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
Battle of Alcatraz was eventually released from prison in 1973. However, he breached his parole conditions, was sent back to prison and died there from complications from A.I.D.S. in 1988. Increased security measures ensured that there were no more escape attempts until 1956. Several versions of the events of the Battle of Alcatraz have been depicted on film: Battle of Alcatraz The Battle of Alcatraz, which lasted from May 2 to 4, 1946, was the result of an unsuccessful escape attempt at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Two corrections officers—William A. Miller and Harold Stites—were killed along with three of the inmates. Eleven corrections officers