Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary The Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary or United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island (often just referred to as Alcatraz or The Rock) was a maximum high-security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, off the coast of San Francisco, California, which operated from August 11, 1934, until March 21, 1963. The main prison building was built in 1910–1912 during its time as a United States Army military prison; Alcatraz had been the site of a citadel since the 1860s. The United States Disciplinary Barracks, Pacific Branch on Alcatraz had been acquired by the United States Department of Justice on October 12, 1933,
Alcatraz coup accordingly. Consider this layout of the club suit: South wants three tricks from clubs but the opponents have been successful in concealing the location of the Q. South calls for the J from dummy, and East follows suit with the 3. South now perpetrates the Alcatraz Coup by discarding from a different suit, thus committing a revoke. Then: Presumably, the idea behind the name is that any bridge player attempting the "coup" should be locked up in a maximum security facility. According to a 1961 article by Albert Morehead: "The classic hand for the Alcatraz Coup, which was not then