Alcatraz_ A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years - Michael Esslinger [30]
The spiritual welfare of the inmates of this institution is the charge of an Army chaplain detailed for this purpose. He holds regular services, teaches Bible classes and is the friend and advisor of all. It is also his duty to provide materials for sports and to provide and supervise entertainment...
The living conditions at Alcatraz are not uncomfortable, to say the least. The prison proper is considered to be a model in cleanliness, orderliness, and sanitation. The entire 600 prisoners housed in one great cell room, well lighted and ventilated. Each man has his own private cell, completely equipped. Every necessity is furnished to him. He wears a neat black uniform. His food is that of a soldier of the United States Army, the best fed of all the armies. The prisoner’s laundry and dry cleaning are done for him. A sanitary barbershop and baths are open to him daily. And, finally, a well-stocked storeroom is at his service from which he draws, as needed, everything from a toothbrush to a uniform.
Every opportunity possible is afforded the ambitious man for study. Illiterates must attend school daily. For others there is a night school. Many are taking correspondence courses or devoting their evenings to self-study. The prison library has a large and varied selection of technical works. Study is encouraged to the fullest extent possible.
The hours of labor, except for such men as cooks and bakers, are from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with one hour for the noonday meal and Saturday afternoon and Sunday off. The prisoners rise at 6 a.m. and go to bed at 9 p.m. Their work varies. Many are engaged in rock quarrying, road building construction and farming. A large number work in the prison itself as clerks, cooks and janitors. In conformity with the mission of the institution to prepare prisoners for their return to civil life by teaching them trades, a number of industries are operated for this purpose. A few of these trades are furniture making, tailoring, book making and printing. In all, there are fifty trades open to the ambitious prisoner.
Lest the picture of the prisoner’s life seem too roseate let us turn to the other side of the picture. The prisoner, for long, weary months, is under a strict, never ceasing discipline, under which every lapse brings some punishment. He is cut off from all communication with his relatives and friends, except that for one hour weekly his relatives may visit him. Day after day, night after night alluring freedom spreads itself before his eyes across the narrow bay. Narrow it may be, but a gulf to the prisoners, as some of them have discovered, to their cost, in trying to escape by swimming. The city is so close that its sounds and sights are a constant reminder of the freedom that has been lost.
Fremont Older, president and editor of the San Francisco Call Bulletin, seemed to concur with Stewart when he visited the island during the same year. In a 1930 newspaper editorial, he described Alcatraz as one of the cleanest and best-run prisons in the world. He wrote in part:
It hasn’t the atmosphere, nor the feel of a prison. It is a clean, wholesome place and the five hundred young men who are temporarily abiding there seem more like students in a training school than men convicted of crimes. Alcatraz, being an island, where escape is practically impossible, it is not necessary to have many gunmen in evidence. I saw only two or three of these strolling about with shotguns. The cells where the men sleep are the most comfortable I have ever seen. They are spotlessly clean, contain a wash stand