Robert Stroud
Robert Stroud, the “Birdman of Alcatraz,” is probably the most famous inmate in the prison’s history. Ironically, Stroud was not allowed to keep birds while he was at Alcatraz. He earned the “Birdman” nickname before he came to The Rock, during his prison term at Leavenworth. It was at the federal prison in Kansas that Stroud raised, sold, and studied birds.
Despite his moniker, Robert Stroud was not a gentle soul. He was a convicted killer who fellow inmates despised and feared. Stroud was born in Seattle in 1890. By the age of 18, the young man had made his way to Alaska and was working as a pimp in Juneau. In 1909, when he was still only 18-years-old, Stroud shot and killed a man who had beaten and refused to pay a prostitute who worked for him. Stroud was given a 12-year sentence and sent to prison in Washington.
Stroud quickly gained a reputation for being a violent and unpredictable prisoner, and he was transferred to Leavenworth in 1912. In 1916, Stroud attacked a prison guard and stabbed him through the heart with a handmade shiv. The murder of the guard initially earned Robert Stroud a death sentence. After a number of appeals and trials, Stroud’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1920. It was around this time that Stroud began to study and care for birds. He eventually raised hundreds of birds, and even wrote two books on the subject.
In December 1942, Stroud was transferred to Alcatraz. Stroud spent most of his time on The Rock in isolation, and he studied law. After spending 17 years at Alcatraz, Stroud was transferred to a federal prison in Missouri due to his failing health. He died there in 1963. Incredibly, Robert Stroud spent the last 54 years of his life in prison, including 42 of those years spent in solitary confinement.