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 Library Federal Bureau of Prisons booklet in 1960: "These men read more serious literature than does the ordinary person in the community. Philosophers such as Kant, Schopenhauer, Hegel, etc. are especially popular." Other authors include Jack London, Sinclair Lewis, Washington Irving, Zane Grey, Hamilton Garland, Alexandre Dumas, Daniel Defoe, Joseph Conrad, Cervantes and magazines such as "Adventure to Time", "Better Homes and Gardens" and "Library Digest". A law library was later added to A-Block. A library scene in Alcatraz appeared in the 1979 Clint Eastwood film "Escape from Alcatraz" in which Eastwood's character of Frank Morris converses with another inmate. Alcatraz