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
June 1962 Alcatraz escape attempt Island served as a prison. The film "Escape from Alcatraz" (1979) stars Clint Eastwood, Fred Ward, and Jack Thibeau as Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin, respectively. West (fictionalized as a character named Charley Butts) was played by Larry Hankin. The escape was shown in a two-part 1980 TV movie made by Telepictures Corporation (now owned by Warner Bros.): "", which starred Ed Lauter as Morris, and Louis Giambalvo and Antony Ponzini as the Anglins. "Terror on Alcatraz" (1987) starring Aldo Ray as Morris, returning decades later to the scene of his escape from Alcatraz, scours his old prison cell