At about 1:00 A.M. January 14 ^th, the patient created a noise by groaning and was placed in isolation so that he would not disturb the rest of the inmates.

The following morning at 8:00 A.M., I saw the patient in the cellhouse and immediately had him brought to the hospital. Shortly after admitting him to the hospital I made a tentative diagnosis of a probable perforated gastric ulcer. We decided that an operation was in order and at 1:15 P.M., an exploratory operation was started. Upon entering the abdominal cavity there was found about 1 ¹/ ₂quarts of free fluid and a generalized peritonitis accompanying a perforated gastric ulcer on the lesser curvature near the pylorus on the anterior surface of the stomach. A Castrorrhaphy was done and drain tube placed in the operative wound coming out.

The patient was put to bed and was given the proper postoperative treatment such as suction through the nasal tube to the stomach, glucose and saline and other supportive measures.

At 1:00 P.M., January 16 ^th, the patient appeared to be making an uneventful recovery from the operation. By 7:00 P.M. that same day he developed signs and symptoms of pneumonia and by 11:00 P.M. the entire right lobe was consolidated. The next morning there developed an acute edema of the left chest and the patient became unconscious, remaining in this condition until he died at 1:28 P.M., January 17, 1936.

The post mortem examination had to be partial because of the uncertainly of his relatives claiming his body. I examined the abdomen through the operative wound and found that the peritonitis had practically cleared up, there was little free fluid in the abdominal cavity and no abscess formation. The omentum which was placed over the repaired ulcer was adherent and upon examination of the Castrorrhaphy it was found that repair had been successful.

The unfortunate thing is that the doctor did not recognize the condition at the first visit and although this might not have played a major part in the fatal outcome it certainly made a very bad impression on the inmate population and on others. Another unfortunate thing, for the patient, was the more or less general feeling that the man exaggerated minor complaints.

This is the first mortality at this station under the present regime. It is unfortunate that it had to happen at this time when the inmates were in a state of unrest. It seemed to be the spark that was needed by the leader to incite followers into rioting.

Berlin also testified about another inmate named Edward Bearden, who was likewise apparently left in solitary and became mortally ill. Berlin claimed that Bearden’s pleas for help went unheeded and that he too later died. It was this type of testimony that eventually led to a conviction of involuntary manslaughter for Young, as he was judged to have suffered overly severe punishment by prison staff.

Despite the harsh allegations against Alcatraz and its treatment of prisoners, many inmates also provided positive testimony on behalf of the prison. These supporters claimed that if you followed the rules, Alcatraz was the best penitentiary in which to be incarcerated. They maintained that Warden Johnston was an advocate of inmate rights and rehabilitation, and would not tolerate any form of intentional maltreatment. It should also be noted that during this period, the bread and water “restricted diet” rule was common policy under the Bureau for inmates being held in solitary confinement for serious misconduct. Most other federal institutions employed the same policy for unmanageable inmates.

Warden Johnston indicated in his personal memoir that he did not particularly like utilizing the dungeons as a form of punishment. One telling section reads:

When we took over the island in 1934 we did not like the disciplinary cells that were inherited with the building. The Army had solitary cells on one of the top tiers (A-Block) and the dungeon cells in the basement... the brick walls of which were often damp. They dungeons were badly located, poorly constructed and unsafe because they were easy to dig out of and in the few instances where we did use them we had to chain the men to keep them from breaking out... I did not like these cells, in fact I was ashamed of them and were used only under necessity.

Charles Berta, considered by several correctional officers as the toughest inmate ever incarcerated at Alcatraz. He was the last inmate ever to be confined in the basement dungeon.

The last inmate to serve time in the dungeon was Charles Berta. Berta had been convicted of mail robbery and aggravated assault and he was known as a frequent visitor to the dungeon at Alcatraz. Correctional Officer Clifford Fish remembered Berta as the toughest inmate that any of the guards would ever encounter at Alcatraz. He had previously participated in one of the most violent escape attempts ever made at Leavenworth, resulting in the violent deaths of two officers. At Alcatraz, Berta held a reputation for violent outbursts toward correctional staff and fellow inmates and in early 1938 he viciously attacked an officer. Following this incident, several officers “drag” Berta to the A Block basement entry for placement in isolation.

Officer Fish would later describe seeing Associate Warden Miller “kick” Berta down the cement stairs. When the prisoner reached the bottom, he was found to be almost completely unscathed and he continued to resist forcefully by kicking and thrashing. Berta was handcuffed to the bars face forward in a standing position and was left in the darkness of the dungeon for almost eight hours. The Associate Warden then came and personally removed the inmate to a standard isolation cell. Following this event, both Johnston and Miller ordered that the bars be removed from the dungeon cells and the dungeons were banned from any future use. Officer Fish stated that he was one of the guards assigned to remove the bars using welding torches (Fish was a certified welder and also later taught Berta the welding craft and claimed he was one of his best students).

After the cell bars were removed in 1938, the dungeons were never used again. Berta would become a model inmate, and following his direct release from Alcatraz in 1949, he owned and operated a bar on Mission Street in San Francisco.

Solitary Confinement (D Block)

D Block as it looked in 1934, with flat soft iron bars.

The new Treatment Unit under construction in 1941.

D Block in April 1941, following a complete reconstruction. Note the closed-front solitary cells to the right. The remainder of the open-front cells were considerably larger than those in the main cellblock. The new unit, generally referred to as “Segregation,” “Isolation,” or the “Treatment Unit,” consisted of forty-two cells.

Inmate Earl Cox was the first prisoner to serve time in the strip cell, in 1941.

The six solitary confinement cells in D Block.

Serious violators of the prison rules were locked in a pitch-black strip cell with no clothing or blankets during the day, where they could only sit or lie on cold steel flooring. There was a hole in the floor for the inmate to relieve himself, and the contents could only be flushed remotely by a guard. The maximum duration permitted for confinement in full darkness was nineteen days. At night, inmates were provided with a mattress and a set of blankets. These were removed immediately at daybreak.