Today I visited the famous island of Alcatraz! I went down to Pier 33 to buy a ticket which included a cruise to the island, an audio tour of the cell block and as much time to explore the (not so big) island itself. How anyone escaped this place I do not know!!! The distance from the dock to the cellhouse at the top of the island is about .4km and the elevation change is 130feet (40m) - this is equivalent to a 13-story climb! The ex-prison is now run by the national parks and is a wildlife heritage zone - not that I saw much wildlife while I was there - they were probably all scared off by Al Capone!! The prison closed because of deteriorating buildings, high operating costs and the prison system's philosophical shift from punishment to rehabilitation. The last inmates left the island on March 21, 1963. It required 90 officers to cover three 8-hour shifts and to fill in for those on annual and sick leave. Many of these officers lived on the island. They even had a small grocery store on the island!! This mini-village housed officers, wives as well as children!! Couldn't imagine growing up with the sounds of inmates shouting and banging on bars as you were going to bed…wouldn't be very nice!There was an ex-officer answering questions in the cellblock and I also met an ex-inmate!! His name was Darwin E. Coon and he wrote a book about his experience - I must say he didn't appear to be a very happy man - probably due to the fact that he was visiting a place that brought back lots of awful memories. In the 29 years that Alcatraz served as a federal prison, 36 prisoners tried to escape 'the Rock'. All but 5 were recaptured or otherwise accounted for - the 3 that were unaccounted for participated in the June 1962 escape (made famous by the Clint Eastwood movie 'Escape from Alcatraz'). 8 inmates were murdered by other inmates, 5 committed suicide and 15 died of natural causes, including disease. It was really interesting I must admit, just wouldn't like to be caught there on my own at night!! You would be walking on water to get back to the mainland never mind swimming!!