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Alcatraz Facts & Worksheets

Alcatraz is an island located in San Francisco Bay, California. Alcatraz covers an area of 22 acres (9 hectares) and is about 1.5 miles (2 kilometers) offshore from San Francisco.

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Alcatraz is an island located in San Francisco Bay, California. Alcatraz covers an area of 22 acres (9 hectares) and is about 1.5 miles (2 kilometers) offshore from San Francisco. It is also called The Rock.

See the fact file below for more information on the Alcatraz or alternatively, you can download our 24-page Alcatraz worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

HISTORY

  • Juan Manuel de Ayala was the first Spaniard to document the island.
  • He charted San Francisco Bay in 1775.
  • He named one of the three islands he identified “La Isla de Los Alcatraces”, because of all the seabirds that lived there.
  • La Isla de Los Alcatraces means “The Island of the Gannets”, but is usually believed to translate as “The Island of the Pelicans” (Spanish for pelicans is pelicanos), from the archaic Spanish Alcatraz (“pelican”).
  • “Alcatraz”, the Spanish version, became customary and has been widely used over the years.

EARLY USE OF ALCATRAZ

  • President Millard Fillmore ordered that Alcatraz Island be used for military purposes. He declared it as a military reservation in 1850. A while after, a fortress was constructed.
  • In the late 1850s, the United States military began holding prisoners on the island.
  • During that time, people assumed that no one could escape this prison.
  • The fort became the military prison for the Department of the Pacific and housed Civil War prisoners of war (POWs) by 1861.
  • In 1863, the military also started to held private citizens accused of treason, after the writ of habeas corpus in the United States was suspended.
  • In the early 1900s, prisoners were used to help construct a cell block.
  • They also helped build a hospital on the island.
  • Alcatraz Prison became a part of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1934.

ALCATRAZ FEDERAL PENITENTIARY

  • The notorious and high-security penitentiary would be in operation for the next 29 years.
  • It would be the destination for many murderers, gangsters, and bank robbers.
  • Alcatraz Prison consisted of four cell blocks.
  • A Block was basically used as a storage facility and for offices, however on rare occasions, it was used to house prisoners who needed to be fully isolated from other inmates,
    The two innermost cell blocks, B Block and C Block held the 336 cells in which prisoners were held, and stood three tiers high.
  • The D Block, which housed 36 segregation cells and 6 solitary confinement cells, is where the isolation and punishment cells and library were located.
  • The prisoners provided nicknames for the walkways or corridors between the cell blocks: the corridor between A Block and B Block was Michigan Avenue, the central walkway between B and C Block was called Broadway, the corridor between C Block and the library was named Park Avenue, and the corridor in D Block was nicknamed Sunset Strip.
  • A total of 1576 prisoners were incarcerated during its time as a Federal Penitentiary.
  • One hundred and thirty-seven prisoners arrived in the first batch at 9:40 am on August 11, 1934.
  • The cells in B and C Block measured five feet by nine feet.
  • Each cell had a small sink with cold running water, a small bunk, a shelf, a folding steel table, a chair, and a toilet.
  • Each cell contained only one prisoner.

FAMOUS INMATES

  • Numerous famous inmates once served sentences at Alcatraz.
  • Robert Stroud, who served 17 years, gained the nickname ‘Birdman’ due to the birds he was allowed to keep at a prison named Leavenworth where he served 30 years before being transferred to Alcatraz.
  • George Kelly, the “Machine Gun”, also served 17 years at Alcatraz.
  • Alvin Karpis served the longest sentence, of over 25 years.
  • One last well-known prisoner was Al Capone, a famous gangster who spent over four years at Alcatraz.
  • Al Capone was transferred from a jail in Georgia because it was so remote on Alcatraz that he couldn’t keep contact with anyone off the island to continue his criminal operations.

CLOSING THE PRISON

  • On March 21, 1963, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy decided to close the penitentiary for the following reasons:
    • It was far more expensive to operate than other prisons.
    • Half a century of saltwater saturation had severely eroded the buildings.
    • San Francisco Bay was being seriously polluted by the sewage from almost 250 inmates and 60 Bureau of Prisons families on the island.
  • A new traditional land-bound prison, the United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, opened that same year to serve as a replacement for Alcatraz.

NATIVE AMERICAN OCCUPATION

  • On November 20, 1969, a group of Native Americans from various tribes occupied Alcatraz Island.
  • The occupation lasted from November 20, 1969 to June 11, 1971.
  • However, it was forcibly ended by the US Government.
  • Their intention was to gain Indian control over the island by building a center for Native American Studies, an American Indian spiritual center, an ecology center, and an American Indian Museum, though evidence suggests that the occupation was largely symbolic.
  • During the occupation, various buildings were damaged by fire, including the recreation hall, the Coastguard quarters, and the Warden’s home.
  • A number of other buildings were destroyed by the government after the occupation ended.
  • The Indian termination policy, designed to end federal recognition of tribes, was rescinded by President Richard Nixon during the occupation.
  • Policy of self-determination was established, in part as a result of the publicity and awareness created by the occupiers.

LANDMARKING AND DEVELOPMENT

  • The totality of Alcatraz Island was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
  • Alcatraz was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
  • The National Park Service published a plan entitled Alcatraz Development Concept and Environmental Assessment in 1993.
  • The plan sought to increase the amount of Alcatraz accessible to the public to let visitors enjoy its scenery and bird, marine, and animal life, such as the California slender salamander.

Alcatraz Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Alcatraz across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Alcatraz worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Alcatraz which is an island located in San Francisco Bay, California. Alcatraz covers an area of 22 acres (9 hectares) and is about 1.5 miles (2 kilometers) offshore from San Francisco. It is also called The Rock.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Alcatraz Facts
  • Alcatraz Acrostic
  • The Discoverer
  • All About Alcatraz
  • Vocabulary Time
  • Math Wizard
  • The Transition
  • Alcatraz Essay
  • Alcatraz Prison
  • Rules in Alcatraz
  • Three Unique Characteristics

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Link will appear as Alcatraz Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, May 14, 2020

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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