On this day in 1963, the last inmates of Alcatraz were removed from the island, and it stopped functioning as a prison at this point. So what better post to make on March 21 than a post about Alcatraz trivia?
If you’re an Alcatraz history buff, you probably know a lot of this stuff, but if everything you know about Alcatraz comes from the eponymous and disappointingly mediocre television show, you’ll probably find some of the trivia below interesting, educational, and entertaining. Which is sorta the point when it comes to trivia, right?
- Alcatraz is also known as “The Rock.” (There was a movie that used Alcatraz as a major set-piece–it was also called The Rock, and it starred Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery, and Ed Harris.)
- Alcatraz is a mile and a half from the shore in San Francisco.
- Alcatraz was used as a prison as early as 1861, when it held Civil War prisoners of war.
- Alcatraz became home to a federal prison in 1934.
- The prison was in operation for 29 years–from 1934 to 1963.
- Al Capone was imprisoned in Alcatraz.
- So was Machine Gun Kelly.
- Most of the prisoners at Alcatraz were sent there because they caused problems at other prisons.
- No prisoner successfully escaped from Alcatraz, but there were 14 escape attempts.
- Alcatraz cost almost three times as much money to operate as other prisons, because of its location on an island. That was the reason for its eventual closing.
- The island is now operated by the National Parks Service as a tourist attraction.
- The island has a surface are of 22 acres.
I’ve visited Alcatraz, but it’s been over ten years ago, when I visited San Francisco for the first and only time. If you go to San Francisco, Alcatraz is one of the more interesting tourist attractions there. I recommend checking it out.