VERDICT: WE GAVE 5 OUT OF 5 TICKETS AND HERE’S WHY!
Meeting a former inmate at Alcatraz was not something we saw coming…
Unbelievably, the day we went on our tour to Alcatraz, there was former inmate William Baker #1259, signing his autobiography in the gift shop., he was 23 when he was sent to Alcatraz
Our thoughts as we made the journey
This was such an interesting trip on the perfect day. It was sunny, yet incredibly windy and made for a bit of a bouncy, scary ride across on the boat to Alcatraz Island – you could imagine what it must have been like for the inmates.
Apparently there is a night tour but I’m afraid it was creepy enough for this girl in the day, thanks… As you dock, you’re greeted with a large painted sign that states: Warning persons procuring or concealing the escape of prisoners are subject to prosecution & imprisonment. Very ominous even though this prison has been closed since 1963.
As you walk towards the cell house there is another old, large warning sign – United States Penitentiary
Alcatraz Island.
Area: 12 acres.
1.5 miles to transport dock.
Only government boats permitted.
Others must keep off 200 yards.
No one allowed ashore without a pass.
You quickly note the guard towers, the bars on the windows & the desolation here yet when you turn around – the ocean & stunning views of the ocean + the city of San Francisco.
I imagine it must have been torturous for the inmates to see this out their window every day of their incarceration. It was said that certain times when the wind was just right, the inmates could hear the laughter & shouting of boaters, transport boats & seagulls.
It is about 1/4 mile nearly straight up to get to the cell house (there is a little transport shuttle that can take those unable to walk between the dock & the prison building). There are outdoor interpretive walks, self guided tours, an orientation video (Alcatraz: Stories from the Rock), exhibits, an audio tour in English, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese, French, Mandarin & Dutch & even 3 bookstores with memorabilia.
Talked with former inmate . . .
We were about to take in the audio tour but soon learned that there was an actual former inmate in the bookstore signing his autobiography that very day.
William G. Baker #1259, was 23 when he was sent to Alcatraz – he was originally in for car theft but managed to escape 3 other prisons, so was sent to The Rock.
While ‘inside’ he learned to become one of the world’s *ahem* best counterfeiters. He is one of only three free, surviving former inmates of Alcatraz.
The audio tour was extremely well done, it was narrated by four former guards & four former inmates. As you walked along there was even the clanging of cell doors, interactions between the prisoners themselves & points of view from both guards & inmates.
Alcatraz had to be shut down in 1963 due to deteriorating buildings, the lack of stage system & high operating costs. Alcatraz was never filled to capacity – the average was about 260 inmates, although the highest was 320. There are four actual cellblocks with D Block being Isolation.
Al Capone was here from 1934 – 1938. Robert ‘The Birdman’ Stroud arrived in 1942 where he was placed to D Block (Isolation) until in 1959 when he was moved to a medical facility in Missouri.
Some of the officers even lived in apartments, houses or in the duplex on the island. The warden lived on the island with his family too.
In the 29 years that Alcatraz served as a federal penitentiary, 36 prisoners tried to escape. All but 5 were recaptured or otherwise unaccounted for. Three who were unaccounted for participated in the same breakout, the June 1962 escape (this event was made into a movie called Escape from Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood).
Eight inmates were murdered here by other inmates, five committed suicide & fifteen died of natural causes, including disease.
This is such an excellent trip & we booked it through Green Dream Tours (greendreamtours.com).
With every trip, we offer feedback to travel companies along with honest views for you, the reader. We rate adventures on a scale of one to five tickets, judged on quality, service, memorability, and price. A perfect ‘Ticket Rating’ of a five-ticket score means the experience was flawless and we’d eagerly return. Your desire to go back is the ultimate measure of a trip’s worth. Exclusive to My Return Ticket.
