Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in January 1934. The hospital facilities were checked by three officials from the Marine Hospital of San Francisco. The Bureau of Prisons personnel arrived on Alcatraz in early February; among them was Loring O. Mills, acting chief clerk. In April 1934, the old material was removed from the prison, holes were cut in the concrete and 269 cell fronts were installed, built using four carloads of steel ordered from the Stewart Iron Works. A legend at the works is that a shipment of cells and iron accidentally fell into San Francisco Bay during transportation from San Francisco Dock to Alcatraz
Battle of Alcatraz cellblock. Joe Cretzer was a west coast gangster and member of the Cretzer-Kyle Gang. In 1940 he was sentenced to 25 years for murder. After two escape attempts in the first months of his incarceration, one of which resulted in another murder charge, he was transferred to Alcatraz. In May 1941, Cretzer, Shockley and two other convicts made an escape attempt from one of the prison's workshops. Carnes was the youngest prisoner to reside at Alcatraz, having been convicted of murder in 1943 at the age of 16. He made a number of escape attempts and by 1946, when he