Parallel to the regimentation imposed by authority was the conformity demanded of one another by the inmates. Rival subcultures, complete with hierarchies and arcane jargon, left no one in peace. Independence and character had no chance for expression.

In Erwin T. Thompson’s masterful historic reference on Alcatraz, the author quotes a letter sent to Bureau Director James V. Bennett on June 6, 1937 by Burton Phillips, a young convict sentenced to Alcatraz for kidnapping and robbery. Phillips wrote to Bennett claiming that the Bureau had violated his constitutional rights by denying his request for specific legal publications.

Burton Phillips

Los Angeles mobster and gambler Meyer “Mickey” Cohen a famed inmate of Alcatraz. Mickey was the trusted friend of racketeer Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel.

The letter read in part:

Are you to put me in here for life, stop all my mail and deny me the right of legal redress by keeping me in ignorance of legal decisions? Then I would be better off to slit my throat, or perhaps, someone else’s and make you hang me, ending quickly and mercifully a life which would otherwise be carried on tortuously year after weary year without hope or possibilities of legal release.

I’ll grant you the point that there is nothing in the Constitution to keep you from starving, torturing and mistreating me but it must be a regrettable oversight on your part to deny me full access to legal documents.

A letter smuggled off Alcatraz to the Attorney General, requesting that inmates be allowed to read the newspaper in order to keep up with current events. This letter, considered as contraband, was signed by numerous famous inmates at Alcatraz, but it did not reach its intended destination. A mail handler found the letter in Sacramento and turned it over to the authorities.

Phillip’s rage would finally flare-out on September 20, 1937. Following the lunchtime meal, he and over a hundred other inmates remained in their cells, refusing to work and announcing a general strike in protest against confinement conditions at Alcatraz. Four days later when the inmates filed into the Mess Hall, Warden Johnston stood near the line to observe the inmates. Suddenly and without warning, Phillips stepped out of the line and viciously attacked the Warden. He knocked Johnston to the floor and delivered several sharp kicks to his head and torso. Johnston was rendered unconscious, and the guards quickly tackled Phillips. Correctional Officer E.F. Chandler used his Browning automatic rifle to smash away one of the windowpanes inside the caged Mess Hall catwalk, and aimed his rifle straight at Phillips. The other inmates took cover and the disturbance was quickly smothered. Phillips was removed to the dungeon cells located under A Block and allegedly handcuffed to the bars in a standing position.

Johnston woke up on the operating table in the hospital and he would later write that he had no recollection of the event. It is said that Phillips was taken to the dungeon where he was severely beaten and rendered unconscious, but this is not officially documented. He was then transferred to the hospital and quoted as saying that he regretted not having had a weapon with which to kill the Warden. Johnston, however, did not cower following the attack. Though he had suffered several cuts and bruises to his head, face and upper torso, he reaffirmed his stature by returning to the Mess Hall, standing in the very spot where he had been attacked and greeting the inmates who were filing in for lunch. Johnston would finally lift the rule of silence in late 1937, thus ending one of the most trying aspects of prison life on the island.

Violence among the inmates was not uncommon at Alcatraz over the entire span of its operation. Former inmate John Dekker, a Chicago born bank robber, recalled witnessing a murder that resulted from a simple dispute over a pack of cigarettes. During the island’s tenure as a federal penitentiary, eight people were murdered by inmates, five men committed suicide, and fifteen died of natural causes. The island had its own morgue, a remnant from the military period, but no autopsies were performed there. All deceased inmates were brought back to the mainland and released to the San Francisco County Coroner.

Alcatraz wanted no surprises when it came to administering discipline to prisoners. Adherence to the rules at Alcatraz was mandatory in the strictest sense, and inmates who broke the rules were subject to a level of discipline that was dictated by the severity of the offense. Due to the tales that leaked out about strict routines and harsh punishments, the public came to believe that Alcatraz was a grim place, but the reality was that the morale at Alcatraz was typically better than at most other penal institutions. Former inmate Willie Radkay commented: “The correctional staff treated us with respect, though we rarely spoke to one another. If you minded your own business and did your own time, no one ever bothered you.”  Former inmate Darwin Coon would concur with this assessment. He stated: “If you were on the up-and-up and didn’t carry any debts towards other inmates, you would be okay.”  Former correctional officer Al Bloomquest recalled: “It was really a very respectful environment. The public's idea that Alcatraz was some hellhole wasn't at all true. We ate the exact same menu as the inmates, we lived together day-to-day, and for the most part, we treated each other with dignity.”  Former correctional officer Phil Bergen later wrote in a letter:

The public never wanted to know the real Alcatraz. There was never any form of abuse that I ever witnessed. If an inmate struck an officer, well, that might earn someone a hard dragging to the hole. There wasn't ever a true silence rule like some of these men claim; it was essentially a quiet rule. I imagine it was a better deterrent letting people believe that it was a place straight out of a horror film, but the real Alcatraz wasn’t at all like some of these guys claim. I was there for sixteen years – I know the truth. Even today after the prison has been closed for so many decades, the public just won’t let go of the myths.

The Dungeons

The stairwell entrance to the Alcatraz “Dungeon.”

A rare photograph taken in May of 1933, showing the original configuration of the basement dungeon cells. The fronts were removed in 1939 and the cells were later used only for storage.

The cellhouse was built on top of the military Citadel foundation. Only the first floor of the citadel remains, under the cellblock. The hallway seen here was actually the dry moat during the Civil War years. The Citadel framework is still intact, with the windows and rifle slits visible.