User talk:Bdollis

Bdollis

In 1953 I moved onto Alcatraz Island, coming with my family from the Federal Prison, Terra Haute, Indiana. I was 16 at the time. My father worked in Prison Industries, the five small businesses on the North West end of the Island --Bdollis (talk) 03:05, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

The first day

Before moving onto Alcatraz, I did not know if there would be any kids my age, 16 yrs. I found to my surprise there were many kids living on the Island from new borns to older teenagers. That first afternoon I had to wrestle several of the male kids to see where I stood in the pecking order.

That evening, around 7:pm we went through the locked metal gate that separated the living quarters where the families lived from the rest of the Island. The reason for leaving the compound was to to to the Social Hall. Out recreation center was about 100 yrds down the concrete roadway to the hairpin turn leading to the dock. Right at the turn was our Social Hall, with a two lane bowling alley, two pool tables, a ping-pong table and snack bar on the ground floor and an autitorium with stage on the main floor for dinners, dances, weekly movies and parties, all for Alcatraz families.

This was a cool place for us kids as normally our parents were not there ( unless for an event ) to bother us. Ken Blair a Correctional Officer had the "consession" and as such kept order inside the social Hall and would tolarate no horsing around.

At 16 years of age, I got to play on the "adult" pool table where we honed our skills over the many months or years of living there. It was always exciting to play one of the Officers which made me feel accepted, but mostly we played amongst ourselves.

Ping_pong was my favorite indoor sport and I was probably in the top three players on the island.

In order to earn money, I set pins at 12 1/2 cents per game. It was hard,sweaty work setting pins by hand. I hated the job of being in the pit while the pretty grils of Alcatraz were bowling with the boys.