alcatraz
has anyone ever escaped Alcatraz
battle of Alcatraz
commentary #1
closing of an icon
After two decades of intense scrutiny relating to operating costs and confinement practices, on Thursday, March 21, 1963, the end of an era arrived with the official closure of Alcatraz. The physical structures on Alcatraz were indicating wear and tear that would cost the government millions of dollars to keep the prison running to standard. A new prison would be constructed at Marion, Illinois to continue incarceration of inmates whose character did not “readily accustom themselves to the discipline of ordinary penitentiaries or avail themselves of the opportunities for training and self improvement.” The Marion facility, more centrally located to service the network of federal prisons would take over the role that Alcatraz held for nearly three decades. Whether it simply a perception or an origin of truth, the brutality conditions at Alcatraz proved too controversial in an era when prisons were supposedly committed to the rehabilitation of prisoners(closing of an icon).
the great escape from alcatraz
If there was ever an inmate who was destined to escape from Alcatraz, it was Frank Lee Morris. In the movie entitled "Escape from Alcatraz" starring actor Clint Eastwood, Morris was accurately portrayed as the keen and brilliant mastermind of one of the most famous prison escapes in history. The escape plan took several months to design, and it would necessitate the fabrication of clever decoys and water survival gear.
Frank Lee Morris had spent a lifetime navigating the prison system before his arrival on Alcatraz. From his infant years until his teens Morris was shuffled from one foster home to another, and he was convicted of his first crime at the youthful age of only thirteen. By the time he reached his later teens, Morris's criminal record would include a multitude of crimes ranging from narcotics possession to armed robbery, and he had become a professional inhabitant of the correctional system. He spent his formative years in a boys' training school, and then graduated to a series of ever larger penitentiaries(the great escape).