An inmate’s view from inside “The Hole” with the solid steel door closed.

In October of 1940, work began to completely refurbish the Treatment Unit, otherwise known as D Block. This area was comprised of forty-two cells which were used for varying degrees of punishment. For the most serious infractions of prison rules and regulations, inmates could be confined to the “Strip Cell”. This cell was by all accounts the most severe punishment any human could endure. Among other discomforts, the total absence of light assured complete depravation of all peripheral senses.

The single Strip Cell was a dark steel-encased cell with no toilet or sink. There was only a hole in the floor for the prisoner to relieve himself and even the ability to flush the contents was controlled by a guard. Inmates were placed in the cell without clothing and put on restricted diets. The cell had a standard set of bars with an expanded opening through which food was passed, and a solid steel outer door that remained closed, leaving the inmate in a pitch-black environment. Inmates were usually only subjected to this degree of punishment for one or two days. The cell was cold, and a sleeping mattress was only allowed after lights out at 9:30 p.m. It was considered the most invasive type of punishment for severe violations and misconduct, and was generally feared by the inmates.

The cold steel flooring inside the isolation and segregation cells.

Another view of D Block. Note the door access panel to the left. The cells to the immediate left are two shower stalls. Inmates held in segregation were allowed two showers and one visit to the recreation yard per week.

Period Diagrams showing the state-of-the-art remote-controlled door access features.

The wrap-around Gun Gallery located in D Block. Note the rounded gun ports on each tier. This photograph shows the Gun Gallery in its modern form, with the armored panels that were installed following the 1946 mass escape attempt. Another view from the inside the Gun Gallery shows the door control panel.

D Block

The standard "Hole" cells were similar to the Strip Cell, and it included the five remaining dual-door cells on the bottom tier of D Block. These cells contained a sink and a toilet and were lit by a 25-watt light bulb. Inmates could spend up to nineteen days in this level of isolation, which was also considered to be a severe punishment by the general population of inmates. The mattresses were taken away during the day and the inmate was left in a state of constant boredom and severe deprivation. Guards would sometimes open the small cover on the solid steel outer door, to admit light for inmates who were serving their time in solitary peacefully. Some inmates claimed that the policies by prison staff on confinement were not followed and applied indiscriminately. Former inmate, Robert Luke (1118-AZ) claimed during interviews that he had been placed in a strip cell for 29-days and was given only bread and water, and on every third day, a raw onion, a potato and peas.

The remaining thirty-six segregation cells were similar in design to the cells of the general population. One exception was that all of the cells in D Block had steel floors, ceilings and walls for greater security. The West Gun Gallery officer operated the door mechanisms for the cells along the bottom tier from a remote control panel located in the secure gallery. The Bureau of Prisons described these facilities as follows:

A special treatment unit called D Block, is walled off from the rest of the institution for the housing of those few prisoners who must be kept locked in their cells at all times except for certain periods of exercise in the yard. In this unit some of the cell doors are operated electronically but are controlled by the cell house officer and the officer in the gun gallery working together. When a door is to be opened, the cell house officer pushes the appropriate button in his control box and then signals to the officer in the gallery. The latter then presses an electronic button in his control box, which opens the door.

Inmates held in segregation were allowed only one visit to the recreation yard and two showers per week; the remaining time was spent in their cells. All meals in segregation were served in the cells and the only means of psychological escape was through reading. Many inmates considered the city views from D Block to be an additional form of torment. Former inmate James Quillen later recounted that inmates could frequently hear tourist cruise boat narrators talking about the prison as they passed by. On New Year’s Eve, the laughter from the shoreline Yacht Club could be heard sharply inside the inmate cells when the window vents were left open. Quillen would recall that a strange calm would blanket the cellblock as the inmates lay in their bunks listening to the sounds of distant voices. Pleasure boats would pass the island resonating feminine laughter. In many cases, the prisoners hadn’t seen or heard a woman’s voice during the entire period of their incarceration, except when watching movies in the prison theatre. The sounds and sights of freedom were so near, and yet so far...

Perhaps one of the most notable inmates to serve time in D Block was a fifty-two-year-old convict named Robert Stroud (a.k.a., the Birdman of Alcatraz). Stroud was one of the few inmates to be placed directly into Alcatraz's Segregation Unit, bypassing the standard quarantine process. Stroud spent seventeen years on Alcatraz and was never introduced into the general population. Like Al Capone, Stroud had enjoyed many privileges not extended to fellow inmates during his previous residence at Leavenworth, and he lost them all when he came to live out the rest of his life in solitary confinement at Alcatraz.

Religious Services and Education

The Alcatraz Prison Chapel, located in the upstairs auditorium. The Chapel was built almost entirely by the inmates themselves.

Father Clark (at left) standing at the altar inside the Prison Chapel.

Like every other benefit at Alcatraz, attending religious services was considered an earned privilege and not a right. In the early years, inmates who chose to attend religious services forfeited an equal amount of recreation time. The administration felt that the inmate population would attend services just to have time outside of their cell. Warden Johnston later relaxed this rule and interestingly enough, this did not increase attendance at any of the services. The religious services were held in the upstairs auditorium where inmates usually enjoyed watching motion pictures.

A 1949 Easter Sunday service program from Alcatraz.