Alcatraz by Natalie Hyde

Combined with great pictorials, this easy to read account of the famous American prison Alcatraz gives an insight into what it would have been like to there.

Over the period of 29 years 1,500 prisoners passed through the doors of Alcatraz - one of the first being Al Capone, the famous gangster. While there, Capone tried to bribe the guards to make his life easier, but the warden put a stop to this. Al Capone said, “It looks like Alcatraz has got me licked”. Alcatraz was called an “escape-proof prison, but that didn’t stop the inmates from trying. Even if the prisoners escaped from the cell block, it was a long and cold swim to the mainland (the guards told prisoners there were man-eating sharks in the water).

No inmate ever did escape and survive … or did they?

Image: Alcatraz by Daniel on Flickr