While in San Francisco this summer, I took a tour of Alcatraz Island, where a federal maximum security prison operated from 1934 to 1963. As I listened to an audio recording while touring the cell blocks, I heard prisoners talking about their experiences on “The Rock”, as island was called. This gave me an understanding of how life there was perhaps even more torturous on a mental and emotional level than in other U.S. prisons.

Tourists were told that each inmate was known just as a number. Al Capone was known as AZ #85. I’ve read since that everyone was also addressed by his last name. Still, having a number associated with a person seems de-humanizing to me. For the first 4 years of the penitentiary’s existence, the inmates had to remain silent 24 hours a day. Maybe it would have been worse for women prisoners, but I am sure that the men had a hard time with not being able to talk. And each one spent most of his time being locked up in a 5 ft. by 9 ft. cell. Solitary confinement meant being in almost total darkness 24 hours a day.

One recording was of a man explaining how all the inmates could see that real life was all around them, but they couldn’t touch it or participate. They couldn’t say that ignorance is bliss. He said it was especially hard around the fourth of July or on New Year’s eve when they could hear the sounds of celebration traveling over the water from the city on shore  just a mile. Even closer were the families of the Wardens who lived on the island and even went to school there. One woman shared in a documentary that when she lived on the island as a child, she had a lot of fun playing with other children. Once a ball was mistakenly thrown over the fence, and it landed at the feet of a convict. Despite feeling like it was forbidden, she interacted with the man by taking the ball from his hand as he stuck it through the fence. I know that these men were considered the worst of the worst murderers, kidnappers, and burglars, but at least some of them must have yearned for time to play with their own kids as they watched these families having parties. When back on land, I saw souvenir t-shirts making fun of being on “The Rock”. I wasn’t laughing.

I know that for these egregious crimes, people need to be brought to justice by being put in jail. They need to be put behind bars for the protection of society. But prison is ultimately not the answer to our crime problem. The souls of the men at Alcatraz were probably worse off after the treatment they received there. What can be done to rehabilitate criminals? Look for my next post to find out how.