The bulk of the records are dated 1934 through 1963, but include records dated as early as 1910 and as late as 1988. They include individual comprehensive inmate case files (approximately 541 cubic feet), administrative records (approximately 11 cubic feet), supply, equipment, and facilities maintenance files (approximately three cubic feet), the Wardens' notebook pages (approximately five cubic feet), copy negatives & black and white prints of prisoner identification photographs (three cubic feet), and a few maps and drawings. The bulk of our facility's RG 129 archival holdings concern Alcatraz Island its use by the Department of Justice's Bureau of Prisons (BOP) as a Federal penitentiary (1934-63). For more information about these records, please contact us. More than 15 million people every year visit the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, making it one of the most visited national parks in the United States.The National Archives at San Francisco holds comprehensive inmate case files, prisoner identification photographs, and warden's notebook pages for most listed inmates. "We encourage people to get involved and give their input for the next 50 years and beyond when we're still commemorating this place." "We have scavenger hunts in the area, guests and speakers," Davis said. He's one of the last remaining people who actually lived in the prison and was incarcerated here who's still able to come and talk about it," Davis said.īaker's story is just one part of a weekend of activities, events, guest speakers and volunteer opportunities to mark 50 years since the establishment of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. "He has a great perspective and a great history. National Park Rangers like Christian Davis, who works at Alcatraz said Baker is now a well-known and welcome figure at Pier 33, where he greets visitors as they line up to board the ferry. We met each other again and again for the rest of our lives, in prisons." When asked if he ended up in prison again later in life he said, "Of course. I'm not saying that's a good thing but it is what it is," Baker said. In Alcatraz, I learned how to become a better criminal. "I learned how to do counterfeit checks, payroll and drivers licenses. He said after serving three years in Alcatraz, the prison sent him on a train back to his home in Kentucky, where he said he worked on his post-prison career: "Now I have a house, a wife, a dog and car and I earned it all legally and I am proud of it," he said. He lives in Toledo, Ohio, but travels to the Bay Area to speak about his experiences and sell and sign copies of his book. More than 60 years later, with permission from the National Park Service, he wrote a book about his experiences called Alcatraz, #1259, a reference to his inmate number. "When asked if that initial impression was accurate, he said: "It was wrong. "I said, 'Wow, these guys aren't so tough after all.' That was my first thought, my perception." "When I escaped that prison they sent me to Alcatraz."īaker remembers his first impression of Alcatraz prison, walking onto the site and seeing other inmates playing cards, basketball and even sketching and painting their views of the Golden Gate Bridge. I escaped, so they put me in prison," Baker explained. He is now 89 years old and one of the last surviving former inmates of Alcatraz. Bill Baker is part of that living history.
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