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
Legends of Alcatraz cells and locked cell doors shutting, to phantom figures in corridors, cold spots and even the sounds of musical instruments and sewing machines. Officials for Alcatraz have dismissed the reports of ghosts at Alcatraz as nonsense and deny their existence. Jerry Lewis Champion stated that it is "easy to see that Alcatraz Island contains all the legend and aura for the tales of ghosts and lost souls." The "Los Angeles Times" describes Alcatraz as the "most notorious federal penitentiary this country has ever known. Its history runs far and deep, as do the stories, the rumors, and the legends", and