Alcatraz (San Francisco County, California)

Setting out in San Francisco Bay, the Rock or Alcatraz Island is an impressive remainder of our system of law and justice. For it was here that some of the most horrible criminals in our nation’s history were incarcerated.

The ferry ride across the bay to the Rock is a short 12 minutes, but the cold, sharp wind gives one some minor sense of what awaited prisoners even if they managed to reach the shoreline of the island during an escape attempt. Once we dock, we begin making our way up the crumbling walkways past the collapsing ruins of this once renowned maximum security prison to the cell house at the top of the island. 

Once inside, each visitor is given a digital recorder and headphones to being the self-guided tour of the prison. Former guards and inmates narrate tales of escape attempts, daily life, and sieges as they direct you through the cell blocks.

Having one of the most beautiful cities on Earth a mere couple of miles distant, but well within site must have been true torture for these inmates.