15. Formerly opening as a federal penitentiary in 1934, Alcatraz was designed to house the worst of the worst and relieve pressure upon the overburdened prison system
Transferred from the United States Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz to the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice on October 12, 1933, a $260,000 conversion project begun to redesign the prison to serve as a federal penitentiary. Designed as a “last resort prison” to punish and incarcerate the worst of the crime epidemic of the 1920s and 1930s, expressly holding the most disagreeable prisoners continually wreaking havoc at other federal prisons, the newly designed facility housed a potential capacity of 336 inmates. This population was never reached, averaging between 1935 and 1960 – the prison’s peak years of operation – only 263 and never surpassed 302.
Opening for business as Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on August 11, 1934, the first consignment of 137 prisoners arrived by railroad from the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. Escorted by 60 FBI agents and U.S. Marshals, these individuals, mostly bank robbers and murderers, were handed over into the custody of Warden James A. Johnston and the 155 members of staff at Alcatraz. Joined by a further 43 from Atlanta Penitentiary and 10 from Northern Eastern Penitentiary on August 22, in addition to a further 103 from Leavenworth the following month, by June 30, 1935, Alcatraz enjoyed a prison population of 242.