Alcatraz_ A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years - Michael Esslinger [24]
A 19th-century photograph showing the Lower Prison (to the right of the Sallyport and Guardhouse, with six visible skylights), and the Mess Hall (situated at the lower right, with four visible skylights). The small narrow building to the left of the Mess Hall was the prisoners’ bathhouse.
A rooftop view of the Lower Prison with an armed sentry patrolling his post, taken in 1893. The brick building on which the soldier is standing was the original jail, built in 1867. Following the completion of the larger three-story wooden prison structure, the brick building was converted into a guardhouse. The small wooden pinnacle was a bell tower. The bell was housed behind the grill, and was used for signaling escapes and other emergencies.
An interior view of the lower prison in 1902. The lower prison cellblock contained three tiers of cells, each with a closed-front wooden door. The cells were approximately three-feet by six-feet (about the size of a small closet), and were poorly ventilated despite the small exterior vent flues. The letters indicate a fallen oil lamp, which horrified the inmates by nearly turning the cellblock into a flaming inferno.
The lower prison mess hall facility. This narrow building was connected to the lower prison building, and was accessed via a small curved stairwell. Conditions were crowded in this hall, which could seat up to 200 men.
A circa-1902 view looking east toward the Lower Prison. The hospital can be seen on the right.
A photograph of the Prison Hospital taken in 1893 from the rooftop of the Lower Prison. Note the finely crafted lattice skirt covering the base of the structure, and the detail of the Lower Prison skylight on the right.
During the same decade, the military adopted the practice of sending what they termed as “troublesome Native Americans” to the post at Alcatraz. The first documented case of an American Indian incarcerated on Alcatraz was Paiute Tom, who arrived on June 5, 1873. There is no formal documentation providing a history of his prison time on Alcatraz, but it is recorded that he was fatally shot by a guard only two days after his arrival, presumably while attempting to escape. Four months later, two Modoc Indians named Barncho and Sloluck were transferred to Alcatraz following an attack on peace commissioners during the Modoc War in Northern California. Barncho died of scrofula (a disease associated with Tuberculosis) at Alcatraz on May 28, 1875, and he was buried on Angel Island and later moved to the Golden Gate National Cemetery. Sloluck was eventually transferred to Fort Leavenworth in February of 1878, having endured the longest prison term on Alcatraz of any Native American soldier. Several others would be arrested and sent to serve time at the prison, though some of them had not been convicted or sentenced for any specific crimes, but were held at Alcatraz for “safe keeping.” Among others who were sentenced to serve time on the Rock were two privates from the Company “A” Indian Scouts. These soldiers had been involved in the mutiny at Cibicu Creek, Arizona Territory on August 30, 1881, in which Captain E.C. Hentig and six privates from the Sixth Cavalry were killed. Five Indian Scouts who mutinied at San Carlos, Arizona Territory in June 1887 were also imprisoned on the island, as were several Indian Chiefs, most notably Kae-te-na, a Chiricahua Apache and a friend of the famed Chief Geronimo.
In January of 1895 nineteen Hopi Indians were sent to Alcatraz from northern Arizona. The Hopi tribe had been involved in serious land disputes with the U.S. Government, and had refused to allow their children to attend government schools. Intense pressure had been levied on the Hopi people to “Americanize” by adopting governmental education for their children. However, the Hopi tribes fiercely opposed sending their children to distant schools to learn the trade skills of the white culture. References indicate that the school facilities were mostly inadequate to accommodate