Where do you house the worst of the worst criminals, the ones that are too difficult, too violent, and too hardened to house at a regular old prison?

Where do you send America's most notorious criminals and gangsters?

Where do you send the worst of the worst?

From August 11th, 1934, until March 21st, 1963, you sent them to the Rock.

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was specifically built just for these special types of prisoners.

Alcatraz, nicknamed the Rock, was designed to house inmates who incessantly instigated

trouble at other federal prisons in the United States. Located 1.25 miles off the

coast of San Francisco, California, Alcatraz operated as a prison for just under 29 years. It had been a citadel since the

1860s. Then the main prison building was constructed from 1910 to 1912 and was utilized as a US Army military prison.

The US Department of Justice acquired the disciplinary barracks on October 12, 1933, at which time the island became a part of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The facility was brought up to the highest levels of top-notch security through modernization of the building. This, along with the location

of Alcatraz, being in the frigid waters and unforgiving currents of the San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz was believed to be escape proof.

It was touted as America's strongest prison in existence at the time.

The last resort prison, as it became known, welcomed its first guests on August 11th,

1934.

137 prisoners arrived at Alcatraz coming by way of railroad from the U.S.

penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas to Santa Veneta, California.

Among the first prisoners to arrive would be Al, Scarface Capone, George, Machine Gun Kelly, and Harvey Bailey.

Before they could be escorted onto the island, they were handcuffed in high-level security coaches and kept under guard by 60 FBI,

U.S. Marshals and Railway Security officials. Most of these prisoners were bank robbers,

counterfeiters, murderers, and sodomites. At Alcatraz, the handcuff men walked into the dock between two rows of guards and then marched

in pairs flanked by guards to the rear gate through the yard and into the cell house. Guards search them, then remove the handcuffs and chains.

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