The Rock and The Rock

Alcatraz Maximum Security Prison

SCI. does not compare to Alcatraz as a place for doin' hard time but, you must remember, doin' time isn't easy no matter where you do it. Time was a lot harder at Alcatraz than here at SCI..

At Alcatraz you were allowed a comb, a razor and soap for shaving. Also, an aluminum cup, a pouch of tobacco and the rule book in your cell. The first few years there was the rule of silence where you weren't allowed to talk at all. You were allowed only one visit per month, family members only. There were 16 counts every 24 hours and anyone not present at these times was assumed to have attempted escape.

At SCI. things are a whole lot different. You are allowed various items in your room such as magazines, wood for crafts (such as for making plaques), games, cards and various other items. Counts are done at various times during the day but once every hour from 11 pm. until breakfast at 7:30 am. the next morning.

In Alcatraz there wasn't much to pass the time except to go out into the yard a hour a day. At SCI., which is a work camp, there are various duties to he carried out by the inmates who are assigned a certain job. For example, inmates are expected to milk or feed the cows, clean the dairy or heifer barn, work in the hennery, which has all the hens that lay the eggs that are used at HMP. and at SCI, the carpentry shop, saw mill, kitchen, laundry and at various other jobs which make your time go faster.

Alcatraz was a maximum security prison which had a lot of dangerous criminals such as Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly and, especially, the Bird Man of Alcatraz, who raised, bred and collected birds in the Leavonworth Prison before being transferred to “the Rock.”

SCI. is a minimum security prison work camp where most of the inmates are in for impaired, break and enter and for fraud offenses. There are no famous criminals here.

So, in comparison to doin' time on the Rock, Alcatraz, and to doin' time on the Rock, Newfoundland(SCl.), there really is no doubt that time at Alcatraz was a whole lot tougher than here at SCI.

Researched and Written
by: George H