What It Was Like To Be An Inmate At Alcatraz

Inmates at Alcatraz, which had a capacity of roughly 330 men, had individual cells. This allowed for safety and privacy - inasmuch as one could have them in prison - and some federal prisoners actually requested incarceration at Alcatraz as a result. William "Willie" Radkay, who occupied a cell next to friend and colleague George "Machine Gun" Kelly at Alcatraz, saw having single cells as an advantage, one that prevented unwanted advances.

Cells were divided into blocks, with blocks B and C housing 336 cells that measured 5 feet by 9 feet. Cell block D was reserved for inmates in solitary confinement; while those cells were a bit bigger, prisoners spent 24 hours a day there. The only times cell block D inmates left their cells were for weekly visits to the recreation yard. Cell block A, the most broken-down part of the facility, was never used to house inmates for any significant length of time.

Landing in solitary confinement resulted from breaking rules and could last anywhere from a few days to multiple weeks. According to former inmate Jim Quillen, "A day in the hole was like an eternity."

Rights and privileges at Alcatraz were very different things. All prisoners had four rights: clothing, food, shelter, and medical care. Anything beyond that had to be earned. 

When a prisoner arrived at Alcatraz, he was sent to the clothing room. Once there, he was stripped of what he was wearing and sent to the showers, then received a standard-issue, stamped uniform. While in the clothing room, prisoners also underwent a cursory medical exam and were strip searched. 

Prisoners got three meals a day, a roof over their heads, and visited the hospital when needed. Al Capone, for example, spent time in the hospital for symptoms related to syphilis. In addition to first aid and other medical care, the hospital at Alcatraz provided dental and psychiatric services. Until the 1950s, there was a physician-in-residence at Alcatraz, but budget cuts led to the use of contracted doctors during the final years the prison was open. 

The hospital at Alcatraz also served as a permanent home to some prisoners. The Birdman of Alcatraz, Robert Stroud, spent 11 of his 17 years at Alcatraz in the hospital. This was, in part, because he had a kidney condition, but he was also dangerous and needed to be kept away from other prisoners.

The Alcatraz band, called the Rock Islanders, was made up of inmates who had earned the privilege to play. There were numerous Rock Islanders over time - including Al Capone, who begged to join and eventually earned a spot. According to a letter Capone wrote to his son while serving time at Alcatraz, he "learned a Tenor Guitar and then a Tenor Banjo, and now the Mandola," and could play more than 500 songs.

The band itself was, in the words of former guard George Gregory, "only a cut above a fourth- or fifth-grade band, but it did wonders for their self-esteem." The band played on holidays in the dining hall with Sunday and special-event performances as well. 

Prisoners could buy musical instruments but, in accordance with the regulations issued in 1956, could only practice "between the hours of 5:30 pm and 7 pm. No singing or whistling accompaniments will be tolerated. Any instrument which is played in an unauthorized place, manner, or time will be confiscated and the inmate placed on a disciplinary report." Guitar strings were regulated and "an old set of strings" had to "be turned in to the cellhouse officer to draw a new set."

The extremely small cells at Alcatraz featured a cot, a sink, and a toilet - with very little else.

When Jim Quillen arrived at Alcatraz in 1942, he recalled getting to his cell where he saw, "a steel bed, a straw mattress, and a dirty, lumpy pillow." He also "noticed the cell contained a toilet with no seat... [and] at the end of the bed, next to the toilet, was a small washbasin with only one tap. Cold water!"

In additional to a shelf above the sink and a small table that could be folded down from the wall, Quillen and his fellow inmates had no creature comforts. Over time, inmates might accumulate personal items. Alcatraz didn't have a commissary and prisoners couldn't have items sent from the outside, but prison regulations during the 1950s allowed prisoners to "purchase certain items such as textbooks, correspondence courses, musical instruments, or magazine subscriptions."

George Gregory, a guard at Alcatraz for a time, remembered unsuccessfully trying to get an inmate, Conlin, to clean up his cluttered cell. In the end, Gregory took a box into Conlin's cell and removed "mostly junk," including "a pillowcase stuffed with socks" and "a pair of ladies' panties" the prisoner had stolen from the laundry. The underwear, apparently, belonged to the warden's wife.