Infamous Prisoners of Alcatraz and Inmate Life

Learn about the infamous prisoners of Alcatraz, details on the life of Alcatraz inmates and other Alcatraz facts.

The history of Alcatraz is not complete without a discussion of its many infamous prisoners. Al Capone, Robert Stroud - the Birdman of Alcatraz, Frank Lee Morris and Machine Gun Kelly are just a few of the most well known prisoners.

Life as an Alcatraz Inmate

Alcatraz prison was known for its strict rules and tough way of life. Most of the toughest prisoners were sent to Alcatraz. The staff worked hard to treat all prisoners the same.

Each prisoner had their own cell. From 1934 to 1937, the prisoners of Alcatraz followed a policy of silence. They were not allowed to communicate with other prisoners or guards unless they requested and received permission to speak.

Their tough schedule started at 7am in the morning and ended at 9:30pm every night. There day was scheduled out for them and they had the same routine every day.

Those in solitary confinement were faced with even tougher rules. Since each prisoner had their own cell, the prison upped the stakes for those that got in trouble and had to spend time in solitary confinement. The solitary confinement cells were located in the D block. The lights in this block were off at all times, making it dark and a really hard life for the prisoners.

This tough and isolating environment led to several escape attempts.

Al Capone

Al Capone is one of the most famous prisoners of Alcatraz. Capone was on the first trainload of prisoners to the new federal prison located on Alcatraz Island.

In 1934, Capone became known as prisoner number 85. In true Capone style, he immediately tried to manipulate the system to get special treatment at Alcatraz. However, the warden noticed his attempts from day one and denied any special treatment.

Due to his fame, Capone was a target of attack. In 1936, another inmate stabbed him in the back with a pair of scissors. The other inmate thought he was a snitch and wanted to kill him. Capone's story is that he was stabbed because he wouldn't fund the other inmates escape attempt.

By 1937, Capone was spending more and more time alone in his cell. His behavior became very strange. Shortly after the behavior changes, he was diagnosed with Syphilis.

Late stages of Syphilis create dementia and personality changes in patients. After his diagnosis, Capone was transferred to the prison hospital at Alcatraz where he stayed for the remainder of this time on the island. In January of 1939, Capone was transferred out of Alcatraz. He was moved to another facility and then paroled at the end of the year.

Learn more about his life in the Biography of Al Capone section.

Robert Stroud, The Birdman of Alcatraz

Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz, became one of the prisoners of Alcatraz in 1942. He was prisoner number 594. His fame as a birdman came before his days at Alcatraz. Due to the strict rules at Alcatraz, Stroud never had any birds in his cell during his time on the island.

By the time Stroud arrived at Alcatraz, he was already 52. He had already spent most of his life in prison. Most of those years were in solitary confinement.

Stroud was a troublesome prisoner most of his life and this behavior continued while at Alcatraz. In 1948, he supported the efforts of a group of prisoners that tried to escape Alcatraz. In 1948, he also staged a hunger strike with the rest of the prisoners.

Robert Stroud spent a total of 17 years at Alcatraz. Due to his behavior there, six of those years were in solitary confinement.

Learn more about his life in the Robert Stroud, Bird Man of Alcatraz section.

Machine Gun Kelly

Machine Gun Kelly is another one of the infamous prisoners of Alcatraz. He is listed as Alcatraz inmate number 117. His full name is George Kelly Barnes.

Early in life, Kelly worked as a cab driver. He then found that a job as a bootlegger paid a lot more. His criminal fame grew during his second marriage to Kathryn Thorne. She talked about his crimes to those in other crime circles. This created the famous profile of a criminal we know today.

Kelly raised the stakes of his criminal activity in July of 1933. His wife and he kidnapped a wealthy businessman and received ransom from the victim's family.

His wife and he then ran from state to state to try to avoid capture. Three months later they were both captured and eventually were sentenced to life in prison for the crime.

Machine Gun Kelly started his sentence in Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas. While he was incarcerated, he bragged that he would escape from the prison and then break his wife out of prison. To quickly take care of a potential issue, the warden scheduled a transferred for him to Alcatraz in 1934. Kelly then moved to Alcatraz shortly after the new prison opened.

In the beginning, Kelly talked and bragged a lot about his crimes to other prisoners of Alcatraz. He later became remorseful and began to take responsibility for his actions.

During this time, Kelly wrote letters to his victim to apologize for the kidnapping. He received no response from the victim. Kelly was considered a good inmate since he didn't create any additional trouble. Other prisoners documented that they enjoyed getting to know him while they were incarcerated together.

Kelly spent 17 years as one of the prisoners of Alcatraz. He transferred back to Leavenworth in 1951. He then died of a heart attack in 1954.

Henri (Henry) Young

Henri Young became famous while serving time in Alcatraz. He murdered a fellow inmate, Rufus McCain, while both were serving time on the island.

The murder case also highlighted the tough prisoner guidelines and rules for the prisoners of Alcatraz. In a sense, both Young and the Alcatraz prison rules ended up on trial.

Other prisoners consider Young as one of the toughest and meanest inmates ever to step foot in Alcatraz. He grew up very poor with parents that fought a lot. His parents broke up when he was only 14 which damaged him for life.

Young's life of crime began at the age of 17 when he began stealing. After years of crime, he was caught for robbing a bank with friends in 1934 at the age of 23.

Young received a 20 year sentence for the crime. He started his sentence at McNeil Island, but was so violent the warden asked to transfer him to Alcatraz.

He arrived at Alcatraz in 1935 and was inmate number 244. His behavior got continually worse while he was one of the prisoners of Alcatraz. He tried to escape four years after his arrival. The escape attempt occurred with other inmates including McCain.

The tough interactions between Young and McCain are documented to have started after the failed escape attempt. Several run-ins between the two were documented before the final incident. In December 1940, Young stabbed McCain to death

After the trial, Young continued to serve time at Alcatraz. He was mainly in solitary confinement but caused problems until he was transferred out of Alcatraz in 1948.

Young finished out his sentence and was paroled in 1972. He violated his parole by skipping a check in with his parole officer. Authorities searched and searched for him. He was never found or heard from again.

The movie Murder in the First chronicled Young's life and the trial for the murder of McCain. The movie portrayed him as a kinder, gentler person than what other prisoners documented about him in real life. This different representation created some question and mystery around his true life and character.

These are some of the most infamous prisoners of Alcatraz. Visit the escapes from Alcatraz page to learn about more of the infamous prisoners and their escape attempts.

If you want to visit this amazing historical site in San Francisco, visit the Alcatraz Prison Tours section to learn more about booking tickets to visit Alcatraz. If you've already booked your tickets, visit the Tips to Visit Alcatraz page for helpful hints on preparing for your upcoming visit.