ON THIS DAY

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March 21, 1963:

Closing of Alcatraz Prison

The U.S. federal prison on San Francisco Bay's Alcatraz Island, which had held some of the most dangerous civilian prisoners—including Al Capone and Robert Stroud, the “Birdman of Alcatraz”—was closed this day in 1963.

The strong currents around the island and cold water temperatures made escape nearly impossible, and the prison became one of the most notorious in American history. The prison and the island are now a major tourist attraction.

Alcatraz Island is the site of the abandoned federal prison, the oldest operating lighthouse on the West Coast of the United States, early military fortifications, and natural features such as rock pools and a seabird colony (mostly western gulls, cormorants, and egrets).

This island and the prison

The last inmates of Alcatraz federal prison are shown as they file out of the cell blocks for the final time as the federal government abandons this maximum security prison in San Francisco Bay. The government abandoned the "Rock" because it would cost too much to repair the deteriorating buildings.

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