Frank morris alcatraz biography

Originally built as a naval defense fortification in the 1850s, the facility on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay housed military prisoners from 1861 to 1933, after which the U.S. Army transferred control to the Department of Justice.

The new federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island opened in 1934 and was considered the toughest prison America could produce. A maximum-security, minimum-privilege facility for the most hardened and unrepentant criminals in the U.S.

prison system, Alcatraz represented the government’s attempt to take a hard-line stance against the rampant crime of the 1920s and ‘30s. During its 29 years in operation (1934-63), the prison housed some of the country’s most notorious bad guys, including Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, Alvin Karpis (designated the first “Public Enemy #1”) and “Birdman” Robert Stroud.

Frank Morris