Blogpost No.3: Facilities in Alcatraz Prison

I can't imagine living in a room as small as as a prison cell, all years of my detention. There's really not much to do, other than reading sleeping and maybe roaming around the prison facility on limited time with a bunch of other hard core criminals. I guess the conditions like this force the criminals to choose between two things : to think hard on the crimes they have done and maybe try to repent and be better people or try to escape.

Hollywood produced many movies that over-dramatized Alcatraz, especially during the 1930s and 1940s, often depicting brutal guards and violent episodes that had no basis in reality. Alcatraz was a tough prison but it was a fair one; most former convicts will grudgingly admit the island was safer and better run than many other prisons where they spent time.

An article entitled "Alcatraz Prison" by history provides most of the information about the facilities in Alcatraz Island. It also has information about how many convicts were in Alcatraz and the number of prison cells inside it. 

"No prisoners were executed at Alcatraz . It had no facilities for capital punishment, and no one was ever sent to the island with a death sentence."

Reading the article and the quote, I now realize  that Alcatraz Island isn't so bad after all. I thought prisons were made to make convicts suffer for all the things they have done wrong, but I was wrong. Here in Alcatraz there are guards everywhere to make sure each prisoner is safe and well fed, all a prisoner have to do is repent and ask God to forgive him from all his sins and then hopefully reflect on what he needs to change to make himself a better man.

I found another article entitled "Rules and Regulations" in alcatrazhistory. The articles contains all the rules and regulation that an inmate had to follow in Alcatraz. It's said to be in a booklet form that all inmate should have in their cell. 

According to the author, Michael Esslinger: "Inmates were permitted out into the yard on Saturdays and Sundays and on holidays for a maximum of 5 hours. Inmates who worked seven days a week in the kitchen were rewarded with short yard breaks during the weekdays. Badly behaved prisoners were liable to having their yard access rights taken away from them on weekends. Punishments for bad behavior included hard labor, wearing a 12 pound ball and chain, and lock-downs where prisoners were kept in solitary confinement, restricted to bread and water." 

This article is quite interesting. Simply by  following the rules, life in Alcatraz doesn't seem so bad for a prisoner. This is the only prison that is surrounded by sea water on all sides . In my opinion, being on an island as a prisoner is better than being in any other prison. First of all, you have a great view all around you, the sea, the bridge, the San Francisco Bay and other islands surrounding it. Other prisons are very prison like and seems to be just cement and bricks all around you. Second there is some form of entertainment. The food is quite okay as well. Other than the early lock down and a basic and small room and of course being surrounded with hard core criminals,   being confined here after all the heinous crimes committed ,  is already like a second chance in life. What’s more  , all is for free. There are people who are kind hearted and have not done nothing criminal and yet languish at the hardships of getting the basic necessities of life like food and shelter and some meager form of entertainment. Yet there were atrocious criminals who are provided better provisions than a common Juan dela Cruz.