Alcatraz Island

Alcatraz Island is a small, rocky island located in the middle of San Francisco Bay, about 2 kilometres offshore from San Francisco, California. It is most famous for housing the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison that operated from 1934 to 1963. Known as "The Rock," the prison was designed to hold the most dangerous criminals in the American penal system, including notorious figures like Al Capone and George "Machine Gun" Kelly. Its location, surrounded by the cold, turbulent, and shark-infested waters of the bay, made it famously difficult—if not impossible—to escape from, despite several high-profile attempts throughout its history.