Today marks 55 years since Alcatraz's last prisoners left the island

Inmates of Alcatraz are escorted by guards onto a boat to be transferred to another federal prison after the closure of Alcatraz in 1963. Inmates of Alcatraz are escorted by guards onto a boat to be transferred to another federal prison after the closure of Alcatraz in 1963. Photo: Ted Streshinsky Photographic Archive/Corbis Via Getty Images Photo: Ted Streshinsky Photographic Archive/Corbis Via Getty Images Image 1 of / 42 Caption Close Today marks 55 years since Alcatraz's last prisoners left the island 1 / 42 Back to Gallery

The last prisoner to leave Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was a man named Frank Weatherman.

The blond gun thief — described as "tough-but-boyish-looking" by the San Francisco Chronicle — had been transferred from an Alaskan prison the year before after a breakout attempt. When Weatherman arrived at the dock, a crowd of reporters pressed to ask him, the last man off Alcatraz, what he thought of the Rock.

"Alcatraz," he announced, "was never no good for nobody."

On March 21, 1963, the final 27 inmates were removed from Alcatraz, ending its 29-year reign as America's most infamous lock-up. Its clearing was a months-long process, as small groups of inmates were removed from their cells and taken to SFO to be flown to other maximum security prisons around the country. Leavenworth was a common destination.

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Alcatraz's closure had been in the works for years, and its demise had nothing to do with its notorious inmates. Its extreme isolation, its most touted advantage, was its downfall. Daily operating costs at Alcatraz were far higher than any other federal prison in the nation. An investigation in 1959 revealed it cost $10 per prisoner per day at Alcatraz; another comparable federal facility cost just $3 per day.

Alcatraz's island location meant everything, including water, needed to be shipped by boat. One million gallons of fresh water were shipped by barge to the island every week.

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In addition, Alcatraz's infrastructure was failing, and the government had no interest in contributing funds to maintain it. It was easier, everyone agreed, to slowly relocate the prisoners and shut the place down.

"Alcatraz — the grimmest symbol in North America of the hard hand of justice — is a prison no more," the Chronicle eulogized. "It's just a crumbling piece of federal real estate."