Worst of the Worst

• Pages: 199-239
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1059-4337(05)37009-8
• Date: 15 December 2005
• Published date: 15 December 2005
• Author: Donna L. Van Raaphorst

WORST OF THE WORST

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Donna L. Van Raaphorst

ABSTRACT

Donna L. Van Raaphorst provides a detailed statistical analysis of a large

sample of Alcatraz Prison inmates using the Social Science Statistical

Package. The data, drawn directly from the inmate files, is compared

whenever possible with similar data provided by the Bureau of Prisons in

order to determine if Alcatraz, often regarded as America’s Devil’s

Island, really incarcerated the so-called ‘‘Worst of the Worst’’ in its time.

The results would seem to indicate that Alcatraz inmates were, in fact, not

remarkably different from those in any other Federal prison in the system.

The noted American diplomatic historian, Thomas A. Bailey once observed

that, ‘‘false historical beliefs are so essential to our culture that if they did

not exist, like Voltaire’s God, they would have to be inventedy’’ (1973,

p. 2). Bailey was referring specifically to the existence of historical myth,

which he defined ‘‘as an account of belief that is demonstrably untrue, in

whole or substantial part’’ (p. 14). The task of this essay is to examine one of

the United States more mythical institutions – Alcatraz. This supermax of

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The author is not remiss in acknowledging sources because all those direct quotes from

former prisoners must remain anonymous by written agreement with the National Archives,

San Bruno California, Branch.

Crime and Punishment: Perspectives from the Humanities

Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Volume 37, 199–239

Copyright r2005 by Elsevier Ltd.

All rights of reproduction in any form reserved

ISSN: 1059-4337/doi:10.1016/S1059-4337(05)37009-8

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its time was operational for only 29 years and housed less than two thou-

sand prisoners. Yet as recently as 2003, when the National Park Service

began selling chunks of concrete rubble from the prison for nine dollars a

piece, the news of the sale made headlines not only in the United States, but

was placed on the front page of Japan Today. Reportedly the website that

sells the rocks (www.savetherock.org) began receiving 100,000 daily hits

(Dougherty, 2003).

Despite its long history and ongoing existence, how can one account for

the fascination with this frightfully forbidding institution called Alcatraz?

True, it is rather unique – an island fortress in one of nature’s most mag-

nificent harbors within sight of San Francisco, which many consider to be

the most beautiful and cosmopolitan city in the United States, but similar

things can be said of other like institutions. For example, in his insightful

monograph on McNeil Island, Paul Keve (1984, p. 2) has written, ‘‘yno

other prison was ever so blessed with such natural beauty of surroundings.’’

Yet, how many Americans are familiar with this institution – an island site

in the Puget Sound – which operated for l06 years and was officially rec-

ognized as a regular penitentiary in the federal system on July 1, l902?

Other nations in the world have also had island prisons, but unless one is

a French citizen or a Steve McQueen fan, how many Americans are really

knowledgeable about the institution with which Alcatraz was most often

compared, the desolate place of exile in French Guiana, known as Devil’s

Island? It would seem after only limited investigation that, in fact this

Devil’s Island as opposed to Alcatraz was truly the most infamous prison in

history. More than 56,000 prisoners were transported here from France.

Perhaps one-fourth of them ever returned home. Those who evaded death in

this jungle camp did so only by escaping – an incredibly difficult feat. In fact

it is impossible to know how many of these convicts were victims of the

piranhas of the Maroni River, the jungle army ants or perhaps even can-

nibalized by their fellow prisoners (Maloney, 1998–2003). As for the no-

torious inmates, Frances’ Devil’s Island had one of the most famous in her

long and distinguished history. It was here that Alfred Dreyfus was incar-

cerated in l895 for espionage and where he remained until l899 when the

Cour de Cassation annulled the charges against him (Birnhaum, 1970).

As for McNeil Island, it also can claim to have housed some of Alcatraz’s

most notorious including Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz, Alvin

‘‘Creepy’’ Karpis, a sometime member of the infamous Barker gang, and in

the l930s, the most famous bank robber in the nation, Roy Gardner. Fur-

thermore, McNeil had its own cast of noteworthy characters – Mickey

Cohen, the boss of the Los Angeles underworld in the l950s, and a few years

DONNA L. VAN RAAPHORST200

prior to the La Bianca and Sharon Tate murders, Charles Manson (Keve,

1991). Equally notorious inmates can be found at other federal prisons and

in fact virtually all of them were transferred from these institutions before

their incarnation at Alcatraz. Among these are Alphonse Capone, Atlanta,

George ‘‘Machine-gun’’ Kelly, Leavenworth, Robert Stroud, McNeil and

Leavenworth, Arthur ‘‘Doc’’ Barker, Leavenworth, Leland Harvey, ‘‘The

Escape Specialist,’’ Atlanta, and Marvin Hubbard, a well-known gunman,

and one of six inmates involved in the Battle of Alcatraz, in l946, Atlanta

(Johnston, 1949, chapters 10 and 11).

The appeal of Alcatraz is perhaps better explained if one understands

the functions of myth. The scholar Joseph Campbell has enumerated

four functions of myth. It is the third that helps to best explain Alcatraz.

Campbell classifies it as the ‘‘sociological [function] one-supporting and

validating a certain social order’’ (as cited in Satore, 1994, p. 3). Jasper

Griffin (2003), Professor of Classical Literature and Public Orator at Oxford

and Fellow of Balliol College expressed this even more concisely: ‘‘It is the

fundamental function of a mythology to attempt to make sense of the world

in which its people find themselves’’ (p. 64).

The inmates of Alcatraz do constitute an important part of the prisons

mythology. This is not because they were particularly unique, as this chapter

hopes to establish, but because they contributed to the nationwide ‘‘hype’’

that surrounded this island fortress from its very inception as part of the

federal prison system. In cottage industry publications – books, magazine,

and newspaper articles – former prisoners recounted their experiences in this

quintessential maximum-security institution during the 29 years of its op-

eration. Nathan Glen Williams (1991, p. 194), transferred to the island in the

mid-l950s described his arrival:

As we approached the dock, I could hear the waves lapping against the pilings. The boat

was right there. Even though the fog had become more dense. I could barely see the

outline of the craft that seemed to be about sixty feet long. As we came alongside the

vessel, I could read its name; ‘Warden Johnston’y. This man’s reputation for barbaric

treatment was known to every convict it all joints in the U.S. He was well known among

the inmates as ‘‘Salt Water’’ Johnston, a name the cons hooked on him for his practice of

turning powerful hoses of saltwater on the particular inmates(s) who had incurred his

wrathy. Under this battering, the inmate would be rendered to a state of complete

disorientation, at which time the guards would move in and toss the fellow into the

dungeon.

A cottage industry publication of l982 stated that the 12-acre island of

rock, located in the world’s largest harbor captures the visitor who walks its

hollow corridors, in particular on the foggy days so familiar to the island.

Worst of the Worst 201