Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary and the island became a prison of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in August 1934 after the buildings were modernized to meet the requirements of a top-notch security prison. Given this high security and the location of Alcatraz in the cold waters and strong currents of San Francisco Bay, the prison operators believed Alcatraz to be escape-proof and America's strongest prison. Alcatraz was designed to hold prisoners who continuously caused trouble at other federal prisons. One of the world's most notorious and best known prisons over the years, Alcatraz housed some 1,576 of America's most ruthless criminals including Al Capone,
Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens is a juvenile fiction novel by Brandon Sanderson, published in December 2010 by Scholastic Press. It is the fourth book in the "Alcatraz Versus" series featuring the protagonist Alcatraz Smedry. Alcatraz and his companions head off to Mokia, one of the Free Kingdoms, to try and save it from a Librarian take over. Alcatraz succeeds, but at great cost. Mokia is largely destroyed. Its King and Queen, over half of the fighting men, and even Alcatraz's good friend and personal body guard Bastille are all left comatose with no known