Alcatraz Citadel island and replaced the lower prison, with a capacity of 307 inmates. Alcatraz was renamed as the "Pacific Branch, U.S. Military Prison” in 1907, and as the importance of the Island citadel became less and less obvious due to modernization of the naval facilities, infantry soldiers were shifted and prison guards brought in their place. It developed a reputation for its brutal methods of torturing prisoners, placing prisoners in pitch black cells for up two weeks. Alcatraz was barely affected by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake which devastated the city, and the prison population dramatically increased as prisoners were temporarily
Recreation Yard (Alcatraz) Alcatraz" including a violent fight; it was parodied in the 1994 Leslie Nielsen film, "". Recreation Yard (Alcatraz) The Recreation Yard was the yard used by inmates of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary between 1934 and 1963. It is located opposite the Dining Hall south of the end of D-Block on a raised level surrounded by a high wall and fence above it. Guard Tower #3 lay just to the west of the yard. The gun gallery was situated in the yard, mounted on one of the dining hall's exterior walls. The recreation yard faced the mainland. In 1936, the previously dirt-covered