- 5/9/2025
From infamous inmates to shocking secrets, discover the fascinating history behind America's most notorious prison. Journey through tales of attempted escapes, legendary criminals, and surprising facts about life on the Rock. Did you know about the warden's luxurious mansion or Al Capone's musical hobby?
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00:00Alcatraz, still escape proof after one of the most desperate attempted prison breaks on record.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the things you need to know
00:11but may not believe about the infamous island prison Alcatraz.
00:15When's your birth?
00:17I don't know.
00:19Jeez, what kind of child did you have?
00:21Short.
00:24Number 10. Cell Block D was for the worst offenders.
00:27I wasn't on holiday, Babs. I was in solitary confinement.
00:32Oh, it's nice to get a bit of time to yourself, isn't it?
00:35Alcatraz was intended for the worst of the worst.
00:38But where did the worst of them get sent?
00:40That would be Alcatraz's Cell Block D, home to The Hole, which was a generous way of saying solitary confinement.
00:47Inmates were often sent there as punishment, subject to even harsher conditions than they were normally used to.
00:52The hole itself consisted of a series of cells at the end of the D Block, which were bare save for a sink and toilet.
00:59And prisoners held there were essentially forbidden from ever leaving their cells.
01:04Don't believe us?
01:05Take it from inmate Henry Young, a bank robber who testified in 1941 that he was given only two meals in two weeks,
01:11and that bathing consisted of a bucket of cold water.
01:14I haven't seen a new guy in six months. You know, it's nice to talk to people.
01:19How are the Brooklyn Dodgers doing?
01:22I moved to LA two years ago.
01:24Oh? Are you kidding?
01:26Number 9. The First Lighthouse on the West Coast
01:28If nothing else, Alcatraz is a fascinating historical site, even in ways you might not expect.
01:34The appropriately named Alcatraz Island Lighthouse was indeed the first of its kind in its region,
01:39and was initially completed in 1853.
01:42It was considered a necessity at the time, a means of facilitating the gold rush
01:47and navigating the dangerous shark-infested waters near the island.
01:51One of seven lighthouses approved by Congress to be built in California,
01:54the Alcatraz Island Lighthouse was the first to be up running and operational.
01:58Although that lighthouse was torn down in the early 20th century due to structural damage,
02:03its replacement has stood stalwart and relatively intact since.
02:07Number 8. The Warden Had a House on the Island
02:09If you disobey the rules of society, they send you to prison.
02:14If you disobey the rules of the prison, they send you to us.
02:18While it's hard for us to imagine wanting to literally live next to Alcatraz,
02:22we can appreciate the fact that it must have been a pretty short commute to work.
02:26Situated directly next to the aforementioned Alcatraz Island Lighthouse,
02:29The Warden's House was built in the 1920s,
02:32and is estimated to have contained anywhere from 15 to 18 rooms based on available records.
02:38Alcatraz is not like any other prison in the United States.
02:43Here, every inmate is confined alone to an individual cell.
02:51To that end, Wardens were often known to host cocktail parties at the mansion.
02:55As if that wasn't quite luxurious enough,
02:57the dwelling also contained a greenhouse,
03:00which well-behaved inmates could be trusted with tending.
03:03Maybe going to Alcatraz, or at least one part of it,
03:05wouldn't have been quite so bad after all.
03:07Unlike my predecessors, Wardens Johnson and Blackwell,
03:11I don't have good conduct programs.
03:14I do not have inmate councils.
03:18Inmates here have no say in what they do.
03:20They do as they're told.
03:21Number 7. Alcatraz's location was chosen for its difficulty to escape.
03:26No one's ever busted out.
03:30No one's ever made it.
03:32Everyone here has looked for a way out, but there ain't it.
03:35Of course, we should mention that that wasn't for lack of trying,
03:38but we'll get to that soon.
03:39For now, though, just know that its location was selected
03:42precisely for the harsh conditions surrounding it.
03:45Just a mile offshore in the San Francisco Bay,
03:48Alcatraz Island was selected as the perfect location
03:50for a federal prison that would be built in 1934.
03:53This island is solid rock.
03:58See that water?
04:02It's over a mile swim to land.
04:06The coverage makes it seem like tin.
04:07The water's so cold,
04:10it will numb your arms in a matter of minutes.
04:13That owed to the ice-cold water surrounding the island,
04:16as well as their choppy, dangerous currents.
04:18Perfect for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
04:21Hoping to make a drastic move that would help to stem the flow
04:23of an ongoing crime wave,
04:25we'd say the Bureau made a fittingly off-putting choice.
04:28Let's say you're going to try it anyway.
04:31First, you've got to get out of the cell.
04:35Each bar has six hard, smaller bars setting a steel tube
04:40with extra steel cord in.
04:43There ain't no way to tunnel out either.
04:45Number six, escape attempts were surprisingly frequent.
04:48I was sent here because I was 22 years old.
04:52I was a high escape risk.
04:54I had escaped from every place I'd ever been.
04:57And I was very bitter and angry and very combative.
05:02So, um, they weren't going to keep me in an institution
05:06where rehabilitation was the main factor.
05:09We can definitely understand the desire to, you know,
05:12not want to live in Alcatraz anymore.
05:14So, with that in mind,
05:15it's probably not shocking to learn
05:17that 36 prisoners attempted 14 escapes.
05:20Of course, as the world's most infamous maximum security prison,
05:24it wasn't exactly a walk in the park.
05:2523 of those prisoners were apprehended
05:27while making their not-so-great escapes.
05:29Six were killed in the process,
05:31another two drowned,
05:32and five more, well, that's another story.
05:35This is a man that feels he has no future.
05:38He's going to wind up dying in prison.
05:40So why not take a shot at it?
05:41Security was tight.
05:45The ratio of guards to inmates
05:47was much higher than in other prisons,
05:49about one officer for every three prisoners.
05:52Despite 53-degree water
05:53and currents in excess of six knots,
05:56inmate Joseph Bowers became the first man
05:58to attempt an escape,
05:59albeit an unsuccessful one
06:00given that he died soon after
06:02of injuries sustained during his attempt.
06:04Joe Bowers,
06:05who was regarded by a lot of prisoners
06:08as being a little bit crazy,
06:10tried to climb a fence
06:12in full view of a tower guard,
06:15who of course shouted out some warnings.
06:18Bowers kept climbing the fence.
06:20They shouted out again,
06:21and they warned him,
06:22and he kept climbing the fence,
06:23and they had no choice but to shoot at him.
06:25And they shot him,
06:25and he dropped down the other side.
06:28Number five.
06:29Al Capone enjoyed playing the banjo there.
06:31You could take a look on any other mugshot,
06:34and you'll see the name on there with it.
06:36But this is the only prison
06:38that I've ever been in
06:40where my name was a number.
06:44Number 85 was the legendary crime czar,
06:47Al Capone.
06:48Chances are you've heard of this guy.
06:50One of the most legendary gangsters who ever lived,
06:53Alphonse Gabriel Capone,
06:54better known simply as Al,
06:56or Scarface,
06:57was the notorious boss of the Chicago outfit.
06:59But his reign of terror ended in 1934
07:01when he was sent to Alcatraz
07:03for extensive tax evasion.
07:05At Alcatraz,
07:06he apparently tried to maneuver his way
07:09around the warden,
07:10but was completely prohibited from doing so,
07:12and he became the cell house sweep.
07:15To my mind,
07:16one of the worst jobs,
07:17because you don't,
07:18you hardly leave the cell house.
07:20Although his tenure there
07:21was brought to an anticlimactic end
07:23when his worsening neurosyphilis
07:25necessitated his release on medical grounds,
07:27Capone seems to have made the most of his time
07:29at the isolated island prison.
07:30He was allowed to practice
07:31his banjo playing in the shower,
07:33a privilege seemingly unafforded
07:35to other inmates,
07:36and even managed to get away
07:37with further illegal activities
07:39while behind bars.
07:40What's your name?
07:41Al Capone.
07:44I thought you was dead.
07:46Me dead?
07:47I got too much money,
07:48I'll never die.
07:50Say, uh,
07:51you play poker?
07:51Number four.
07:53Alcatraz was once a military prison.
07:56Alcatraz was cutting-edge technology
07:58for army fortresses
07:59during the 1860s.
08:01At its height,
08:01when the Civil War ended,
08:03Alcatraz had 129 cannon mounted on it,
08:06which is more than
08:07Fort Sumter and Fort Pulaski,
08:09the famous East Coast
08:10battlefield forts combined.
08:12Long before Al Capone,
08:14long before Henry Young
08:15or Joseph Bowers,
08:16Alcatraz was designated
08:18as a United States military reservation
08:20by President Millard Fillmore.
08:21During the Civil War,
08:23Confederate sympathizers
08:24were jailed
08:24at what was then known
08:25as Fort Alcatraz.
08:27Some years later,
08:28after being designated
08:29as an official prison
08:30of the U.S. military,
08:31it held American citizens
08:33suspected of treason,
08:34then captives
08:35of the Spanish-American War.
08:37Fortified gun emplacements
08:38were constructed for cannon
08:40that weighed up to
08:41seven and a half tons.
08:44A 20-foot-high defensive wall
08:46stretched more than 500 feet.
08:48The entire rounded top
08:51of the island
08:51was leveled to a plateau
08:53to accommodate
08:54the barracks building
08:55known as the Citadel.
08:56Just a few decades prior
08:58to being established
08:58as a maximum security prison,
09:00it also jailed
09:01conscientious objectors
09:02to World War I.
09:03Although dozens
09:04of powerful cannons
09:05had been set up
09:06on Alcatraz's perimeter
09:07to defend it
09:08during the Civil War,
09:09they were never used
09:10and today make fearsome
09:12photo ops for tourists.
09:13It mounted five guns
09:15that could fire
09:1615-inch diameter cannonballs
09:18weighing 440 pounds,
09:20ranges up to three miles.
09:21Number three.
09:22The Birdman
09:23Didn't Keep Birds There
09:24Robert Stroud
09:25was one of the most
09:26repugnant inmates
09:27that has ever been housed
09:29with the Federal Bureau
09:30of Prisons.
09:31It was a malcontent
09:32that ran away from home
09:33at the age of 13
09:35from supposedly
09:36an abusive father
09:37and became a pimp
09:39from Detroit, Michigan
09:40all the way to Genoa, Alaska.
09:42This one's actually
09:43kind of a famous misnomer.
09:45Seattle-born Robert Stroud
09:46was initially imprisoned
09:47at the penitentiary
09:48at McNeil Island
09:49on charges of assault,
09:51manslaughter, and murder.
09:52He was transferred
09:53to Leavenworth Prison
09:54in Northeast Kansas
09:54following violent incidents
09:56at McNeil,
09:56where his life took
09:57an unbelievable,
09:58wholly unpredictable turn.
10:00Stroud's out on the wreckyard
10:02inside the segregation unit
10:04and comes across
10:06three baby sparrows
10:08that are injured
10:09and decides to pick them up
10:11and he takes them
10:12back to his cell.
10:14Once he gets them
10:14back to his cell,
10:15he makes a makeshift
10:16eyedropper into
10:17a device where he can
10:19feed them.
10:20In a remarkable true story,
10:22Stroud became
10:22a respected ornithologist,
10:24caring for and raising
10:25some 300 canaries
10:27in his time there.
10:28Unfortunately for Stroud,
10:29his bird keeping
10:30was a major source of ire
10:31for the prison's officials
10:32and he was abruptly
10:33transferred to Alcatraz
10:35after it was discovered
10:36that he was making
10:36alcohol in his cell.
10:38From my point of view,
10:39he was a manipulator,
10:41he was a conniver,
10:43he liked chaos,
10:45he liked turmoil,
10:47yet he was,
10:52physically,
10:53he was a coward
10:54as far as I was concerned.
10:56Stroud was given
10:57only 10 minutes warning
10:58of his expulsion,
10:59after which his brother
11:00took ownership
11:01of his birds.
11:02Number two,
11:03no one ever officially escaped.
11:05I may have found
11:06a way out of here.
11:14You looking at something?
11:15Of the 14 escape attempts
11:17made at Alcatraz,
11:18none was ever described
11:19by the facility
11:20as what you might call
11:21successful.
11:22However,
11:23while no one officially
11:24escaped from Alcatraz,
11:26some attempted escapees
11:27were never caught,
11:28alive or dead.
11:29The second ever escape attempt
11:31from Alcatraz,
11:32orchestrated by Theodore Cole
11:33and Ralph Rowe,
11:34is mostly theorized
11:36to have ended in death
11:37by drowning for the two.
11:38Their bodies were never found
11:39despite an exhaustive search.
11:41I'm going to start digging,
11:42so keep an eye out
11:43for the bulls.
11:44You see one coming,
11:46you start whistling, huh?
11:47Most famously of all,
11:48though,
11:48was the June 1962 escape attempt,
11:51conducted by inmates
11:52Frank Morris
11:53and brothers
11:53Clarence and John Anglin.
11:55Although they too
11:56were never found,
11:57their escape has become
11:58the stuff of pop culture legend,
12:00and was later adapted
12:01into the hit 1979 film,
12:03Escape from Alcatraz.
12:05I've got to figure it.
12:07The cell block's
12:08really getting old.
12:10The moist air
12:11is corroding the concrete,
12:13and the salt
12:14is rusting the metal.
12:16I took a nail clipper.
12:18I was digging around
12:18the grill
12:19in the back of the cell.
12:21I think with some work,
12:22I could dig that grill
12:23out of there,
12:24enlarge the hole,
12:25and get into the utility corner,
12:26which leads to the top
12:27of the cell block.
12:28Before we continue,
12:30be sure to subscribe
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12:44Number 1.
12:45The Native American Occupation
12:47Before you ask yourself
12:48why in the world
12:49anyone would purposefully
12:50want to live at Alcatraz,
12:52just let us explain.
12:53Their live-in protest
12:54gained national attention.
12:56Today, Dr. Leneda Warjack,
12:58who led the occupation
12:59alongside Richard Oaks,
13:01is heading back
13:02to the island
13:02to instead lead a tour.
13:04As the boat approaches Alcatraz,
13:06traces of their
13:07decades-old demonstration
13:08come into view.
13:10Beginning on November 20, 1969,
13:1389 Native American activists
13:15stormed the defunct prison site
13:16and set up shop there,
13:18primarily led by Richard Oaks
13:19and Leneda Means.
13:21The protest group
13:22intended to argue
13:23that the 1868 Treaty
13:24of Fort Laramie
13:25ceded all unused
13:26U.S. territory
13:27to the country's
13:28indigenous peoples.
13:28It was exciting.
13:30We wanted to do something
13:31to help our people
13:33and fighting for
13:35treaty rights
13:36and enforcement
13:37of our treaties
13:38is the only thing
13:41that we could do
13:42that was positive
13:45in the right direction.
13:47Given the fact
13:47that Alcatraz
13:48had been shuttered
13:48some six years earlier,
13:50it made for
13:50the perfect headquarters.
13:52The occupation fell apart
13:53once Oaks' 13-year-old
13:54stepdaughter Annie
13:55tragically fell to her death,
13:57but stands as a historical symbol
13:59of Native American resistance
14:00and independence.
14:01We can't help but be
14:03who we are.
14:04And this was the place
14:07that we wanted to occupy.
14:11and it had international press.
14:18So the media
14:19is really important for us.
14:21We can live or die
14:22by the press.
14:23Which crazy fact
14:24about the Alcatraz
14:24federal penitentiary
14:25shocked you the most?
14:26Are there any we missed?
14:28Be sure to let us know
14:29in the comments below.
14:30Nobody's ever escaped
14:31from Alcatraz
14:31and just represented
14:33something strong
14:35having to do
14:36with law and order.
14:36We need law and order
14:37in this country.
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