Alcatraz_ A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years - Michael Esslinger [42]
Among the first inmates to arrive were notorious gangsters Al Capone and Doc Barker (the last surviving son from the famous Ma Barker Gang), as well as George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Harvey Bailey, Roy Gardner, Floyd Hamilton (a gang member and driver for Bonnie & Clyde), and several other gangland criminals. Warden Johnston was openly concerned over the security of the new arrivals. The inmates would not even be permitted to leave the train, which would be transferred onto a floating barge and towed across the Bay. The train was diverted to Tiburon, and then ferried to Alcatraz. There was an officer stationed in each railcar, who sat inside a reinforced cage with a loaded shotgun. It was later noted that the train cars seemed horribly unstable, and many feared that they could tip and plunge the inmates into the frigid water, to meet their demise by drowning. It was also during this trek across the turbulent San Francisco Bay waters that rumors of man-eating sharks and fin sightings started to circulate among the inmates.
New inmates are seen here shackled in leg irons during the admissions process. They are standing in the basement hall next to the shower room.
Machine Gun Kelly under heavy guard, boarding an armored train car.
The Daily Routine
Inmate graffiti of a calendar etched on the floor of a cell, and a caricature found on a soft iron bar, drawn by inmate Olin Stevens in the late 1930’s.
The life of the Alcatraz convict was repetitious, regimented, and monastic. Everything was done in accordance with a strict schedule, and the methodical routine cycle was unforgiving and relentless. It never varied through the years, and became a definitive model of clockwork organization. The daily schedule was established by Warden Johnston as one of his original directives in 1934, and it would remain fairly consistent throughout the prison’s tenure.
06:30 AM: Morning Bell. Prisoners arise, make beds, place all articles in prescribed order on shelf, clean washbasin and toilet, bowl, wipe off bars, sweep cell floor, fold table and seat against the wall, wash, and dress.
06:45 AM: Detail guards assigned for mess hall duty; they take their positions so as to watch the prisoners coming out of cells and prepare to march into the mess hall with them. The guards supervise the serving and the seating of their details, give the signal to start eating, and the signal to rise after eating.
06:50 AM: Second Morning Bell. The prisoners stand by the door facing out and remain there until the whistle signal, during which time the lieutenants and cellhouse guards of both shifts make the count. When the count is found to be correct, the lieutenant orders the cells unlocked.
06:55 AM: Whistle signal given by deputy warden or lieutenant; all inmates step out of their cells and stand straight facing the mess hall. Upon the second whistle.
07:00 AM: Third whistle signal; lower right tier of Block 3 (C) and lower left tier of Block 2 (B) move forward into mess hall, each line is followed in turn by the second and the third tiers, then by the lower tier on the opposite side of their block, followed by the second and the third tiers from the same side. The Block 3 line moves into the mess hall, keeping to the left of the center of the mess; Block 2 goes forward at the same time, keeping to the right. Both lines proceed to serving the table; the right line served from the right and occupies the tables on the right; the left line to left, etc. As each man is served, he will sit erect with his hands at his sides until the whistle signal