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Caption: Alcatraz "Break the rules and you go to prison, break the prison rules and you go to Alcatraz"
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Caption: In 1775, Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala mapped and named rugged Alcatraz Island, christening it La Isla de los Alcatraces, or Island of the Pelicans, due to itslarge population of sea birds.
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Caption: "A group of nearly 100 Native American activists, led by Mohawk Richard Oakes, took over the island in November 1969. Citing an 1868 treaty that granted unoccupied federal land to Native Americans, the protestors demanded the deed to Alcatraz in order to establish a university and cultural center. Their proclamation included an offer to purchase the island for “$24 in glass beads and red cloth”—the same price reportedly paid by Dutch settlers for Manhattan in 1626. Federal marshals removed the last of the protestors in June 1971, but some of their graffiti remains.
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Caption: Inmates "Famous prisoners incarcerated in Alcatraz Prison were Al Capone, George "Machine-Gun" Kelly, Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz" and Alvin Karpis."
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Caption: "Cells in Alcatraz were smaller than most people’s closets. In B & C blocks, the cells were 5 feet by 9 feet, which included a toilet and sink with cold water only."
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Caption: Upon entering Alcatraz, every inmate was given a library card and a catalog of books found in the library. It was located at the end of D Block.
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Caption: Before closing, in 1963, Alcatraz was renowned for having the best food in the entire U.S. prison system.
As a testament to how good the food actually was, the guards and prison staff ate the same exact meals as the prisoners. Alcatraz’s warden believed, “Most trouble in prison is caused by bad food.”
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Caption: Alcatraz is a birdwatcher's paradise: In other places, you'd have to peer at nesting seabirds with binoculars, but on Alcatraz, it's easy to get much closer. Among the species you'll see are cormorants, orange-footed pigeon guillemots, snowy egrets, black-crowned night herons, and Western Gulls, the island's most numerous bird species.
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Caption: Alcatraz has great gardens: When Alcatraz was an active prison, its officers and their families planted gardens.
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