Alcatraz Citadel Alcatraz Citadel Alcatraz Citadel, also known as Fort Alcatraz, was the original military defense and prison on Alcatraz Island, off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States. The citadel was built in 1859 as a U.S. Army military defense, and began function as a war camp in 1861 and long-term military prison in 1868. During the American Civil War, the citadel and its batteries provided an important line of defense. The island continued to develop in the 1870s and 1880s, and in 1893, the first hospital on Alcatraz opened. A new upper prison was built in 1904, but after
Alcatraz Library Alcatraz Library Alcatraz Library was a library for inmates at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. It was located at the end of D-Block. On entering Alcatraz, every inmate received a library card and a catalog of books found in the library. An inmates ordered a book by putting a slip with their card in a box at the entrance to the dining hall before breakfast, and a librarian took the order to and from their cell. The library, which used a closed-stack paging system, had a collection of 10,000 to 15,000 books, mainly left over from Alcatraz's army days. Inmates were permitted