Returning to Alcatraz
What better place for a Rock Reunion than the island known as THE Rock? With Bill Geist now we set sail:
Alumni of a renowned San Francisco institution recently cruised to a rather remarkable reunion, on the Isle of Alcatraz.
Former guards, inmates and their families were invited to return to the fabled prison -- celebrated in a dozen or more films, and once home to crime superstars Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly and, of course, Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz. "Nobody met him -- he was in solitary confinement," noted returning inmate Robert Luke, Class of '59.
"I robbed the bank with a machine gun. So I got two 10-year sentences," said Luke.
Guard George DeVincenzi (Class of '58) said, "My first day -- my first assignment, the first hour Monday morning -- I was in a murder in the barber shop. The customer getting his hair cut jumps out of the chair and the barber goes after him with a pair of 7-inch barber shears. Gets him in the throat and the heart and the lungs, and me like a damn fool blowing a whistle trying to separate 'em!"
Debbie Townsend is the daughter of an inmate: "My dad was here for 12-and-a-half years, from '47 to '59. And I'm not so much proud of the things he did. But the bottom line is, he was my dad."
Ex-con Bill Baker (Class of 1959): "Everybody who came here came her for breaking rules at other prisons." Baker had gone to jail for stealing a car in Portland, Ore., when he was 18. "I went to prison, stared escaping."
Just like all reunions, they renewed old acquaintances and recalled old times, although here in a more steely setting.
Alcatraz closed in 1963, and aging alums are a vanishing breed. Former reunions used to draw big crowds, but at this one there were but three guards and only two ex-cons. Another alum, the infamous mobster "Whitey" Bulger, had to send his regrets -- he's doing two life terms in Florida.
Guard Jim Albright dressed in his old uniform for the occasion. He remembered Bulger as "fairly quiet and respectful, and polite. His only fault was if you did something he didn't like, he wanted to kill ya'!"
The honored returnees mingled with the thousands of tourists that swarm the island. They listen to audio tours -- and this day, to Robert Luke.
"When that door slams shut behind you the first time, you really know that you're in maybe the last prison, because I'd never heard that sound before," Luke said.
Geist asked, "What do you think draws the crowds? What is it about Alcatraz?"
"Well, it's probably just the notoriety of the place," said Luke, who is also a published author. "We were supposed to be the worst people that ever lived, you know? Here I am, a nice old guy. So how could I have been that?"
"But you're one of the guys who realized when he was in prison that this wasn't the way to go."
"Well, I had what I called an epiphany: All the things I realized that I had done, everything, was by my own choice. So I had actually chosen to come to Alcatraz. And once I believed that, all the anger went out of me. So then I knew that I could get out and try to stay out. So I got out when I was just short of 30."
Luke is now 88.
Former inmate Bill Baker took a different path -- for him Alcatraz was a trade school. "I learned how to counterfeit payroll checks," he said. "Everybody just about that I know here, that's what they lived for -- to get out and rob banks and cash hot checks or whatever."
Baker gave Geist a tour -- and it was a quick one. His former cell measured six feet by nine feet.
"That's not even the size of a decent-sized rug," said Geist.
"Smaller than most people's bathrooms today," said Baker.
At age 82 Baker says lately he's been thinking about retiring from his career in the crime sector: "Last prison system I served I got out four-and-a-half years ago. Just got married a couple days ago. And now I have a house, a car, a wife, and a dog. And I got it honestly and legitimately. And I'm proud of it.
"Took me a long time!"
And in that time, returning to Alcatraz has become a bit easier for some.
"Oh, it's not bad," said Luke. "You know, I'm getting used to being here. And I can leave when I want to, that's the main thing!"
For more info:
- Alcatraz Island (National Park Service)
- "Alcatraz #1259" by Bill Baker (Amazon)
- "Murders on Alcatraz" by George DeVincenzi (Amazon)
- "Entombed in Alcatraz" by Robert Victor Luke (Amazon)
- alcatrazhistory.com
- Alcatraz Cruises