Step inside
The Rock, San Francisco Bay
Turn around in the yard and you get the view that made this the cruellest prison in America - San Francisco, a mile and a quarter away, close enough to hear on a still night.
Explore the IslandOn the Island—What visitors come to see.
This 360° panorama was captured on the floor of the main cellhouse on Alcatraz Island, between the cell blocks, looking down the central corridor.
The camera stands on the polished concrete floor between two cell blocks, roughly halfway along. The cells run away in both directions in three tiers, their barred fronts standing open, each one about five feet by nine. Steel walkways and handrails line the upper tiers, and the vaulted ceiling above carries the skylights that are the only natural light in the building. There are no windows at cell level. What the panorama conveys that a photograph cannot is the length of the thing - turn on the spot and the corridor simply keeps going.
Alcatraz ranks high among the must-see attractions in San Francisco. The island's popularity among tourists is largely due to its history, which includes a role as a maximum-security civilian penitentiary.
Viewing the resident wildlife, touring the island, and looking back on the San Francisco skyline are three more reasons to visit - the view from the yard is one of the best in the bay, which was not lost on anyone held here.
The island often appears in popular culture, and is especially known for turning up in films: Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), The Rock (1996) and Catch Me If You Can (2002) among them.