Alcatraz Island was originally an Army Fort to protect San Francisco starting in 1852 and was decommissioned in 1907. In 1934 Alcatraz became a Federal Penitentiary as a High-Profile, Maximum Security Prison. The prison was shut down in 1963.
Out of the 1,545 prisoners that stayed in Alcatraz only a few of them had been notorious. The most notorious prisoners in Alcatraz was Al Scarface Capone, Doc Barker, Alvin Creepy Karpis, George Machine Gun Kelley, Floyd Hamilton, and Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz.
Today Alcatraz is a National Park that visitors all over the world come to see.
Photo taken on: January 31st, 2009
