unfortunately it is not an inexpensive journey, and one’s America the Beautiful pass will not help. There is a small discount for seniors, however.

Boats travel out to Alcatraz on a pretty regular basis so you can decide what time of day is best for you to go. The boats hold a lot of people. One can buy tickets online, which I did. The site will indicate how many tickets are available for each sailing. As long as there are spaces available, one can buy them the day of on site. We arrived in plenty of time and checked out some of the displays around the waiting area.

The boat ride out to Alcatraz is not long. After everyone disembarks, a ranger greets visitors with information such as where the bathrooms are located and some of the activities that are being offered that day. She told us there would be an initial walking tour. However, a few minutes later she said it would be after the next boat arrived so we decided not to wait around.

We headed up to the main prison area. It is a bit of a walk up to the prison so be prepared. However, it is a generally wide path on cement so only the elevation is challenging. Once at the prison you will be provided with a headset and a playback for a guided tour of the cells of the prison. You’ll receive your headsets in the prison’s shower room so look for all the shower heads.

This is very much a guided tour. The audio instructs visitors where they should be at any given time and what to look for. Guests follow the instructions individually. The tour is quite interesting as it uses people who were guards at the prison as well as some former prisoners as narrators. It’s also more than just telling guests what they are looking at. They tell a variety of stories about incidents and events that took place over the years from attempted escapes to near riots. The stories help to keep the narrative interesting and entertaining.

The most striking thing to me is the size of the cells. They were quite small with a toilet, sink and a bed. Some of the former prisoners talked about how they made the space feel their own and what they did during their days locked in these small rooms. Privacy did not exist here. There are bars across the entire front of the cell so if you were using the toilet, anyone in the cell across could see what you were doing. It’s hard to imagine what it was like to live like that.

Two other areas which the inmates had access to were the recreation area and the dining hall. Inmates had to earn the privilege to go to the recreation area. It gave them a chance to move around and talk to other inmates. The narrators said the dining room was the most dangerous place in the prison as that is where a riot could start most easily. In fact they had canisters in the ceiling so they could fill the room with tear gas to control any problems. The guards never did use them.

Two other areas we saw were the library and the isolation cells. The former seemed large and quite empty. The latter were unique cells where inmates were kept in darkness. Not a pleasant experience.

After touring the prison cells, we went around to the front where the administrative offices were. Here we saw the main communication center of the prison. Outside the office door stands a lighthouse. Nearby is the shell of the warden’s home. Originally the island, or rock as they call it, was under military control. Then it became a military prison, and finally a prison for the worst of the criminals. The warden’s home was initially built for the military commander of the base.

One of the surprising things about Alcatraz was the gardens. I expected a rather battered concrete site with little beauty, but they have created some beautiful flower gardens. These had been started back when the prison was active, and some of the prisoners worked in the gardens. However, they fell into disrepair when the prison closed. Lately there has been a concerted effort to restore the gardens, and they have done a wonderful job. They really have created beauty in the midst of what one would expect to be a very ugly place.

Along with the gardens are the birds which live on the island. While typical seagulls seem to dominate the bird population. there are some other types as well. Cormants are black birds that seem to enjoy being in community with each other. Snowy egrets also call the island home. Andrea managed to spot a few among the bushes, and they really are snowy white birds.

At the other end of the island visitors can check out an area called the New Industries Building. The exhibit here speaks to the issue of inmates working. Inmates on Alcatraz did a number of jobs including helping make some supplies needed for WW II. Some critics felt it was inappropriate, and prisoners should be paid for their work. Eventually they were, but it was a small amount. My favorite part of this exhibit was the shadowy guard in the catwalk above the work space.

The other major exhibit in this area is called Red Power. In November of 1969 Native Americans took over Alcatraz. Over the years they had grown frustrated with how the United States had treated them so they took over Alcatraz and claimed it as their own land. The crude signs they wrote on the welcome sign and on the water tower still remain to this day as it is a part of the history of the rock. Native people from many tribes came to support the endeavor, and whole families with their children lived here for a while. The takeover lasted for many months, but eventually the enthusiasm for the takeover diminished, and the government retook the island in June of 1971. The exhibit shares various pieces of that time period.

Visitors can stay on the island as long as they want until the final boat leaves in the evening. We stayed for probably three hours then took the boat back to San Francisco. We had come into town on the light rail BART system so we had to walk back to that station. It was about a mile away. We stopped at the ferry terminal building which has a lot of restaurants and small shops in it. We had some empanadas and ice cream before heading back to the train station and our long journey back to my daughter’s apartment.

Alcatraz is definitely a different part of our country’s history. Our concept of prisons has changed over the years. We now tend to focus on rehabilitation rather than so much on punishment, but those philosophies still tend to be discussed and debated. Visiting Alcatraz certainly brings into perspective how the punishment side of those debates operated.

Has anyone else been to Alcatraz? What were your thoughts and impressions of the rock? Next week I’ll share a more upbeat location in the San Francisco region. Check it out when it arrives in your inbox. If you aren’t getting my weekly post in your inbox, it’s easy to sign up. Look for the subscribe button and enter your email. Check back for a confirmation, and you’ll be all set. Love to see you join the community.