San Francisco, United States
37° 46' N 122° 25' W
Jun 19, 2007 02:57
Distance 0km

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Text written in: English

Alcatraz

My Alcatraz trip was brilliant.  Apart from me (ever the dumb brit) wearing shorts and a top.  At the pier it was scorhcing sunshine but when we took the ferry out it was bl**dy freezing.  Luckily I brought a hoody with me, but that only helped for about 10 minutes before the goose bumps came.  The tour was so interesting (I love all that old stuff).. took way too many pictures.  We got to see into all the old cells and we were told about all of the attempted escapes, a great lead up to seeing the prison itself.  They gave us headsets of past prisoners and guards talking us through what happened there, which was facinating although pretty eery at the same time.

There was the daughter of one of the serving guards at Alcatraz at the prison the day I visited.  She's written many books on the penitentiary and was doing a book signing.  She had lived there with her father when it was a running prison, and was even present on the night of the famous dummy esacpe.  She told us the whole story, it was quite something hearing it from someone who was actually there.


 

Photos / videos of "Alcatraz":

Alcatraz from the boat The original warning sign The front of the prison The beautiful original fire truck New prisoners walk-way The way up to the prison The church The pier where many escapes were attempted The morgue where they kept the bodies before sending them off to their families for burial The room the new prisoners would first see. Where they had to de-robe and put on the prisoners uniform An Acatraz cell A prison hall-way The four former prisoners that narrated our tour of Alcaztraz (the one on the top left had a freaky voice) Typical Alcatraz cell The dining hall The kitchen The closing of the prison The yard where a lucky few would get to work Block D(the most feared block of them all). Prisoners would be kept here as a punishement. One of the rooms in block D All the famous inmates of Alcaztraz One of the dark cells in block D, where unruly inmates would be kept The dark cell. Notice the shutter on the door behind the mesh - this ensured that absolutely no light would get into the cell so the prisoner would be kept in complete darkness.. sometimes for days/weeks. A poster detailing the famous Alcatraz siege where inmates took over the prison in a bid to escape and several guards were killed. Metal detector at the prison Marks from small bombs the inmates used in the siege. Bullet holes from the siege What an inmates cell would have looked like The original notice for visitors A guards uniform The guards common room The control office What the guards saw the night of the famous dummy escape Another impression of what the Alcatraz cells looked liked when in use The holes the prisoners dug to escape A drawing of what is believed to have been the escape path the night of the 'dummy escape' A picture of real inmates of Alcatraz Men who attempted to escape from Alcatraz This is where the prisoners scrambled through to escape. There wasn't a lot of room with all the pipes.
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