Historian Dick Fisher discussed his amazing life on Alcatraz as a child.
In the midst of the Great Depression in 1937, Historian Fisher's family moved into one of California's early gated communities. They disembarked from a small ferry boat onto the stark, blustery, Alcatraz to join his father, a correctional officer stationed on “The Rock.” Their new home, an apartment similar to those of 34 other families, was very different from the inmates residing in prison cells.
Being just a child, he never saw the inmates and focused on fun times skating. He was one of the few who still had his skate key. He and his friends used to play in the roaring ocean winds pushing them backwards on some cemented ground. If he opened his jacket making wings, he flew backwards faster. He and a friend grabbed a blanket to move backwards even faster. They would ditch the blanked to avoid slamming into the chain link fence at the far end. What was his most exciting moment? He and his friends missed the school boat one afternoon and were driven home by the Coast Guard.
Inmates Morris and the Anglin brothers may have been the only ones to successfully escape from Alcatraz. A “Wanted by FBI” poster sat on an officer’s desk for many years. That officer always responded to any tip. Today, nobody knows the fate of the three escapees. Officers say the three men drowned, but paroled prisoners say it was a successful escape.
One of the attempted Alcatraz escapes occurred during Historian Fisher’s childhood. Naturally, he slept through it but later heard about it. Most were shot or drowned. John Giles, who over ten years stole parts of a military uniform from the laundry, snuck away on a departing boat. That boat was met on the other side by a cadre of officers. The battle of Alcatraz occurred in 1946 from “D” Block where violent prisoners got into the gun gallery, but the marines quelled them by drilling holes in the room and dropping shrapnel grenades. Then, last nine prisoners surrendered.
He stayed as an Alcatraz resident for three-and-a-half years. Due to his asthma, he moved away with his family to Arizona where his dad worked at another prison.