Alcatraz: The Gangster Years »

"Ward has collected the most impressive documentation anywhere on the workings of a prison. A unique and wonderful work of sociology and history."—Howard Becker, author of Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance and Art Worlds

"This groundbreaking history of the country's most notorious prison is the first to give an in-depth analysis of the interaction between the guards and the prisoners. Ward captures the Alcatraz experience with the accuracy of someone who has practically been there and lays to rest many of the myths that have grown up around the prison. No longer will the story-tellers be able to describe the inmates as 'the worst of the worst' without qualification. Their individual stories come alive as the author records the varied life experiences that brought them to Alcatraz and describes their coping mechanisms. A unique and fascinating study."—Morton Sobell, Alcatraz
Inmate #AZ699 1950-1963, author of On Doing Time

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xxi

Introduction: Reconstructing the Life of a Prison 1

Part I Alcatraz from 1934 to 1948

1 The Federal Government's War on "Public Enemies" 13

2 A New Form of Imprisonment 49

3 Selecting the "Worst of the Worst" 70

4 The Program 97

5 Organized Resistance: A Regime Tested 120

6 Finding a Hole in the Rock: The First Escape Attempts 150

7 Alcatraz on Trial 181

8 The War Years 205

9 The Battle of Alcatraz 238

Part II Life on the Rock for Resisters and Public Enemies

10 Resistance and Adaptation 283

11 Outlaws among Outlaws 304

12 Celebrity Prisoners 338

Part III Alcatraz As an Experiment in Penal Policy

13 Return to the Free World 385

14 Lessons from Alcatraz for Supermax Prisons 445

Epilogue 461

Notes 467

Bibliographic Commentary 519

About the Authors 523

Index 525