Supplied/Getty
- Jolene Babyak, 78, moved to Alcatraz island aged seven where her dad was a warden at the famous maximum security prison.
- Despite living next door to infamous criminals like Al Capone, George ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly and the Birdman of Alcatraz in the maximum security prison Jolene had fun.
- Now she’s an Alcatraz historian and author, still fascinated by the island’s past.
Here Jolene shares her incredible story in her own words.
Crammed into a small wooden boat with our luggage, the vessel rocked back and forth in the choppy water.
‘It’s beautiful!’ I beamed, spotting our future home in the near distance.
I was just seven years old, in April 1954, when me and my family – my parents, Arthur, then 44, Evelyn, 45, and my older siblings, Corinne, 18, and Phillip, 17 – moved to the notorious nine-hectare prison
island, Alcatraz, in California, US.
Dad had taken a job as an office manager there.
The maximum security prison had caged infamous gangsters such as Al Capone and George ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly. And murderer Robert Stroud, known as the Birdman of Alcatraz because of the canaries he raised in his cells, was still a resident.
Despite sounding scary, it was actually a blissful, albeit unique, experience.
We lived in one of the apartment buildings on the other side of the island to the prison.
Technically, the inmates could see our home through their caged yard but, locked up, they couldn’t come near us.
It’s not like we all ate dinner together. We were so safe! With million-dollar water views, every day felt like a holiday.
There were 60 families on the island, the men all working at the prison. And plenty of children to play with – 75 to be exact!
READ MORE:GHOSTS OF ALCATRAZ: THE HAUNTED PRISON HAS A NOTORIOUS PAST
READ MORE:INTRUDER STABS MUM, KIDNAPS BABY AND HOLDS THE TOT HOSTAGE ON NEIGHBOUR’S IROOF
Every day, we all hopped on a ferry to school back on the mainland. My classmates were fascinated about life on the island.
‘Are you scared of living so close to bad men?’ they’d ask. But it was actually the total opposite.
Although I knew the people who lived inside the prison had broken the law, us kids weren’t afraid.
In fact, whenever we had encounters with the prisoners, who sometimes worked at the dock, they were always friendly with just a wave – they weren’t allowed to speak to us.
One day a man even passed me a stray ball he’d found through the metal fence.
We even locked eyes!
Life as a teen on Alcatraz was just as fun.
Our rubbish was also collected by the prisoners too, supervised by a guard driving the garbage truck.
We had to be careful about what we threw out – strictly no sharp metal or broken glass.
Despite having a small general store and a post office on the island, we also had to get on the boat for weekly shopping trips.
When I was nine, I was devastated when Dad chose to move us back to the mainland. It was absolute boredom compared to island life.
But in 1962, aged 15, my wish was granted and we moved back to the island for one year when dad became the associate warden of Alcatraz.
By then, my sister was married and had started a family of her own so it was just me, my brother and my parents.
Life as a teen on Alcatraz was just as fun.
NEIREAD MORE: BRAVE TED SAVED BY NEIGHBOURS
Ghostly Inhabitants
Many people believe Alcatraz is one of the most haunted places on Earth.
In the 1940s, while the prison was still operating, several guards at a Christmas party at warden James Johnston’s cottage claimed to have spied a ghostly figure with mutton chops whiskers and wearing a grey suit and a cap.
And in 2014, British tourist Sheila Sillery-Walsh was on a tour of the prison when she snapped a photograph of the empty visitation block window.
‘When I glanced at the photo on my mobile, I saw this dark female figure in the picture. I looked at the window again and there was no one in the room,’ Sheila told The Daily Mail.
With hormones brewing, I had my very first kiss at a party on the island.
Then, early one morning, in June that year, I was woken up dramatically by the deafening sounds of sirens.
Three prisoners, bank robbers John Morris, and John and Clarence Anglin – brothers – had escaped through a ventilation shaft.
The clever inmates had made fake heads out of cement powder and soap chips, which they’d painted flesh tone and topped with real human hair.
They’d put them in their beds to try and fool the guards.
Protocol meant everyone had to check their homes in case the escapees were hiding inside.
With Dad at work, Mum and I checked our basement, me wielding a butter knife, just in case, but the coast was clear.
‘Inmates had made fake heads …which they’d painted flesh tone and topped with real human hair. They’d put them in their beds to try and fool the guards.’
The prisoners were never found and sadly were suspected to have drowned in the notoriously rough water.
Leaving the island the following year, I was sad to leave my friends behind.
Shortly after we left, the prison was closed due to high costs.
The island opened to the public in 1973, where they now run tours.
Still captivated by the island, I became an Alcatraz historian.
I published four books on Alcatraz, interviewing former prison officers, residents and even prisoners for my books.
I found most former inmates to be quite lovely, but a common theme was that they’d had troubled upbringings, so I have a sense of empathy for them.
One man said they loved the sounds of children playing and it made their isolation more bearable.
Clarence Carnes, who’d been sentenced to life for murdering a servo worker during a hold up, and 99 years for kidnapping an elderly couple, was the youngest incarcerated on Alcatraz when he was transferred from another prison at just 18 in 1945.
‘One inmate said they loved the sounds of children playing and it made their isolation more bearable.’
The next year, he was part of a daring escape plot where tragically two guards were killed and several were wounded.
‘I’m very lucky to be sitting here with you,’ he said in our interview.
He’d been spared the death penalty because he’d refused to murder any guards.
I’m still in touch with a few kids from the island. And I go back to Alcatraz three days a month as a guest author to sign books.
Dedicating my life to Alcatraz has been the biggest honour.
