Alcatraz Island is a small island about 1.25 miles offshore from San Francisco in San Francisco Bay, California, near the Golden Gate strait. It was developed in the mid-19th century with a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military prison, and in 1934 the island was converted into a federal prison, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary; strong tidal currents and cold water around the island made escape nearly impossible, giving the prison one of the most notorious reputations of its kind in American history. The prison closed on March 21, 1963, and the island is now a major tourist attraction, drawing nearly 1.4 million visitors a year.
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