Alcatraz Island, San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge Webcam

Alcatraz is an island in the San Francisco Bay. In 1972, Alcatraz became part of the national recreation area and in 1986 received the status of a national historical monument.

Due to its location, the island was in real natural isolation. Icy water, the middle of the bay and strong sea currents were the reasons that pushed the US army to look at Alcatraz from a new perspective. This place was ideal for keeping prisoners of war, and from 1861 to 1898 their number increased to 450 people.

In 1934, the Ministry of Defense decided to close the prison - it took too much money to maintain it.

However, the story of prisons on the island did not end there. The Great Depression spawned a new wave of crime, and the government decided to reopen Alcatraz, this time as a federal prison. Now here are dangerous criminals. Later, reconstruction was made, and the prison turned into an impregnable place with containers for tear gas in the dining room and other ways to “tame” the prisoners.

Interestingly, the courts did not sentence to serving a term in Alcatraz. Prisoners who managed to “distinguish themselves” in their former place fell into the walls of a world-famous prison. So the myth that Alcatraz was completely filled with the most dangerous criminals is not entirely true - those who showed willfulness and disobedience also visited here. Of course, the famous and dangerous criminals also managed to visit Alcatraz - which is the name of Al Capone or Machine Gun Kelly.