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,
June 1962 Alcatraz escape attempt to death by guards because he wouldn't help investigators locate his brothers. A 2014 study of the ocean currents by scientists at Delft University and the research institute Deltares indicates that if the prisoners left Alcatraz at 11:30 pm on June 11, they could have made it to Horseshoe Bay just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, and that any debris that were released into the bay would have floated into the direction of Angel Island, consistent with where the paddle and belongings of the prisoners' was actually found. A 2015 History Channel documentary presented further circumstantial evidence gathered over