Alcatraz Case

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On July 1st 1934, Alcatraz opened officially as a federal prison. Previously, the island of Alcatraz was a military prison that held criminals from the American Civil War. Alcatraz was meant to hold only the most disruptive inmates so they could learn how to follow rules. Alcatraz inmates lived under harsh conditions with few privileges.
Prisoners were put under a monotonous and strict routine designed to keep them from rebelling. They were given the basic human needs: clothing, food, shelter, and medical care. Any other privileges had to be earned. One of the inmates’ biggest complaints was that it was always cold on the island. Another complaint was the rule of silence which banned conversation between inmates except for during recreation time and meals. This rule was eventually discontinued. Prisoners who acted out at Alcatraz were put in either the strip cell or the hole. Both were cells in complete isolation from other inmates but in the strip cell inmates were placed in the lightless cell naked and the only ‘toilet’ was a hole in the ground.
When prisoners were asked if there was anything to like about Alcatraz Willie Radkey, former inmate, responded by saying that there was. He said he enjoyed the privacy of having his own cell. He also said that he found the guards to be respectful most of the time. Overall he said that his time at Alcatraz was better than at any other prison he had been in.
Well known inmates of Alcatraz include gangster Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, and Alvin “Creepy Karpis” Karpowicz. Capone spent 4 ½ years in Alcatraz. It was the only place where the guards wouldn’t be bribed and the only place where he couldn’t carry out his business in the gang. Capone once said, “It looks like Alcatr...

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...e band and was permitted to practice his banjo in the shower room. To this day visitors and employees state that they have heard the plucking of a banjo come from the shower room and from the walls of the prison.
Many experts in the paranormal field have visited Alcatraz in attempt to uncover the truth for themselves. Psychic and ghost hunter Richard Senate spent the night in Alcatraz. He locked himself in the supposed haunted cell of 12-D. He reported feeling icy fingers around his neck as soon as the door was closed. He also had visions of dismembered bodies. Celebrity psychic Sylvia Brown visited the island with former convict Leon Thompson. Brown claimed to feel a presence as soon as she arrived and felt a strong sense of violence in the laundry room. Thompson backed up her feelings by explaining that a man had been killed in the laundry room during his stay.

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