Alcatraz Island

**Alcatraz Island** (sometimes just called **Alcatraz** or **The Rock**) is a small island in the San Francisco Bay in California. It has been used for a lighthouse, a military fort, a military prison, a federal prison, and now a National Park.

The Alcatraz lighthouse, opened in 1854, was the first working lighthouse on the West Coast.

About opening the prison, again: On May 4, 2025, the U.S. president said that he has an (idea or) intention of reopening the prison.

## Name 
The name "Alcatraz Island" comes from the island's original name in Spanish, *Isla de los alcatraces* (*Island of the pelicans*). Juan Manuel de Ayala, a Spanish explorer, named it that after noticing many pelicans  on the island. 

## History 
### Basic timeline 
These are some of the major events in Alcatraz's history:

* 10,000 to 20,000 years ago: Indigenous people arrive on Alcatraz Island
* 1775: Ayala becomes the first non-indigenous person to find and map Alcatraz
* 1850-1933: The United States Army uses the island as a military fort and military prison
* 1934-1963: A federal prison operates at Alcatraz
* 1963: After the prison closes, Alcatraz Island is basically abandoned
* 1969: The old prison becomes a museum
* 1969: Native American Indian protestors take over Alcatraz
* 1971: The federal government takes back control of the island
* 1972-Today: Alcatraz is a national park

### Indigenous people 
Indigenous people lived on Alcatraz Island for 10,000 to 20,000 years before Ayala arrived in 1775.

We do not know much about the indigenous people on the island, because they did not keep written records. Instead they used oral history, passing information verbally from generation to generation. They were a group of Hopi men who lived on a reservation in Arizona. At the time, the U.S. government was requiring Native Americans to send their children to boarding schools, which were designed to assimilate them. When they refused to send their children thousands of miles away to these boarding schools, they were imprisoned and spent a year at Alcatraz. This was controversial, and many people learned about the story through newspaper articles.

### Prohibition-era gangsters 
Alcatraz's famous prisoners included many gangsters who did organized crime around the Prohibition era in the United States. Al "Scarface" Capone was sent to Alcatraz just a few weeks after it opened. Capone was a Chicago mob boss who left Alcatraz in 1939. George "Machine Gun" Kelly arrived less than a month after Capone. He was a Tennessee bootlegger and armed robber who committed a famous kidnapping. He left Alcatraz in 1951, transferring to Leavenworth federal prison.

Two members of the Barker-Karpis Gang were imprisoned at Alcatraz. The Gang operated for four years (from 1931-1935), which made it one of the longest-lived criminal gangs in the Great Depression era. Alvin Karpis, who co-led the gang, was in Alcatraz from 1936-1962. He was the first person the FBI ever named as  "Public Enemy Number One," and was at Alcatraz longer than any other prisoner in history. Ma Barker's son Arthur ("Doc") was also imprisoned at Alcatraz from 1935-1939. He was shot in 1939 while trying to escape.
 map of Alcatraz Island]]
Ten years after Stroud arrived, James "Bumpy" Johnson was sent to Alcatraz for trafficking heroin. Johnson was a Harlem drug .

## Today 
Today, Alcatraz is a national park that attracts many visitors. Millions of people come to the San Francisco Bay area to visit the old prison or hike the island. 

Some people have said that Alcatraz is haunted. Visitors often enjoy tales about ghosts on the prison grounds. 

## References 
## Other websites