Escape to Alcatraz

Escape to Alcatraz

Story by Lt. j.g. John Bannon

Photos by PA3 Sabrina Arrayan

Imagine the feeling of seeing Alcatraz Island for the first time. Now, imagine what it would be like five decades ago to be sent to “The Rock,” not as a visitor but as a new prison inmate nervously anticipating life behind bars at the most feared federal penitentiary. Now, flash forward to the present where annually over one million tourists visit the San Francisco Bay island to see the former prison cells that once housed the most hardened criminals in the American penal system. These were criminals incarcerated for such crimes as kidnapping, espionage, bank robbery and murder.

Sector San Francisco Coast Guard Members Clean Alcatraz Prison / Website

On February 23, 2006, 27 members of Coast Guard Sector San Francisco visited the former federal prison, which is now a present day National Park Service attraction, to volunteer to help clean and maintain one of the largest tourist attractions in San Francisco. In return, Sector San Francisco volunteers received a special behind-the-scenes tour of Alcatraz Island, originally named in the late 1700s as “La Isla de los Alcatraces,” or island of the pelicans, from the NPS.

The combined community service and morale event was part of Sector San Francisco’s dedicated monthly outreach program aimed to provide Sector members fun and interesting opportunities and encourage Sector community support. The event was spearheaded by a Sector San Francisco Prevention Department reserve officer, Lt. j.g. Nicholas Osborne, as a fun way to combine both community service and increase morale.

Arriving with NPS rangers before the park opened to the public, Sector members dressed in ODU’s or Operational Dress Uniforms and armed with cleaning equipment were eager to get to work and provide much needed volunteer support in cleaning portions of the historic prison. While Alcatraz visitors looked on, a sea of blue frantically and systematically cleaned portions of the prison which were in dire need of good old fashioned Coast Guard style field day.

Sector volunteers were split into two teams. The first team swept, vacuumed, and changed the linens in over 75 prison cells that remain open for viewing to the public. The second team diligently cleaned the former prison's galley in preparation of one day reopening the presently secured site to visitors. Both teams accomplished significant results in supporting the NPS upkeep of one of San Francisco Bay’s leading historical attractions.

In return for volunteering Coast Guard supplies and services to clean, Park Ranger and volunteer outreach coordinator John Cantwell provided a special behind-the-scenes tour of the island, including visiting areas normally secured from regular scheduled island tours. Members toured the prison grounds, including the historic lighthouse maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard since 1909, as well as the infamous basement "dungeon" of the former U.S. Army military outpost, nicknamed the “Citadel,” whose foundation remains buried underneath the main prison building.

New Sector members and return visitors alike all agreed that the clean-up and three-hour tour was a memorable event and an exciting way to spend a day. Over the past century, Coast Guard men

and women have continued to play an important part in the history of Alcatraz Island, including the upkeep of the Alcatraz Island Lighthouse, assisting with searching for the few prisoners who managed to escape, and participating with the escort of occupying Native American activists off the island after a historic 19-month occupation in 1971. Today, Sector San Francisco continues to actively patrol the waters around Alcatraz ensuring a safe, secure, efficient, and environmentally responsible marine transportation system, as well as taking the time to enjoy local San Francisco Bay Area attractions and support worthwhile community service events.

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