9781422284025

This photograph shows a corridor in the main Alcatraz cell block. These long walkways were known to the prisoners as Broadway, Seedy Street, and Michigan Avenue, and were overlooked at each end by a gun gallery. “Alcatraz” is the Spanish word for “pelican.” It was early explor- ers who gave the island this name because it had once been a bird habitat. The first buildings on the island were a lighthouse and a Words to Understand Launch: a small motorboat that is open or that has the forepart of the hull covered Screw: slang term for a prison guard Warden: head of a prison in the United States Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, California

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