Taking approximately fifteen minutes from Pier 33, the boat ride to Alcatraz Island offers some wonderful views of San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge and Sausalito. On approach to the dock, you circle around the back of the island providing views of prison infrastructure not included in the tour and hidden spots historically used for attempted escapes.

Upon setting foot on the grounds of this infamous maximum security prison, a park ranger greeted us and led us up the steep hill to the confines of the cell house, stopping every so often along the way to educate the group on the history of the island from pre-civil war through to it’s use for incarceration. One thing I particularly noted and took interest in was the “Indians Welcome” sign graffitied on to the walls of the facility; it was then explained by the park ranger that this remains from the 1969-1971 Native American occupation of Alcatraz. The 19-month programme of action, led by the group Indians of All Tribes, saw the island claimed as Indian land, before the government forcibly removed the group.

After collecting headsets, you’re then free to wander the facility along the guided route of the Alcatraz audio tour, which provides a rather haunting recollection of torrid tales and events told courtesy of the voices and memories of prisoners and guards. Amidst the eerie, imposing confines of three floors of cells rising either side of you, it gives you a good insight into what it must have felt like to be an inmate of this feared facility.