This is part two of the trip. If you haven't seen the first part yet, feel free to take a look.
Peeking around the edge of the island, towards the city. The sun is really just
about down now. The bridge on the left is the Bay Bridge.
We've climbed up the hill to the actual prison building on the top of the island.
There's a very well done audio tour which leads you around in the prison.
Another shot of the interior of the prison.
A typical cell. It's even smaller than it looks -- that's a pretty narrow bed.
It's interesting to pause here and think about all of the prisoners plotting
their escapes.
It's a real shock how dark it got while you were in the prison! I took this
balancing the camera on a handrail.
After looking at the prison you can go on some guided walks back down or just
look around a bit and wander down. It doesn't matter much as long as you get
back in time for the last trip back! You can tell it's a long exposure because
the guy walking in the lower left is rather ghostlike, and the flag is flapping
pretty hard. I tried a few shots and this is the only one where it more or less
held still long enough.
See the rest of Eljay.org - Travel Photos and Trip Reports
If you haven't already, see Alcatraz After Dark Part One - the trip over.
Here are some recommended Alcatraz books for those who are interested:
 |
Breaking
the Rock : The Great Escape from Alcatraz This is by Jolene Babyak, who was a teenager living on Alcatraz (her father was the warden) in 1962 when four prisoners tried to escape. One was caught, but the other three were never found. I guess officially they were "lost at sea" so they could claim there were no successful escapes, but as far as I can tell that's overly optimistic. |
 |
Alcatraz
Island: Memoirs of a Rock Doc This book was written by the daughter of a man who worked as a doctor on Alcatraz, based on his extensive notes. It's a nice combination of an eyewitness account including conversations with prisoners like Al Capone, but since his daughter is a professional writer it doesn't have the awkward feeling a lot of memoirs have. |
 |
Like
a Hurricane : The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee This book covers a three year period in the American Indian Movement including the occupation of Alcatraz. This is a very non-romanticized, factual version of exactly what happened. If you're interested in this part of the story of Alcatraz you'll want to pick up this book. |