8. In contrast, for those who decided to not follow the prison rules, life on Alcatraz’s “Treatment Block” became unbearably bleak and capable of breaking even the most hardened criminal like Al Capone
Whilst those inmates following the rules typically inhabited B and C Blocks, D Block garnered notoriety as the “Treatment Block”. Housing the worst of Alcatraz in solitary confinement, residents of D Block typically spent between 3 and 19 days before returning to the general population; some impossibly disruptive and dangerous inmates spent longer, with Richard Stroud, for example, inhabiting cell 42 on D Block for six years. The nicest level of treatment on the block, prisoners were held in their cells around the clock, with meals eaten in solitude and no exercise allowed, permitted only to leave twice a week to briefly shower.
For those still non-compliant, these inmates faced D Block cells 9-14. More commonly known as “The Hole”, these cells housed prisoners in total darkness. Forced to sleep on the concrete floor, wearing nothing but light garments, guards cruelly controlled the flushing of the toilet. For those even worse, these few inmates were chained in the dungeons below, provided a diet of bread and water, and forced to stand for nine hours each day with their hands tied to the ceiling. Upon returning to the general population, inmates were closely monitored by a tag system: a red tag, for instance, restricted a prisoner for leaving his cell for a parole period of 30 days.