From 1939 until 1963, Alcatraz housed the most fearsome prisoners in the US. By inmates, often called “Hellcatraz” for its brutal living conditions. An unknown writer described Alcatraz as “the great garbage can of the San Francisco Bay, into which every federal prison dumped its most rotten apples.” Here, in this picture you see the Warden’s House and the Lighthouse. A house of luxury, the warden’s house often held lavish cocktail parties. In 1970, the island was occupied by Native Americans, and the Warden’s House burned down, before Red Power Activists were forcefully removed from the island. The protest group chose the name Indians of All Tribes (IAT). IAT claimed that, under the treaty of Fort Laramie between the U.S. and the Lakota, all retired, abandoned, or out of use federal land was to be returned to the indigenous peoples.
