Текст книги "Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years "

Автор книги: Майкл Эсслингер

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Warden James A. Johnston 1934 –1948

A photograph of the first Warden of Alcatraz, James A. Johnston. This image was produced for his book Prison Life is Different. He authored several other publications, including a book on Alcatraz entitled Alcatraz and the Men Who Live There

In November of 1933, the U.S. Attorney General chose James A. Johnston, a strict disciplinarian with a humanistic approach to reform as the new warden of Alcatraz. Johnston came to the position with a broad-based background in business and twelve years of experience in the California Department of Corrections. James Johnston was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 15, 1874, to Thomas and Ellen Johnston. He moved to California to attend the Sacred Heart College in San Francisco to study law. In 1905 Johnston married Ida Fulton and the couple decided to remain in California. From 1912 until 1913, Johnston served a brief term as the warden at Folsom Prison on the appointment of the Governor of California. His successful term at Folsom led to another position as the warden of San Quentin Prison, where he would remain until 1925. After leaving the prison system, Johnston became the Vice-President of the American Trust Company and later took an appointment as a chief appraiser for the Federal Home Loan Bank Corporation.

Two photographs of James A. Johnston as a young man, during his terms as Warden of Folsom Prison in 1912-1913, and as Warden of San Quentin Prison from 1913-1925.

The Department of Justice considered Johnston a “scientific penologist,” and he had a remarkable track record of successfully returning a high percentage of inmates to productive society. Johnston had become well known for the programs he implemented in the area of prisoner reform and he was also a promoter of inmate rights. He abolished the wearing of striped uniforms, which he considered demeaning to the inmates and he advocated active inmate participation in religious services. He didn't believe in chain gangs, but rather in having inmates report to a job where they were respected and rewarded for their efforts.

Nicknamed the "Golden Rule Warden" at San Quentin, Johnston was praised in newspaper articles for the California highways that were graded by San Quentin prisoners. Although inmates were not compensated for this work, they were rewarded with sentence reductions. Johnston also established several educational programs at San Quentin, which proved successful for a good number of inmates. He invited famous actors and actresses of the era to entertain on special occasions, including such greats as Mary Pickford and Sarah Bernhardt. Johnston purchased a motion picture projector for the inmates at San Quentin and vaudeville companies were permitted to perform for the prisoners. But despite Johnston’s humane approach to prison reform, he also carried a reputation as a strict disciplinarian. His rules of conduct were among the most rigid in the correctional system and harsh punishments were meted out to defiant inmates. During his tenure at "Q," Johnston also oversaw the executions by hanging of several inmates.

Johnston abolished the wearing of striped prison uniforms, which he considered demeaning to the inmates. He didn't believe in chain gangs (depicted here in a movie still with the men walking in what was termed as “Lock Step”), and he advocated having inmates report to a job where they were respected and rewarded for their efforts. Johnston held a remarkable track record of successfully returning a high percentage of inmates to productive society, by teaching them job skills that could translate to employment outside of prison.

Warden Johnston served as Warden of Alcatraz from 1934 until 1948.

James Johnston was considered an icon of San Francisco during his term as Warden of Alcatraz. He is seen here during a public fundraiser, circa 1942.

At Alcatraz, Johnston was allowed to hand-pick his correctional officers from the entire federal prison system. Johnston’s first appointment was Cecil J. Shuttleworth from St. Paul, Minnesota, who he chose as his Deputy Warden. He also appointed four lieutenants who were all well versed in the federal prison system. They were Edward J. Miller and Paul J. Madigan (who was later to become Warden himself) from Leavenworth, Edward Starling from Atlanta, and Richard Culver from Virginia. Fifty-two other correctional officers would be transferred to Alcatraz to assume guard posts.

The Guards of Alcatraz

A letter detailing officers’ salaries for their new appointments at Alcatraz.

A group photograph of the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary Personnel, taken on June 4, 1936. Warden Johnston is seen sitting in the middle. To his left is Deputy Warden C.J. Shuttleworth, and to his right is future Deputy Warden E.J. Miller.

A small group of Alcatraz officers posing in 1953. Standing on the far left is Captain of the Guard Emil Rychner.

Alcatraz officers receiving martial arts training.

The guard-to-prisoner ratio on Alcatraz was one to three, which compared favorably with other prisons where there could be twelve or more inmates to every guard. The Alcatraz guards were able to keep extremely close track of each inmate, thanks to the Gun Galleries at each end of the cellblocks and the high frequency of prisoner counts. Because of the small number of inmates on Alcatraz, the guards generally knew each one by name. Salaries for the correctional staff were also better than at most other penitentiaries. In 1934 the average annual salary of a correctional officer at Alcatraz was $3,162, and by the time the prison closed in 1963, salaries for officers had risen to nearly $5,000 a year. Officers at Alcatraz were provided with extensive training, and were considered to be the best in the federal system. After being signed into service on Alcatraz, they would undergo a formalized program to help prepare them for their new position.

A photograph of Captain of the Guard Emil Rychner (standing), during an officer training session.

The shooting range at Alcatraz, which was used for weapons training.

The guard-training curriculum was condensed into an extremely intensive four-week program. The classes covered self-defense skills, aggressive Judo as well as defensive maneuvers. Officers also were expected to qualify with the various firearms used at the secure posts. They would learn how to operate the cell mechanisms and became versed in the rules and regulations governing the prison. Furthermore, officers were trained in basic psychology, including role-playing techniques for deescalating potential riot situations and identification of unusual behavioral patterns. Inmates frequently made contraband weapons that could put the unarmed officers assigned to inmate areas at significant risk. As an additional precaution, officers would learn the language of the underground prison code and the importance of not getting too friendly with the inmates. The officers were expected to remain firm, and to enforce the regulations to the letter.

Warden Johnston and Attorney General Sanford Bates created a set of rigid guiding principles under which the prison would operate, and the first of these was that no prisoner would be directly sentenced to Alcatraz from the courts. Instead, wardens from the various federal penitentiaries were polled and permitted to send their most incorrigible inmates to The Rock. They chose inmates with histories of unmanageable behavior and escape attempts, but they also sent high-profile inmates who were receiving privileges because of their status and notoriety. Assistant Director of the Bureau of Prisons James V. Bennett later commented, “In a sense, I was a talent scout for Alcatraz. One of my jobs was to review the records of all the men in the various federal prisons and decide who would be sent to the Rock.”  Inmates would be required to earn their way back to another federal institution before they could be considered for parole. Those who sought an attorney to represent them while incarcerated at Alcatraz would have to do so by direct request to the U.S. Attorney General. All privileges would be limited, and no inmate, regardless of his public stature, would be extended special entitlements.

Visitation and Inmate Rights

Another training photograph with Associate Warden Arthur Dollison seated in the center, and Warden Paul Madigan seated on the far right.

The visiting area, called Peekin’ Place by inmates because they were only allowed to talk with visitors through small bulletproof glass portals. The visiting area was located next to the main prison entrance. The barred gate on the right was the access gate to the stairway leading to the prison Chapel.

Bureau officials are seen here posing as visitors seated in the visitors’ gallery. No physical contact was allowed between family visitors and inmates for any reason.

An inmate talking with family members in the visiting area, using a hands-free intercom.

A correctional officer sitting at the desk in the inmate visiting area.

Conversations were monitored by prison officers, and the visit was immediately ended if an inmate violated the prison rules and regulations pertaining to visits.

Inmates had to earn visitation rights, but no visits would be allowed for the first three months of their residence on Alcatraz. The warden would personally approve all requests and only one visit, per month, per inmate would be permitted. The visitor was required to be a spouse or blood relative, and would be allotted two hours. Visitors were not allowed any physical contact with the inmate, so there would be no opportunity for a visitor to pass any form of contraband. All visitors were conducted through a two-inch-thick bulletproof squared porthole, via a telephone intercom that was monitored by a correctional officer. Any discussion of current events, topics specific to the prison or other inmates, or anything that could have a potential link to crime would be forbidden. An inmate or visitor who violated this rule would immediately be cut off and the visit terminated. For inmates with relatives traveling from outside California, the Warden would sometimes allow consecutive visits (i.e., January 31st and February 1 ^st).

Inmates were given restricted access to the prison library, but no newspapers, radios, or other non-approved reading materials would be allowed. Mail service was considered a privilege, and all letters, both in-coming and out-going, were to be screened, censored, and typewritten. Work was also assigned as a privilege and not a right. Consideration for work assignments would be based on an inmate's conduct record.

Each prisoner was assigned his own cell and allotted only the basic necessities, such as food, water, clothing, and medical & dental care. Inmate Willie Radkay (who occupied a cell next to Machine Gun Kelly at Alcatraz), later indicated during an interview that having your own cell was a great advantage over other federal prisons. When inmates lived in separate cells, the chances of being sexually violated were reduced, and the privacy afforded was also a cherished benefit. Personal property was generally limited to a few photographs, and the cells were subject to meticulous inspections that were frequent, random and unannounced.

The inmates’ contact with the outside world was completely cut off. Convicted spy Morton Sobell stated that the rules at Alcatraz were so stringent that inmates were never allowed to explore the cellhouse on their own. They would be marched from one location to another, always in a regulated manner. The routine was unyielding, day after day, year after year, and even on most holidays. As quickly as a right was awarded for good behavior, it could be taken away for the slightest infraction. Johnston would tell the press on opening day: “The essence of Alcatraz is a maximum security prison, with minimum privileges”.

Transition to a Civilian Prison

When the Military evacuated the island on June 19, 1934, they left behind thirty-two hard-edged prisoners to serve out their sentences on Alcatraz. The remaining military inmates were assigned Alcatraz numbers alphabetically with Frank Bolt as 01-AZ. These men later became resentful of being imprisoned with what the media had publicized as America’s worst criminals. There was a thread of dissention among these inmates, who thought that they should be released to more lenient institutions. The first civilian to be held at Alcatraz was Frederick Grant White, who arrived on July 13, 1934 from McNeil Island. The next civilian inmate had an interesting connection to the island prison. Robert Bradford Moxon had once served at Alcatraz as a soldier. Ironically, after being discharged, he was arrested on charges of forgery and sent back to serve out his sentence on the Rock, arriving on August 2, 1934.

Frank L. Bolt was Alcatraz inmate #AZ-01.

Bolt’s dishonorable discharge papers from the US Army.

Frederick Grant White was the first civilian inmate at Alcatraz. He arrived on July 13, 1934 from McNeil Island.

A telegram to Warden Johnston, providing transfer details for inmate White.

A photograph of military inmate John Miller, one of the thirty-two inmates left to finish out their sentences at Alcatraz following the prison’s transition to a civilian institution. Miller’s photograph illustrates one of the rare instances of leniency at the prison, which would be short lived.  Mustaches were not allowed at Alcatraz during its tenure as a Federal penitentiary.

Robert Bradford Moxon

Warden Johnston on August 18, 1934, leading a tour for dignitaries. Pictured from left to right are San Francisco Mayor Angelo Rossi; Attorney General Homer Cummings, one of the conceptual founders of the prison; Warden Johnston; and San Francisco Police Chief William Quinn. The photograph opposite shows the group leaving the prison.

Attorney General Homer S. Cummings and Warden James Johnston inspecting the staff of correctional officers during the opening of the prison in 1934. The officer standing second from the left is future Associate Warden E.J. Miller.

The first official group of fourteen federal inmates arrived at Alcatraz from McNeil Island on August 11, 1934. Their identities were kept completely secret from an aggressive press, hungry to report on the first arrivals. Their train pulled into Oakland at 9:40 a.m., and the inmates were led in handcuffed pairs to the prison launch General McDowell. As the prisoners were lined up in formation along the dock, the island’s residents peered down through their curtains to get a glimpse of their new neighbors. The inmates were forced to walk up to the main cellhouse heavily shackled, and under heavy guard. Once they arrived at the receiving area in the prison basement, they were photographed, stripped, and assigned their inmate numbers. They were then each given a medical examination, showered, and marched naked to their new cells carrying their clothes and utensils. Renowned inmate Darwin Coon recalled his first experience of arriving at Alcatraz, in his compelling personal memoir entitled Alcatraz – The True End of the Line:

Five or six officers were standing in front of the prison. Without ceremony, they ushered us through a solid steel door with an electric lock. Then we had to wait for a key to be lowered down so that the officer could open a barred gate in front of us. We went into a room where they removed the handcuffs and leg irons. I was so happy to get those things off I didn’t care where I was. Then we were strip searched and marched naked to the showers. After that we were taken to fish row where we were each assigned a cell in an area that came to be known to us as Broadway.

The first groups of inmates transferred from other Federal penitentiaries were brought to the island still shackled in the train cars that had carried them across the United States. They were considered the nations’ most incorrigible criminals, and no chances would be taken by off-loading the train cars on the mainland. During the transfers, newspaper reporters followed the trains across the country, with onlookers flocking to see America’s worst public enemies.

The second group of fifty-three inmates arrived at 5:45 a.m. on August 22, 1934, three and a half days after it left Atlanta, and the third and largest group consisting of 106 inmates came from Leavenworth on September 4, 1934. In later a newspaper report covering the arrival of the Atlanta cars, it provided late details of the route. Rather than taking any direct route, it made an excursion which added an additional 60-mile route through northern Bay Area cities:

Two miles east of Martinez, a switchman shifted the train onto the Southern Pacific track that took it over the railroad bridge heading toward Suisun City. It turned left at Fairfield passed through Cordelia and Napa Junction. At Shellville, the train went on the tracks of the Northwestern Pacific and turned south, passing Black Point, Ignacio and San Rafael, finally stopping at Tiburon. Awaiting it there (Tiburon) was the Red Stack Sea Rover, under Captain Webster Hargins with 25 special guards and federal operatives, ready to take the prisoners out to Alcatraz.

The routine for admission would essentially remain unchanged throughout the history of the prison. When the first groups arrived, Associate Warden C.J. Shuttleworth distributed a brief set of rules describing the disciplinary matrix that would govern their confinement. In this communication he also described the system that would be employed to discipline inmates who refused to abide by the rules set down by the Warden:

You will receive your punishment of perhaps 10 days in isolation on a restricted diet of bread and water. That practice will continue while you remain in isolation, and you will be provided with medical care if required for any illness. Isolation is a dark cell known here as “the Hole.” It consists of nothing but four walls, a ceiling and a floor. When you sleep, you will be provided blankets for warmth and a pillow for your head, but you may be required to do so on concrete. When a prisoners’ required number of days in the hole expires, he is placed in what is known as Solitary Confinement. Here he enjoys the nighttime use of a bunk. He gets bread and water for breakfast, a noon meal the same as on the prison main line, and bread and water before he goes to bed.

When he is released from solitary he goes to his regular cell in the main prison. He will be placed in “grade.” Grade will consist of the following: He will have a red tag placed on the cell plate of his door, which will indicate third grade. He may leave his cell only to go to the mess hall for scheduled meals. This will continue for three months. If he has not violated any rules for this period, he will be elevated to second grade. Now he will be able to write and receive a restricted number of letters. When he performs satisfactorily at this level, he will be promoted to first grade, where he will enjoy instatement of all normal prison privileges.

Among the first inmates to arrive were notorious gangsters Al Capone and Doc Barker (the last surviving son from the famous Ma Barker Gang), as well as George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Harvey Bailey, Roy Gardner, Floyd Hamilton (a gang member and driver for Bonnie & Clyde), and several other gangland criminals. Warden Johnston was openly concerned over the security of the new arrivals. The inmates would not even be permitted to leave the train, which would be transferred onto a floating barge and towed across the Bay. The train was diverted to Tiburon, and then ferried to Alcatraz. There was an officer stationed in each railcar, who sat inside a reinforced cage with a loaded shotgun. It was later noted that the train cars seemed horribly unstable, and many feared that they could tip and plunge the inmates into the frigid water, to meet their demise by drowning. It was also during this trek across the turbulent San Francisco Bay waters that rumors of man-eating sharks and fin sightings started to circulate among the inmates.

New inmates are seen here shackled in leg irons during the admissions process. They are standing in the basement hall next to the shower room.

Machine Gun Kelly under heavy guard, boarding an armored train car.