In the early years, inmates were harshly disciplined for even the slightest violation of the silence rule. There were exaggerated reports that several inmates went slowly insane on Alcatraz because of the “severe order of silence.” Al Capone’s own granddaughter later made the claim that her family remained convinced decades later, his illness and mental deficit was a direct result of the harsh conditions employed on Alcatraz. One inmate, a former gangster and kidnapper named Rufe Persful, took a fire ax from the prison garage while working a garbage detail and chopped off three fingers from his left hand in order to win a transfer off the island. Rumors among the inmates indicated that Persful begged fellow inmate Homer Parker, who was assigned to the same job detail, to “finish the job” by cutting off his right hand. In later years several other inmates, including famed convict Henri Young, used similar tactics such as slashing their Achilles’ tendons, to protest the alleged harsh confinement practices and mental harassment they allegedly suffered while at Alcatraz.
Mug shots of Rufe Persful.
Edward Wutke – the first inmate to commit suicide at Alcatraz.
Another alleged casualty of the silent system was thirty-six year old inmate Edward Wutke. Prior to his imprisonment at Alcatraz, Wutke was an able seaman employed on the Steamship Yale. When a friendly drunken scuffle with his best friend turned into a serious fight, Wutke drew a small pocketknife and stabbed his friend in the groin area, fatally severing his femoral artery. The wounded man would bleed to death before the ship made it into port at San Diego. Wutke became panic-stricken upon realizing the gravity of his act and had to be shackled to a fixed object. Following his conviction for murder on the high seas, Wutke became withdrawn and was sent to Alcatraz because of what officials described as a “desperate disposition.”
On December 27, 1934, Wutke refused to report to his work assignment and was sent to the lower solitary unit below A Block, better known as the “Spanish Dungeon.” He would remain in the damp, dark dungeon for eight days. Wutke made his first suicide attempt in January of 1936. He complained that he was unable to do his time “under the present conditions,” and indicated that the silence and harsh rules had finally become unbearable. Using a small contraband blade, he sliced a prominent vein near the elbow, and bled profusely before a guard was able to intervene. Dr. Milton Beacher, who would later write an exceptional memoir on his experiences at Alcatraz, sutured the inmate’s wound and then admitted him to the hospital for an examination by the prison psychiatrist. Wutke’s unsuccessful suicide attempt would only intensify his hatred of the Alcatraz regimen. He remained incorrigible, and found himself locked in solitary on at least three later occasions.
Deputy Warden E.J. Miller and Dr. Beacher were called to Wutke’s cell on November 13, 1937, after the prisoner was found dead by Lieutenant Weinhold. Miller’s official report read in part:
Approximately 2:40 this morning I was awakened by the telephone. Upon answering the telephone, found it was Lieutenant Weinhold stating that he believed Wutke had cut his throat in his cell and that he had notified the Doctor. Told Lieutenant Weinhold that I would be there immediately.
It was about 2:50 A.M. when we opened the cell door and Doctor Beacher entered with me into the cell. Wutke was sitting on the toilet bowl in a drooping position with his back braced against the corner of the wall. The cell was quite bloody and the sheets and blankets were full of blood.
Doctor Beacher examined the man and said that he was dead and stated that about 2:35 A.M. was approximately the time of death. The body was removed from the cell to the hospital. I then called Warden Johnston stating that the man had committed suicide and was pronounced dead by the doctor and moved to the Morgue.
I had Lieutenant Weinhold search the cell to find out what he had used and he found that Wutke had cut his throat with a small blade from a pencil sharpener fastened in the head of the safety razor.
Wutke was buried on November 17, 1937, at the Cypress Lawn Cemetery in Colma, California. Following his suicide, numerous stories were leaked to the press alleging harsh confinement practices at Alcatraz. Countless inmates believed that the unrelenting torture of strict confinement had contributed to several inmates “going crazy.” Over the span of the island’s tenure as a federal penitentiary, there would be a total of five inmate suicides. Some even claimed that the first escape attempt at U.S.P. Alcatraz by Joseph Bowers was actually an intentional suicide. This was never substantiated, but inmates would later assert that his mental condition had deteriorated as a direct result of the prison’s conditions, because a person of “weak mind” could not survive there.
When James Bennett became the Bureau Director, he made a concerted effort to provide psychiatric services for Alcatraz inmates. He also differentiated between inmate rights and inmate privileges in the official policy of the Bureau. In correspondence to Warden Johnston, he stated: “it is unnecessary to impose such rigorous rules.” As a result, the silence policy was relaxed in 1937, and this would be one of the few policy changes that occurred over the prison's history. However, it should be restated that the track record of Warden Johnston demonstrated his desire to rehabilitate the inmates rather than simply to punish them. In his 1949 memoir, he described his perspective on prison discipline:
Discipline in prisons is frequently confounded with punishment. Punishment or deprivations are sometimes necessary to hold some men in line, but the measures taken to instruct and train men are more important. Discipline is systematic training to secure submission to authority. The value of discipline is the respect it induces in individuals and the resultant good order of the group.
When discussing the discipline for prisoners we should keep in mind the purpose of the prison. Alcatraz is reserved by the government for perplexing problem prisoners and organized on the basis of maximum security with every precaution taken to insure safekeeping of prisoners and to prevent the possibility of escape.
Privileges are limited, supervision is strict, routine is exacting, discipline is firm, but there is no cruelty or undue harshness, and we insist upon decent regard for the humanities.
Stories of inmate suicides, accompanied by media hype based on limited information, eventually earned Alcatraz the unflattering nickname of "Devil's Island." Warden Johnston succeeded in keeping the media at a distance, and this resulted in the dissemination of various misleading stories. The fact that inmates were never directly paroled from Alcatraz added to the mythology of the island. The media had a difficult time finding men who had lived on the inside, because after prisoners were released from Alcatraz, they were sent on to other prisons to finish out their sentences. When the press did manage to talk with former inmates, they usually told horrific stories about the brutalities they had experienced while incarcerated on the island. Most of these depictions were flawed, but the stories of horrid beatings, rigid disciplinary measures, and extreme isolation fueled the media's interest. In July of 1935, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a headline article entitled “Alcatraz Silence Awful.” The editorial featured an interview with an inmate who had been released for exportation. He described the tough rule of silence, stating that this was the harshest aspect of confinement at Alcatraz. He said that it created a constant pressure, with only a brief reprieve in the recreation yard on weekends. The article concluded with the inmate stating: “It’s the toughest pen I’ve ever seen. The hopelessness of it really gets to you. Capone feels it. Everybody does.”
A letter smuggled out of the prison to a San Francisco newspaper in 1935, claiming abuse and cruelty at Alcatraz.
John Stadig, one of the inmates referenced in the smuggled letter, who allegedly suffered from psychosis resulting from severe abuse.
Verrill Rapp was the first inmate paroled from Alcatraz as a Federal Penitentiary. The San Francisco Examiner printed news stories that told of horrid conditions at Alcatraz, which were alleged by Rapp.
The stressful regimen of Alcatraz did indeed create a pressure-cooker environment for some of the
inmates. The cellblocks were always illuminated, and there was no privacy of any kind. There was a continual sense of mistrust and suspicion among inmates and staff alike. Writer Susan Lamb offered a unique perspective in her book entitled: Alcatraz – The Rock:
Parallel to the regimentation imposed by authority was the conformity demanded of one another by the inmates. Rival subcultures, complete with hierarchies and arcane jargon, left no one in peace. Independence and character had no chance for expression.
In Erwin T. Thompson’s masterful historic reference on Alcatraz, the author quotes a letter sent to Bureau Director James V. Bennett on June 6, 1937 by Burton Phillips, a young convict sentenced to Alcatraz for kidnapping and robbery. Phillips wrote to Bennett claiming that the Bureau had violated his constitutional rights by denying his request for specific legal publications.
Burton Phillips
Los Angeles mobster and gambler Meyer “Mickey” Cohen a famed inmate of Alcatraz. Mickey was the trusted friend of racketeer Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.
The letter read in part:
Are you to put me in here for life, stop all my mail and deny me the right of legal redress by keeping me in ignorance of legal decisions? Then I would be better off to slit my throat, or perhaps, someone else’s and make you hang me, ending quickly and mercifully a life which would otherwise be carried on tortuously year after weary year without hope or possibilities of legal release.
I’ll grant you the point that there is nothing in the Constitution to keep you from starving, torturing and mistreating me but it must be a regrettable oversight on your part to deny me full access to legal documents.
A letter smuggled off Alcatraz to the Attorney General, requesting that inmates be allowed to read the newspaper in order to keep up with current events. This letter, considered as contraband, was signed by numerous famous inmates at Alcatraz, but it did not reach its intended destination. A mail handler found the letter in Sacramento and turned it over to the authorities.
Phillip’s rage would finally flare-out on September 20, 1937. Following the lunchtime meal, he and over a hundred other inmates remained in their cells, refusing to work and announcing a general strike in protest against confinement conditions at Alcatraz. Four days later when the inmates filed into the Mess Hall, Warden Johnston stood near the line to observe the inmates. Suddenly and without warning, Phillips stepped out of the line and viciously attacked the Warden. He knocked Johnston to the floor and delivered several sharp kicks to his head and torso. Johnston was rendered unconscious, and the guards quickly tackled Phillips. Correctional Officer E.F. Chandler used his Browning automatic rifle to smash away one of the windowpanes inside the caged Mess Hall catwalk, and aimed his rifle straight at Phillips. The other inmates took cover and the disturbance was quickly smothered. Phillips was removed to the dungeon cells located under A Block and allegedly handcuffed to the bars in a standing position.
Johnston woke up on the operating table in the hospital and he would later write that he had no recollection of the event. It is said that Phillips was taken to the dungeon where he was severely beaten and rendered unconscious, but this is not officially documented. He was then transferred to the hospital and quoted as saying that he regretted not having had a weapon with which to kill the Warden. Johnston, however, did not cower following the attack. Though he had suffered several cuts and bruises to his head, face and upper torso, he reaffirmed his stature by returning to the Mess Hall, standing in the very spot where he had been attacked and greeting the inmates who were filing in for lunch. Johnston would finally lift the rule of silence in late 1937, thus ending one of the most trying aspects of prison life on the island.
Violence among the inmates was not uncommon at Alcatraz over the entire span of its operation. Former inmate John Dekker, a Chicago born bank robber, recalled witnessing a murder that resulted from a simple dispute over a pack of cigarettes. During the island’s tenure as a federal penitentiary, eight people were murdered by inmates, five men committed suicide, and fifteen died of natural causes. The island had its own morgue, a remnant from the military period, but no autopsies were performed there. All deceased inmates were brought back to the mainland and released to the San Francisco County Coroner.
Alcatraz wanted no surprises when it came to administering discipline to prisoners. Adherence to the rules at Alcatraz was mandatory in the strictest sense, and inmates who broke the rules were subject to a level of discipline that was dictated by the severity of the offense. Due to the tales that leaked out about strict routines and harsh punishments, the public came to believe that Alcatraz was a grim place, but the reality was that the morale at Alcatraz was typically better than at most other penal institutions. Former inmate Willie Radkay commented: “The correctional staff treated us with respect, though we rarely spoke to one another. If you minded your own business and did your own time, no one ever bothered you.” Former inmate Darwin Coon would concur with this assessment. He stated: “If you were on the up-and-up and didn’t carry any debts towards other inmates, you would be okay.” Former correctional officer Al Bloomquest recalled: “It was really a very respectful environment. The public's idea that Alcatraz was some hellhole wasn't at all true. We ate the exact same menu as the inmates, we lived together day-to-day, and for the most part, we treated each other with dignity.” Former correctional officer Phil Bergen later wrote in a letter:
The public never wanted to know the real Alcatraz. There was never any form of abuse that I ever witnessed. If an inmate struck an officer, well, that might earn someone a hard dragging to the hole. There wasn't ever a true silence rule like some of these men claim; it was essentially a quiet rule. I imagine it was a better deterrent letting people believe that it was a place straight out of a horror film, but the real Alcatraz wasn’t at all like some of these guys claim. I was there for sixteen years – I know the truth. Even today after the prison has been closed for so many decades, the public just won’t let go of the myths.
The Dungeons
The stairwell entrance to the Alcatraz “Dungeon.”
A rare photograph taken in May of 1933, showing the original configuration of the basement dungeon cells. The fronts were removed in 1939 and the cells were later used only for storage.
The cellhouse was built on top of the military Citadel foundation. Only the first floor of the citadel remains, under the cellblock. The hallway seen here was actually the dry moat during the Civil War years. The Citadel framework is still intact, with the windows and rifle slits visible.
Officers are seen standing in the former dungeon cells, located in the basement of the old Citadel.
The patchwork effect that can be seen on the ceiling frame and sides indicates the removal of brickwork and bars from the former cells.
The infamous so-called “Dungeons of Alcatraz” were the subject of countless news stories in the early years of the prison. The dungeons or “lower solitary” as they were referred to in inmate case files, consisted of eight cells located below A and D Blocks. Officer Robert Baker recalled that whenever inmates were subject to confinement in these harsh cells, the officers would purposely escort the inmate down the A Block steps, and then after a couple of days of confinement, bring the inmate back on the D Block side and into a segregation. This deceptive practice made fellow inmates believe that disciplinary cases that were thrown into the dungeon would be left there for months. It proved to be a considerable deterrent.
The basement “dungeon” cells were primarily used in only the most serious disciplinary cases, until 1938, when the cell fronts were finally dismantled. They would also become the focal point in the famous 1940 trial of Henri Young for the murder of fellow inmate Rufus McCain (this incident is chronicled in a later chapter). Warden Johnston would openly testify that Young and several other inmates had been confined in “lower solitary” for serious violations of various prison regulations. One of Young’s attorneys disputed this, emphasizing his contention that inmates were thrown into the dun
geons for “trivial offenses,” though this was never proven.
It was alleged that inmates were placed into the dark dungeon cells without bedding, and without any form of lighting. These claims were later strengthened by former inmate Harmon Waley in later interviews. Waley had spent seven of his 22 years on the Rock in isolation or segregation.
In Young’s case, Johnston testified that the prisoner had been confined in the basement cells on at least three occasions, and was forced to sleep on the cement floors without any type of bedding or pillow. The cells had no running water or toilet, and inmates were forced to blindly use a bucket which would be emptied only once or twice a day. Waley claimed that some inmates would protest throwing the contents into the walkways where the officers would frequent. He indicated that the prison physician demanded the inmates be removed from these deplorable conditions, and later refused to enter the basement due to the stench.
The basement cells were damp and poorly ventilated. Warden Johnston described during trial testimony the “restricted diet” that inmates would be served during their stay in solitary confinement:
If a prisoner is placed in solitary in the morning, after he has had his breakfast, he is furnished bread at the noonday meal, and salads and one-fourth of the evening meal from the regular main-line menu. If he is placed in solitary in the afternoon, that is after he has had his full noonday meal, then he get only bread for the evening meal.
Alcatraz: A Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years Page 11