Alcatraz operated as a maximum high-security federal prison from August 1934 until March 1963. It was home at one time or another to some of America’s most notorious felons including Al Capone, George ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly and Alvin Karpis. Today, Alcatraz is a public museum and one of San Francisco’s most popular tourist attractions, attracting around over a million visitors a year. The tour offers a fascinating and sometimes gruesome journey through the history of Alcatraz including Al Capone’s cell and and an audio tour that is narrated by former inmates, guards and staff and includes tales of escapes, riots and surviving solitary.
