Although Alcatraz was a humane place, there were still strict rules in place: inmates weren’t allowed to speak to each other except during meals and recreation periods. Escape from The Rock, with its cold waters surrounding the prison, was difficult and the winds blowing in from the water made the prison itself an unpleasantly cold place.
Although physical punish-ment was limited, torture to inmates on emotional and physiological levels could be promoted by putting them into cells with such aptly titled names such as the ‘strip cell’ or the ‘hole’.
By August 1934, the first batches of inmates were selected from the penitentiaries of the USA when prison wardens were polled on whom they would like to send from their own establishment to Alcatraz. Among the first batch were the likes of Al Capone, Robert ‘Birdman of Alcatraz’ Stroud and Floyd Hamilton (Bonnie and Clyde gang driver).
Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz.
By the time Alcatraz closed down, some 1,742 unruly and dangerous prisoners had passed through the place, but not all of them were gangsters, but just prisoners who had refused to follow rules, who were considered dangerous, or who required closer supervision to prevent escape.
PRISON MUSEUMS
These collectable Wade figures illustrate the kind of industry there is in law and order memorabilia.
BEAUMARIS GAOL
The prison was built in 1787 and enlarged by the Victorians. Many prisoners here were deported to Australia and many more were executed on the ramparts. The prison chapel is fascinating in its sadistic design – rows of cubicles were built so that felons could see the preacher but not their fellow inmates. Beaumaris Gaol, Steeple Lane, Beaumaris, Anglesey, LL58 8EP, North Wales. Opening hours: Easter–September 10.30am–5.00pm or at other times by appointment. Educational groups and parties welcome. Tel: 01248 810921. Anglesey Heritage Gallery: Tel: 01248 724444.
DERBY GAOL
Derby Gaol is situated in the basement of 50/51 Friar Gate. Derby is a working museum where you can go and see the actual cells where prisoners were housed. The prison first opened in 1756 and closed down in 1828, but has now been restored to its former condition. The museum is normally open on Saturdays from 11.00am–3.00pm where you can even have parties in the cells … we have them in prison so you might as well have them in a prison, too! Derby Gaol, 51/55 Friar Gate, Derby, England.
INVERARAY GAOL
Since opening in 1989, Inveraray Gaol has established itself as one of Scotland’s most exciting heritage attractions. Visit the magnificently restored 1820 Courtroom where you can sit and listen to excerpts from trials of the past. Then pass on to the prisons below, and meet with Warders, Matron and Prisoners in period costumes. See the airing yards, furnished cells and experience prison sounds and smells. Ask the ‘Prisoner’ how to pick Oakum. Turn the handle of an original crank machine, take forty winks in a hammock or listen to Matron’s tales of daily life as she keeps one eye on the nursing mother, barefoot thieves and the lunatic in her care. Church Square, Inveraray, Argyll, PA32 8TX, Scotland. Tel: +44 (0) 1499 302 381. Fax: +44 (0) 1499 302 195. Website: www.inverarayjail.co.uk
JEDBURGH CASTLE GAOL
The Castle Gaol, with a commanding view over the town, was built as a reform jail in 1820 on the site of the original Jethart Castle, which was demolished in 1409 to keep it out of the hands of the English. The jail now houses a museum of social history, re-opening in 1996 following major refurbishment of its displays. The displays in the cell blocks tell the story of the Howard Reform Prison, using costumed figures and period rooms. Jedburgh Castle Gaol, Castlegate, Scottish Borders. Tel: +44 (0) 1835 863254. Open: Easter to end October.
KILMAINHAM GAOL
Kilmainham Gaol is where you need to go to learn about the origins of the modern Irish State. It was here that the rebels of the last 150 years of British rule were held and it was here that the leaders of the 1916 Uprising were executed. No other single event propelled Ireland to independence.
The Gaol was much neglected since Eamon De Valera left it as the last prisoner in 1924 and, although it has undergone much renovation since, the terrible character of the place is undiminished. The struggle for independence is very well charted and a guided tour and video show fills out the details.
It is believed to be the largest unused prison in Europe and over its existence housed many criminals as well as political prisoners. You can only imagine the suffering that went on here. Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, Eire. Opening Hours: April–Sept: 9.30am–4.45pm daily. Oct–March: Monday–Friday 9.30am–4.00pm, closed Saturdays. Sundays 10.00am–4.45pm.
STIRLING OLD TOLLBOOTH GAOL
For 400 years, Stirling’s prisoners were kept in the old Tollbooth Jail. It was a stinking, overcrowded place. There came pressure for improvement and prison reform so the new purpose-built Stirling Old Town Jail was opened in 1847. Designed by Thomas Brown and opened as a County Jail, the building was used as the only military prison in Scotland from 1888 until 1935. Restoration to its current use began in the early 1990s. Stirling, St John Street, Stirling Old Town, Scotland. Tel: +44 (0) 1786 450050. Site open daily all year round.
Yorkshire Law and Order Museum
For details about the museums attractions, access the website: www.ripon.co.uk/museums
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TIEPINS, QUOTES AND GHOSTS
The prison industry has become big business – book sales, newspaper sales, employment and the media … all big bucks. Talk about prisoners exploiting the system, what about the others milking it? People talk about the ‘victim’ as if it were a crime to make a penny from the crimes one commits, but the bigger fish are riding on the backs of those committing the crimes. For one, cut crime down to zero and you’d make a billion people lose their jobs. Don’t knock us criminals; we’re keeping one billion people in their jobs, and helping many of them get rich.
A tiepin badge promoting the former Maze Prison (Northern Ireland) Rugby Football Club
Any of you a fan of Lynda La Plante? Did you know that her production company used my character in their The Governor TV series? I include copy of her letters below:
La Plante Productions Limited
Paramount House
1st May 1996
Dear Charlie
Thank you for your letters and especially thank you for your wonderful cartoon book. The drawings made me laugh and cry. They also impressed me because you are still able to joke about your situation. Sometimes when I read what you have written in your letters I have to stop and look away from the page. Thirty years behind bars is hard to comprehend, making your jokes and wit even more poignant.
I’ve just spent a long time in America, but I think Alice wrote and told you I was away. I was actually on a book tour, crossing the United States from New York to LA with seven stops between. Jet-lag is a strange feeling, a little bit like you’ve woken up and are not sure where you are, what time it is, or what day or month for that matter.
I have been told that you are to be the subject of a Panorama. So, your story, your life, will unfold for many people who I don’t think truly believed that The Governor depicted prison life as it is today. The actor who portrayed the character called Tarzan is called Terry O’Neill. I will pass on your best wishes to him as he will be pleased that you approved of his performance.
Terry is very famous as a karate seventh Dan black belt, and three times world champion. He writes and edits his own magazine called Fighting Arts International. He is a man I respect greatly; very kind and thoughtful, and physically a very strong man. I shall pass on your letter and perhaps he will write to you, or you could write to him. I will also ask him to send you some magazines if they are allowed to be handed over to you.
You must understand though, Charlie, that Tarzan is only based on you and some of your background. When writing a drama I cannot ever state categorically that the character is someone in particular and your name is never mentioned. The Governor is not a documentary but a drama series. And therefore sometimes I hav
e to take a certain amount of dramatic licence. I have not put in anything that Lorraine did not approve of. Also, Tarzan does return to the wing and he does prove himself to be a highly intelligent individual. But, you must understand that what I have depicted is probably two to three years ago and all past. Whatever happens to you now is your future. And I hope it will be one with a possible release for you, so that you may care for your father.
I am very excited about your forthcoming book and I think your title Concrete Coffin is a good one. I also hope, Charlie, that because of your talent as a writer it will help you become more settled as a person. And you do have such a talent and you must try not lose it due to anger or bitterness. Writing is a special gift, it will open doors of freedom, if not physically then mentally, and you will, and can, go any place you choose. That is why writing means so much to me. Sometimes I lose myself in words, lose any hurt or pain I feel. I just put it all down and it eases me, as I hope your work will begin to ease you, and calm you.
Thank you for your letters which I appreciate. Thank you also for allowing the character of Tarzan to exist, he really made a great impact on the series. I do not know if I will get another series going as I have not heard from the ITV network yet. I hope so as I feel the series teaches the public about prison life. I also hope it will act as a deterrent for young men watching who might foolishly think that a life behind bars and a prison sentence is something they can misguidedly be proud of.
I think you have a lovely soul sister in Lorraine. She really is a nice lady and we keep in touch. I will write to you again soon but in the meantime I want to ask you to do something for me. I know perhaps you have felt great animosity, anger, and hatred towards Prison Officers, but I also met some truly caring men who want nothing more than to help prisoners. These men have a job to do, whether you like them or not. They have to do their job, Charlie. They have to earn a living and provide for their families. So, I am asking you to stay calm, concentrate on your writing, and not think crazy thoughts.
My grandfather used to have these words printed on a card by his bed and I think of them often. I want you to think of them, too.
Think big and your dreams will grow
Think small and you will fall behind
Think that you can and you will
It is all in a state mind.
Goodbye for now.
Lynda La Plante
Look at some of the projects to emerge using prison and crime themes:
FILMS
The Birdman of Alcatraz
Buster
Face-Off
The General
The Great Escape
The Green Mile
Hannibal
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Hurricane
Lock-Up
The Mean Machine
Reservoir Dogs
Scum
The Shawshank Redemption
Tango and Cash
TELEVISION
Bad Girls Bergerac 8
The Bill
Carry On the Prisoner of Spenda
Cracker
Crimewatch UK
Columbo
Shoestring
Frost
The Governor
Inspector Morse
McCloud
Midsomer Murders
Murder She Wrote
Prime Suspect
Porridge
Prisoner Cell Block H
The Prisoner
The Sweeney
Z Cars
The list is endless …
BOOKS
The Godfather by Mario Puzzo
The Prisoner in the Mask
The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
PC GAMES
Alcatraz – Prison Escape
CONSTRUCTION GAMES
Lego’s Pirate Jail
PLAYSTATION
Prisoner of War
BOARD GAMES
Monopoly
QUOTES
HENRY BRACTON
(Priest and Jurist) died 1268
(carcer ad continendos et non ad puniendes habere debeat)
‘These private prisons developed according to the foibles and idiosyncrasies and the financial and political fluctuations in power, of the grantees, creating a multitude of abuses which of themselves constituted actual punishment.’
ANGELA DAVIES
(Activist)
‘Jails and prisons are designed to break human beings, to convert the population into specimens in a zoo – obedient to our keepers, but dangerous to each other.’
LORD DENNING
(Then head of the Court of Appeal (Civil Division), in the case of Becker v Home Office 1972)
Lord Denning ruled that the Prison Rules did not give prisoners any rights at all and, as a consequence, even if the prison Governor drove a coach and horses through them, that did not of itself give any prisoner the right to complain to the courts.
DWIGHT D EISENHOWER
‘Americans, indeed all freemen, remember that, in the final choice, a soldier’s pack is not so heavy a burden as a prisoner’s chains.
JIMMY HOFFA
‘I can tell you this on a stack of Bibles: prisons are archaic, brutal, unregenerative, overcrowded hell holes where the inmates are treated like animals with absolutely not one humane thought given to what they are going to do once they are released. You’re an animal in a cage and you’re treated like one.’
HUBERT H HUMPHREY
(1911–1978)
‘There are not enough jails, not enough police, not enough courts to enforce a law not supported by the people.’
ROBERT KENNEDY
‘Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on.’
ROBERT MITCHUM
‘The only difference between me and my fellow actors is that I’ve spent more time in jail.’
FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT
(1882–1945)
‘Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.’
‘No man is above the law, every man is below it, and we need ask no man’s permission when we require him to obey it.
JOHN RUSKIN
‘Let us reform our schools, and we shall find little reform needed in our prisons.’
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
‘It is the deed that teaches, not the name we give it. Murder and capital punishment are not opposites that cancel one another, but similars that breed their own kind.’
ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN
‘The thoughts of a prisoner – they’re not free either. They keep returning to the same things.’
MOTHER TERESA
‘What you do to these men, you do to God!’
MARK TWAIN
‘There was a proposition in a township there to discontinue public schools because they were too expensive. An old farmer spoke up and said if they stopped the schools, they would not save anything, because every time a school was closed a jail had to be built. It’s like feeding a dog on his own tail. He’ll never get fat. I believe it is better to support schools than jails.’
OSCAR WILDE
The vilest deeds like poison weeds
Bloom well in prison air;
It is only what is good in man
That wastes and withers there.
PRISON GHOSTS
HMP BROCKHILL
Location: Redditch, Worcestershire.
Capacity: 170 beds.
Category at present: Female Local.
Opened: 1965.
History: This prison was originally a remand centre for male and females serving HMP Winson Green in Birmingham. After two years, all of this changed and the place became a YOI Remand Centre and then it was earmarked for closure in the early nineties. But, as always, these decisions, based on cost, are often overruled, and the place became an all-male Cat ‘C’ training prison. All change! Again, the place changed status and beca
me, due to female overcrowding in the penal system, an all-female local prison, which it remains at the time of writing.
After reports that a ghostly monk was walking through walls at this prison, inmates were offered counselling. Even some of the prison officers also reported feeling uneasy after spotting ghostly goings on while on their night shifts.
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