Alcatraz essays

Alcatraz essays In western California, in San Fransisco Bay, Alcatraz rises 130 feet above the surface of the bay and is about 1755 feet long. The United States Depeartment of Justice used the island as a Military Prison from 1868 until 1933, when it became a federal prison for dangerous prisoners. The prison was closed in 1963. In 1972 Alcatraz became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The island has many natural features such as gardens, tide pools, and bird colonies. This year marks the 30th Anniversary of the occupation of the Alcatraz Island by Indians of all tribes. The name Alcataz derived from the spanish word Alcatraces. It was given to the island by a spanish explorer namedm Juan Manuel de Ayala. The name Alcatraz means pelican or strange bird. Well known prisoners that stayed in Alcatraz were Al Capone, George Machine-Gun Kelly, Alvin Karpis, and Arthur Doc Barker. At Alcatraz, a prisoner had 4 rights: food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. Everything else was a privilege and had to be earned. Privileges that had to be earned were: working, corresponding with and having visits from family members, access to the prison library, and recreational activities. Over the 29 years that the federal prison operated, 36 men, including 2 who tried to escape twice, were involved in 14 separate escape attempts. 23 were caught, 6 were shot and killed, and 2 drowned. No one ever succeeded in escaping from Alcatraz. Although, to this day, there are 5 prisoners listed as missing and presumed dead. The average population for the prison was between 260 and 275 prisoners. The prison never once reached its maximum capacity of 336. Some prisoners considered Alcatraz better than other Federal Prisons. After the prison closed, it was basically abandoned. Many ideas were brought up for the island. From 1909 through 1911, Alcatraz wa ...

Rhinoceros essays

Rhinoceros essays I must say I enjoyed this book more than the last couple. It is full of the usual Forbes' cliches, but the plot is different to the usual megalomaniac style. The ending is rather silly and far-fetched, and obviously reflects Forbes' own prejudices, but that is his right as an author, I suppose. The usual racist undertones are never far below the surface. For instance, a lot of the baddie muscle types are referred to as refugees, normally 'from the East' and I don't think he means Lowestoft! This is similar to Sinister Tide, where the title itself referred to 'Eastern hordes'. To stereotype displaced persons in this way is blatantly racist, and cannot be defended. Sorry, Colin, but it's true. Paula, or rather the portrayal of her, in this book is particularly irritating at times. For instance, on more than one occasion she does not get her own way and stamps her feet in frustration. For an adult woman in her forties, with quite a high-powered job, I don't find this credible. Talking of her age, Forbes has her 'in her late thirties'. I'm sorry, but having been 29 in 1985, in 2000 she must now be 43 or 44. Not that author's can't have licence to do this, of course. And we have the obligatory 'Paula doing her own thing' sketch, where she disobeys orders and nearly gets herself killed for no good reason at all. Of course, afterwards she needs comforting, and nobody tells her off for being stupid. I don't think the Lisa Trent in this book is the same Lisa Trent from Fury, although there are similarities. There is a lot of moving from hotel to hotel, and town to town, in the time honoured manner. The ending was a complete surprise, and unlike similar Tweed books it really could have gone any number of ways right down to the wire. However, the unleashing of the final act was not what one would consider a commensurate response, or indeed credible at all! Don't get me wrong, for lovers of the Forbes' and Tweed genres this book is the b...