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General population inmates were required to shower twice a week, and the water temperatures were fully regulated by the on-duty correctional officers. The water was kept hotter than average to eliminate the possibility of inmates becoming acclimated to the temperature of the chilly bay waters. The showers were located in the basement area and were considered one of the more dangerous parts of the prison. There was a large community shower room with water pipe columns suspended from the ceiling above cement basins on the basement floor. Guards stood at the doorway, controlling the flow of inmates entering and exiting the room. The inmates were marched down to the basement in their bathrobes, and once they had finished showering, they were issued new underwear, socks, tooth powder, toilet paper, hand towels, bed linen, and a handkerchief.

The Rule of Silence and Strict Regimen

In the early years of Alcatraz, Warden Johnston employed a silence policy that most inmates considered to be the most unbearable punishment of all. Prisoners were not allowed to talk with each other while confined to their cells, walking in line formation through the cellhouse or during counts. They were only allowed to talk quietly in the Dining Room when seated; at their job assignments, and only if it didn’t interfere with their work. Exceptions were made during community events such as motion picture shows and church services; however, their voices were expected to remain at quiet levels.

In the early years, inmates were harshly disciplined for even the slightest violation of the silence rule. There were exaggerated reports that several inmates went slowly insane on Alcatraz because of the “severe order of silence.” Al Capone’s own granddaughter later made the claim that her family remained convinced decades later, his illness and mental deficit was a direct result of the harsh conditions employed on Alcatraz. One inmate, a former gangster and kidnapper named Rufe Persful, took a fire ax from the prison garage while working a garbage detail and chopped off three fingers from his left hand in order to win a transfer off the island. Rumors among the inmates indicated that Persful begged fellow inmate Homer Parker, who was assigned to the same job detail, to “finish the job” by cutting off his right hand. In later years several other inmates, including famed convict Henri Young, used similar tactics such as slashing their Achilles’ tendons, to protest the alleged harsh confinement practices and mental harassment they allegedly suffered while at Alcatraz.

Mug shots of Rufe Persful.

Edward Wutke – the first inmate to commit suicide at Alcatraz.

Another alleged casualty of the silent system was thirty-six year old inmate Edward Wutke. Prior to his imprisonment at Alcatraz, Wutke was an able seaman employed on the Steamship Yale. When a friendly drunken scuffle with his best friend turned into a serious fight, Wutke drew a small pocketknife and stabbed his friend in the groin area, fatally severing his femoral artery. The wounded man would bleed to death before the ship made it into port at San Diego. Wutke became panic-stricken upon realizing the gravity of his act and had to be shackled to a fixed object. Following his conviction for murder on the high seas, Wutke became withdrawn and was sent to Alcatraz because of what officials described as a “desperate disposition.”

On December 27, 1934, Wutke refused to report to his work assignment and was sent to the lower solitary unit below A Block, better known as the “Spanish Dungeon.” He would remain in the damp, dark dungeon for eight days. Wutke made his first suicide attempt in January of 1936. He complained that he was unable to do his time “under the present conditions,” and indicated that the silence and harsh rules had finally become unbearable. Using a small contraband blade, he sliced a prominent vein near the elbow, and bled profusely before a guard was able to intervene. Dr. Milton Beacher, who would later write an exceptional memoir on his