Alcatraz is a prison where the worst criminals were sent and lived during 1934 to 1963 which is an island located 1.5 miles offshore from San Francisco, California.

5 days ago, me and the family of (kirbyfullyloaded) toured Alcatraz island.

It only took less than 15 minutes to get there from San Francisco bay which was astonishing, because I thought it was too easy to escape! When we get to the island and looked back, it looked very close from the land.

However, most of the prisoners failed to escape when they tried to swim. The reason why was the strength of the water current and cold icy water of San Francisco bay.

When we walked inside of the building, the first thing I saw was the shower room, with the wall painted in white and green, which was very eccentric and realistic to me. It reminded me of the prison from the TV show Prison Break.

As we kept walking, the guides handed us headphones and audio devices which guide and explain everything in the prison. It was very helpful, because they put sound effects of the voices of the actual prisoners who were there and background sounds in it. As I was walking, I pictured prisoners confined in small cells.

What most interested me was when I heard the story of prisoners’ escape attempts. One and only prisoner who successfully escaped was Frank Lee Morris. Before he was sent to Alcatraz, he spent most of his lifetime researching about prison system. The way he escaped was very skillful and ingenious. He used dummies, water rafts, other prisoners’ raincoats and so on. He and his inmate Anglins were preparing for it for a while. They dug holes and planning to escape through a narrow space that pipes were running.

For more details, visit here

The whole buildings and its history are very creepy. If you are interested in it, visit Alcatraz when you’re in San Francisco or go to this website.