Psychological Factor Behind Alcatraz
Federal Prison Outweighs Its Heavy
Maintenance Cost, Congress Is Told
Bv CLARKE BEACH
WASHINGTON Has Alcatraz
outlived its usefulness? Fewer
prisoners than ever before are
now being held in the escape
proof federal prison In San Fran
cisco Bay, and it's very expensive
to operate $8 a day to main
tain each desperate guest. In
other federal prisons the "bean
money" is only S3.
But the main consideration is
the restraining effect of Alcatraz
on the inmates of other jails and
on men outside who might be
plotting a great crime and yet
decide against it because of their
dread of "The Rock."-
The issue Is now being pon
dered by the House Judiciary
Committee. James V. Bennett, di
rector of the U. S. Bureau of
Prisons, has made no firm rec
ommendation. He has only point
ed out that one or more federal
prisons must be closed to keep
within the proposed budget, that
operation costs at Alcatraz are
excessively high but that the
psychological factor behind Al
catraz is the big question-mark.
Abandonment of Alcatraz
wouldn't be a total saving in any
case. The Federal government
still would have to establish in
one of Its 25 other prisons a
"maximum security block" where
incorrigible prisoners could be
lant eafoli, an4 anai-t from nfha
W .. -Tisoners for whom there is some
J hope of rehabilitation. All large
penal jnsiuuuuns nave such dun
geons called by criminals "Klon
dikes," "Siberias," "solitary" or
"deadlock."
Alcatraz was established In
1934, when the government was
at the peak of its battle against
kidnapers, racketeers, bank rob
bers and imperious gangs. Hosts
of the underworld were slain or
imprisoned. By 1939 J. Edgar
Hoover, director of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, was
able to say that not one nation
ally organized gang was left.
What part did Alcatraz play
in the victory? Will criminals
become bolder if there is no more
Alcatraz? No one really knows.
That's why Congress intends to
do a lot of thinking before it lets
Alcatraz go.
As to whether Alcatraz, or any
other prison, deters criminals, Di
rector Bennett has only the
broad convictions: (1) That they
do not deter those who commit
accidental crime or crimes of
passion, physehopathi or alcohol
ics; (2) That they do deter many
persons who are tempted to do
such things as steal or file fraud
ulent tax returns. "But whether
it deters the average criminal,"
says Bennett, "the prison system
is the only system we know,"
Criminals Fsar Alcatraz
Of one thing he is sure: That
all hardened criminals live in
mortal fear of winding up on
Alcatraz. He permits no brutal
ity against inmates there, but
prisoners are allowed the mini
mum of privileges, and the disci
pline is more severe than in any
other American Institution.
Those "who enter it have no
hope of delivery or parole. No
one has ever escaped, although
two men once did dive into the
cold, swift currents that sweep
the rock. They are believed to
have drowned. No one has ever
been paroled direct from Alca
traz. They can, however, work
their way back to some other
prison by years of good behavior.
Alcatraz now has 228 prisoners
nearly all of whom Bennett
knows personally. This Is 26 per
cent fewer than the peak year,
1938. The total population of all
federal prisons is now about the
same as in that year, a little
more than 17,000. Apparently
there is now a smaller propor
tion of the hardened, intractable,
desperate type who need the Al
catraz treatment.
The chief reasons Alcatraz Is
so costly are that it requires one
custodian to every two prisoners
(instead of one to five as in
New Chair Eliminates Hand-Power
huijMay 12, 1949 The Newi-Revlew, Roieburg, Ore. 3
r-w"-"! : : ....... w.tj
Gene Kinkle, right, of Wilmore, Ky shows his new electrically
driven wheelchair to fellow disabled veterans Dexter Aylesworth,
left, of Oxford, Pa, and Ernest Jensen, of New York, at Walter
Heed Hospital In Washington. The new-type wheelchair, which
has twe speeds forward and one reverse, was presented by two
Keyser, W. Va., residents.
other prisons) and that there Is
no water on the island. All water
has to be transported by barge
from the mainland. Even soil has
to be shipped to the Rock if a
warden decides to raise a few
flowers or vegetables.
Alcatraz cost $3,000,000, and It
would cost $7,000,000 to replace
it. No other government agency
wants it, says Bennett, so if aban
doned it would soon deteriorate
in the briny air. If the doors
finally swing open, the sea gulls
and the fog will soon take over
the dank halls where Al Capone
and his henchmen lived their
longest years.
'A Jes&sz Sir-
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Phone 348