SAN FRANCISCO (INSIDE EDITION) – In the 29 years Alcatraz served as a federal prison, about 100 children lived there with their families. Now in an in-depth report, INSIDEEDITION.COM speaks with children who grew up on Alcatraz.
Steve Mahoney lived on Alcatraz until he was 6. “As kids, it was a phenomenal place to be,” he told INSIDEEDITION.COM. “We played baseball and flew kites and rode bikes on what had been the parade field,” he said. “We’d get loaves of bread and feed them to small sharks. For us, it was a big playground.” Chuck Stucker was 4 months old when his family moved onto Alcatraz in 1940. He told INSIDEEDITION.COM, “It was a great place to live. It was a great place to grow up. I have not met a single kid who grew up there that doesn’t appreciate that fact that he was there.”
Mahoney discussed what it was like living in such close proximity to the prisoners. “We were not supposed to speak to the convicts. On rare occasion, we would have contact with them,” he said. “They were not looking to get in trouble at all. They would just talk to us and have a bit of a conversation. With it being with a little kid and a convict, it didn’t last all that long. We were not afraid of them, and I never felt in fear of convicts.
Stucker also talked about what it was like growing up alongside criminals. “As boys, we used to explore everywhere around the island. None of my friends, nor did I, experience any kind of fear in relation to the inmates,” he told INSIDEEDITION.COM. “It was pretty common knowledge among the parents, of course, that we were in a situation that could be dangerous.”
Stucker recalled how his father was there during the infamous Alcatraz escape attempt of 1946. “When my father went back to work there in 1945, he, of course, was there during this infamous escape where inmates got a hold of guns which was considered to be impossible,” he said. “The island was on fire. In the middle of the night, there were lights, explosions, things going off. He stayed for three days and two nights in the carrier below the kitchen with 18 inmates. He was lucky to survive.”