Musings by Shar
A recent visit to the famous Alcatraz Prison reminded me of my misspent youth. OK, not really. ME? Misspent youth? That’s a laugh, right? It did, however, take me back to a time when I was seven and our family visited a newly built Correctional Center. They were having an ‘Open House’ before the inmates arrived. Strange but true. Maybe, as a concerned parent, my Dad thought it would be a good idea to shed a little light on where we could end up if we got on the wrong side of the law. A feeling of…well, I’m not sure what…hit me when I was seven and that same feeling hit me again in Alcatraz.
Alcatraz was initially built in the mid 1800’s for the U.S. military to use as a fortification and a prison. From 1934 -1963, it became a federal prison. It was built on an island just a stone’s throw from San Francisco. Its reputation for being impossible to escape from or escape and live to tell about it, comes from the cold, strong currents of water surrounding it. (A few men did try to escape but were either captured, shot, or never found and presumed drowned.)
What would it have been like to be one of those men?
This man is one of the last men to lay claim of living within those cold, cement walls of Alcatraz. William G. Baker. He was signing his book as we waited to board the boat to the Island.
I got a kick out of Regulation #5 (Applicable to parenting too!)
I guess when someone asks me what I did in San Francisco I can say I did some time in Alcatraz.
Cormacks On Cambria 
Yep I spent 10 years (off and on) in the prisons of Maricopa County (i.e. Phoenix). The best part was leaving the place and seeing the bright blue sky again after your round of visitations were done. I cannot imagine having to stay in one of those places for many years. Dreadful.
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