Why do they call alcatraz the rock

However, the chart resulting from this first survey of the bay clearly labeled today's Yerba Buena Island as de los Alcatraces. Some scholars, such as Stanger and Brown, believe that the chart was inaccurate and that the name was applied to the wrong island by an unskilled hand, and that Ayala's "arid and steep" island was indeed today's Alcatraz. Others assume that the chart is correct, that Ayala did visit Yerba Buena, and that the name was later accidentally changed.

Stanger and Brown believe that Ayala's phrase could only have applied to today's Alcatraz and not to the more bountiful Yerba Buena. Supporting this conclusion, on the one hand, is the army's experiences on Yerba Buena around , when it had a full-fledged post on the island capable of supporting men. A spring and a well supplied a limited but adequate amount of water. And the post boasted a 5-acre garden. Photographs taken at the time show a heavy natural growth of grasses, bushes, and large shrubs.

On the other hand, Ayala's own pilot, Jose de Canezares, described today's Yerba Buena as "rough, steep and with no shelter. A Mexican map of the Bay Area dated continued to identify Yerba Buena as Alcatraz, with no identification of the. But in the next year, Capt. Frederick Beechey, British Navy, secured permission from Mexican authorities to survey the bay.

For whatever reasons, he gave each island its present name and thus they have been known ever since. During the last years of the Mexican regime, a number of citizens, native and naturalized, of the Republic applied for grants of land around San Francisco Bay at locations that within a short time would be demanded by the United States for use as military reservations for the defense of the harbor. While some of the original grantees had intentions of developing these lands, others were purely speculators and, after the conquest of California, undoubtedly had high hopes that the United States would be forced to pay well to obtain possession of them.

Early in the U. Congress appropriated funds for a joint commission of army and navy officers to examine the Pacific Coast with reference to its defense. John Lind Smith, senior officer of the commission, wrote from San Francisco concerning Mexican titles.

He understood that the only titles that existed in California were those derived from Mexican grants and from uninterrupted occupancy for the length of time prescribed by the laws of Mexico. He had also learned that "all valid Mexican grants contain a reservation that they may be resumed by the Government when needed for public purposes; and that any grant without the reservation is not valid because there is a law of Mexico expressly requiring it to be inserted.

Alcatraz Island would not test Smith's thesis as much as Lime Point or Point San Jose would in the years ahead; nonetheless the story of its claimants is a curious one.

The Spanish colonial government had, in fact, retained control of all coastal islands. On November 20, , this symbolic occupation turned into a full scale occupation which lasted until June 11, In actuality, there were three separate occupations of Alcatraz Island, one on March 9, , one on November 9, , and the occupation which lasted nineteen months which began on the 20th of November, The occupation lasted for only four hours and was carried out by five Sicangu Lakota, led by Richard McKenzie and wife, Belva Cottier.

This short occupation is significant because the demands for the use of the island for a cultural center and an Indian university would resurface almost word for word in the larger, much longer occupation of The November 9, occupation was planned by Richard Oakes, a group of Indian students, and a group of urban Indians from the Bay Area. Since many different tribes were represented, the name "Indians of All Tribes" was adopted for the group.

They claimed the island in the name of Indians of all tribes and left the island to return later that same evening. In meetings following the November 9th occupation, Oakes and his fellow American Indian students realized that a prolonged occupation was possible.

Oakes visited the American Indian Studies Center at UCLA where he recruited Indian students for what would become the longest prolonged occupation of a federal facility by Indian people to this very day. It is important to remember that the occupation force was made up initially of young urban Indian college students. And the most inspirational person was Richard Oakes.

Oakes is described by most of those as handsome, charismatic, a talented orator, and a natural leader. Oakes was the most knowledgeable about the landings and the most often sought out and identified as the leader, the Chief, the mayor of Alcatraz.

Once the occupiers had established themselves on the island, organization began immediately. An elected council was put into place and everyone on the island had a job; security, sanitation, day-care, school, housing, cooking, laundry, and all decisions were made by unanimous consent of the people. The federal government initially insisted that the Indian people leave the island, placed an ineffective barricade around the island, and eventually agreed to demands by the Indian council that formal negotiations be held.

From the Indians side, the negotiations were fixed. They wanted the deed to the island, they wanted to establish an Indian university, a cultural center, and a museum. Families did most of their shopping in San Francisco since the prison boat made 12 runs to the pier each day. During the early years of the prison, inmates were only allowed to talk during meals and recreation periods. This rule was outlawed in the late 30s, as it was considered unjustly harsh.

The most famous prisoner, Mr. Al Capone, lived there for four and a half years. Interested in learning more? Too afraid to check out the fun? The average population was only about the prison never once reached its capacity of - at any given time, Alcatraz held less than 1 percent of the total Federal prison population.

Many prisoners actually considered the living conditions for instance, always one man to a cell at Alcatraz to be better than other Federal prisons, and several inmates actually requested a transfer to Alcatraz.

But while USP Alcatraz was not the "America's Devil's Island" that books and movies often portrayed, it was designed to be a prison system's prison. If a man did not behave at another institution, he could be sent to Alcatraz, where the highly structured, monotonous daily routine was designed to teach an inmate to follow rules and regulations.

At Alcatraz, a prisoner had four rights: food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. Everything else was a privilege that had to be earned. Some privileges a prisoner could earn included: working, corresponding with and having visits from family members, access to the prison library, and recreational activities such as painting and music.

Once prison officials felt a man no longer posed a threat and could follow the rules usually after an average of five years on Alcatraz , he could then be transferred back to another Federal prison to finish his sentence and be released.

The island's most famous prisoner was probably Robert Stroud, the so-called "Birdman of Alcatraz" who spent 54 years of his life behind bars. Stroud never had any birds at Alcatraz, nor was he the grandfatherly person portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the well-known movie.

In , Stroud was convicted of manslaughter; while serving his prison sentence at the U. In , he murdered a Leavenworth guard, was convicted of first-degree murder, and received a death sentence. His mother pleaded for his life, and in , President Woodrow Wilson commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment. It was Stroud's violent behavior that earned him time in segregation.

During his 30 years at Leavenworth, he developed his interest in birds and eventually wrote two books about canaries and their diseases. Initially, prison officials allowed Stroud's bird studies because it was seen as a constructive use of his time. However, contraband items were often found hidden in the bird cages, and prison officials discovered that equipment Stroud had requested for his "scientific" studies had actually been used to construct a still for "home-brew.

April 27, -- While working his job burning trash at the incinerator, Joe Bowers began climbing up and over the chain link fence at the island's edge. After refusing orders to climb back down, Bowers was shot by a correctional officer stationed in the West road guard tower, then fell about feet to the shore below.

He died from his injuries. December 16, -- Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe worked in the mat shop in the model industries building. Over a period of time, while working in the mat shop in the model industries building, they filed their way through the flat iron bars on a window.

After climbing through the window, they made their way down to the water's edge and disappeared into San Francisco Bay. This attempt occurred during a bad storm and the Bay's currents were especially fast and strong - most people believe Roe and Cole were swept out to sea.

Officially, they are listed missing and presumed dead. May 23, -- While at work in the woodworking shop in the model industries building, James Limerick, Jimmy Lucas, and Rufus Franklin attacked unarmed correctional officer Royal Cline with a hammer Cline died from his injuries. The three then climbed to the roof in an attempt to disarm the correctional officer in the roof tower. The officer, Harold Stites, shot Limerick and Franklin.

Limerick died from his injuries. Lucas and Franklin received life sentences for Cline's murder. January 13, -- Arthur "Doc" Barker, Dale Stamphill, William Martin, Henry Young, and Rufus McCain escaped from the isolation unit in the cellhouse by sawing through the flat iron cell bars and bending tool-proof bars on a window.

They then made their way down to the water's edge. Correctional officers found the men at the shoreline on the west side of the island.