42 Fun Facts About Alcatraz

Alcatraz Island sits in the bay of which US city?

San Francisco: officials thought the bay's cold water and strong currents made the prison escape-proof.

What is Alcatraz prison's famous nickname?

The Rock: it was set up to hold the most troublesome inmates of other federal prisons under one roof.

Which bird is the name Alcatraz usually said to mean?

Pelican: that is the usual reading, though in modern Spanish the word alcatraz actually names the gannet.

Which government department took Alcatraz over from the Army in 1933?

Justice: it wanted to show the public that the government was serious about stopping the crime wave of the 1920s and 1930s.

Roughly how far is Alcatraz from the mainland shore?

About 1.25 miles: the 1962 escapees set out into the bay on a homemade raft, and they were never seen again.

Which Chicago gangster was among Alcatraz's most famous inmates and played banjo in its prison band?

Al Capone: in 1936 another inmate stabbed him, though he escaped with only superficial wounds.

Robert Stroud, the 'Birdman of Alcatraz', actually kept his birds at which other prison?

Stroud bred and studied canaries at Leavenworth, Kansas, for decades; Alcatraz banned the birds, and he spent his 17 years on the island mostly in segregation and the hospital wing.

Which actor played Robert Stroud in the 1962 film Birdman of Alcatraz?

Burt Lancaster played Stroud in John Frankenheimer's Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and received a Best Actor Oscar nomination for the role.

Which Alcatraz inmate's 1936 arrest did FBI director Hoover fly to New Orleans to lead?

Alvin Karpis: no agent had brought handcuffs, so his hands were tied with an agent's necktie.

How many escape attempts were made during Alcatraz's 29 years as a federal prison?

14: yet officially, not one of the men who tried ever succeeded in escaping.

The three men in the famous June 1962 Alcatraz escape were Frank Morris and two brothers from which family?

John and Clarence Anglin, bank robbers from Georgia, remain on the US Marshals' wanted list.

In the 1962 Alcatraz escape, what did the fugitives leave in their beds to fool the guards?

Papier-mâché heads with real hair: the hair had been gathered from the prison barbershop.

What did the 1962 escapees build their raft from?

Over 50 stolen raincoats: they built the raft in a hidden workshop on top of the cellblock, then left through a roof vent.

What did the escapees use to power a homemade drill for widening their cell vents?

A vacuum cleaner motor: the noise of the digging was masked by accordion playing during the prison's music hour.

Which fourth 1962 Alcatraz conspirator was left behind after cement around a vent set too hard?

Allen West: by the time he chipped his way out, the others had gone, and guards found him in his cell the next morning.

Who played escape ringleader Frank Morris in the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz?

Clint Eastwood: the film was shot on Alcatraz itself, inside the prison that had been closed since 1963.

Which armed force helped guards retake the cellhouse in the 1946 'Battle of Alcatraz'?

The US Marines: three inmates died in the fighting, and two more were later executed at San Quentin for their part.

What was the main corridor of the Alcatraz cellhouse, named after a famous street, called?

The main corridor between B and C blocks was Broadway; others were Michigan Avenue, Park Avenue and, in D-Block, Sunset Strip, with Times Square at Broadway's end.

What name did the protesters who occupied Alcatraz from 1969 to 1971 adopt for their group?

Indians of All Tribes: in 1971 federal officers finally removed the last 15 occupiers from the island.

Roughly how many men passed through Alcatraz in its 29 years as a federal prison?

1,500: most of them were not famous gangsters but men who had refused to follow the rules at other prisons.

In August 1934, which federal penitentiary sent Alcatraz the batch of prisoners that included its most famous gangster?

Atlanta: moving problem inmates to Alcatraz eased the strain on older, overcrowded prisons like it.

By many inmates' accounts, what was the food at Alcatraz like?

Better than most prisons: some inmates even asked to be transferred to Alcatraz.

Why did huge quantities of drinking water have to be barged to Alcatraz every week?

The island has no natural spring: so during the 1969-71 occupation, officials pressured the protesters by cutting off their water supply.

Who was the first warden of Alcatraz?

James A. Johnston: under his rules, inmates were not allowed to talk while standing in line, from cell to cell, or while eating.

What did Alcatraz gain in 1854, a first on the West Coast?

A lighthouse: it was guiding ships into the bay years before the island held its first prisoners.

Before it held federal convicts, what did the Army use the island for during the Civil War?

A fort and military jail: its guns were never fired at an enemy, but it held Confederate sympathizers and privateers.

Which 1868 treaty did the 1969 occupiers of Alcatraz cite to claim the island?

The Treaty of Fort Laramie: they read it as promising that abandoned federal land would return to Native peoples.

Which Mohawk activist led the 1969 landing that began the occupation of Alcatraz?

Richard Oakes: a college student, he left the island in January 1970 after his daughter Yvonne died in a fall there.

As of 2025, which agency had run Alcatraz since 1972?

The National Park Service: under its care, the island has once again become a sanctuary for nesting seabirds.

Alcatraz was nicknamed 'America's' version of which notorious island prison?

Devil's Island: officials wanted a remote site that would cut prisoners off from contact with the outside world.

Which US president publicly proposed reopening Alcatraz as a federal prison?

Donald Trump: back in 1981, the Reagan administration had also looked at holding Cuban detainees there, but rejected the idea.

Which US politician bought Alcatraz for the government for $5,000 in 1846, then was never reimbursed?

John C. Frémont bought Alcatraz from Francis Temple for $5,000 in 1846 in the government's name; Washington later voided the sale, and his heirs pursued compensation claims into the 1890s.

The Alcatraz cellhouse, finished in 1912 and still the island's dominant feature, is built mainly of what?

Concrete: the Army's own prisoners built it on the basement of an old citadel, which sparked legends of dungeons below.

What have volunteers restored on Alcatraz that guards' and soldiers' families originally planted?

Gardens with heirloom roses: many of the old roses had survived for decades untended after the prison closed.

Which two prisoners vanished into the bay in 1937, the first Alcatraz escapees never accounted for?

Cole and Roe: they cut through a workshop window on a stormy day, and their bodies were never found.

What did officials find Robert Stroud had built with equipment meant for his bird studies?

An alcohol still: the discovery gave officials grounds to move him to Alcatraz, where he never kept birds.

What usually happened to an Alcatraz inmate once officials judged he could follow the rules?

Sent to another prison: officials did not want men paroled straight from Alcatraz, so they finished their terms elsewhere.

In December 1962, Alcatraz inmate John Paul Scott swam all the way to shore beneath which landmark?

The Golden Gate Bridge: teenagers found him there suffering from hypothermia, and he was returned to Alcatraz.

Which Chinese dissident artist staged @Large on Alcatraz in 2014, including Lego portraits of political prisoners?

Ai Weiwei's @Large explored human rights and freedom of expression on a former prison island; its creation was documented in the 2019 film Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly.

What did the 1969 Alcatraz occupiers offer to pay the government for the island?

The occupiers' proclamation offered $24 in glass beads and red cloth for Alcatraz, mocking the price reputedly paid for Manhattan about 300 years earlier.

Which Alcatraz building burned down during the 1969-71 Native American occupation?

The warden's house: several other historic buildings burned too, and who started the fires is disputed.

Which skateboarding video game features Alcatraz as a playable level?

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4: unlike the three games before it, its career mode dropped the timer and let players explore levels freely.