Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary prisoners would frequently report acts of brutality and inhumane conditions which severely tested their sanity. Ed Wutke was the first prisoner to commit suicide in Alcatraz. Rufe Persful chopped off his fingers after grabbing an axe from the firetruck, begging another inmate to do the same to his other hand. One writer described Alcatraz as "the great garbage can of San Francisco Bay, into which every federal prison dumped its most rotten apples." In 1939, the new U.S. Attorney General Frank Murphy attacked the penitentiary, saying "The whole institution is conductive to psychology that builds up a sinister ambitious attitude
Alcatraz Island banks of sweet peas, manicured gardens of cutting flowers, and wildly overgrown sections of native grasses with blackberry and honeysuckle. Alcatraz Island appears often in media and popular culture, including films dating from 1962: "The Book of Eli" (2010), "" (2006), "Catch Me If You Can" (2002), "The Rock" (1996), "Murder in the First" (1995), "Escape from Alcatraz" (1979), "The Enforcer" (1976), "Point Blank" (1967) ", Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962) and J. J. Abrams' 2012 television series "Alcatraz". It also was featured in the "Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters" anime, in the book "Al Capone Does My Shirts", in the video game