Alcatraz, America's Devil's Island
Subtitle: the gangster years
By: David A. Ward ; with Gene G. Kassebaum.
Contributors: Kassebaum, Gene G.
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Berkeley
Language: eng
Number of pages: 548
ISBN-13: 9780520256071
Subjects: United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, California; Prisons -- California -- Alcatraz Island -- History; Alcatraz Island (Calif.) -- History
Description: Part I, Alcatraz from 1934 to 1948. The federal government's war on "public enemies"--A new form of imprisonment -- Selecting the "worst of the worst" -- The program -- Organized resistance : a regime tested -- Finding a hole in the rock : the first escape attempts -- Alcatraz on trial -- The war years -- The battle of Alcatraz -- Part II, Life on the rock for resisters and public enemies. Resistance and adaptation -- Outlaws among outlaws -- Celebrity prisoners -- Part III, Alcatraz as as experiment in penal policy. Return to the free world -- Lessons from Alcatraz for supermax prisons.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The federal government's war on public enemies; title: A new form of imprisonment; title: Selecting the "worst of the worst"; title: The "program"; title: Organized resistance : a regime tested; title: Finding a hole in the rock : the first escape attempts; title: Alcatraz on trial; title: The war years; title: The battle of alcatraz; title: Resistance and adaptation; title: Outlaws among outlaws : individual resisters; title: Celebrity prisoners; title: Return to the free world; title: Lessons from alcatraz for "supermax" prisons.