Booking It: Alcatraz-1259

Alcatraz-1259 by William G. Baker is the autobiographical account of a former Alcatraz inmate. Alcatraz Island, located in the San Francisco Bay, was a federal prison for approximately thirty years in the mid-20th century until it was abandoned and eventually converted into a museum. A thriving tourist hotspot today, it held some of the most famous convicts of the day, including Al Capone and Robert “Birdman” Stroud, and was notoriously difficult to escape. Several movies have dramatized the various (failed) escape attempts, as the isolation and harshness of its conditions continue to capture the imagination of many.

Baker’s book is a straightforward, honest account of his time both on Alcatraz and in and out of some other prisons. He has spent much of his life behind bars, mostly for counterfeiting checks. What eventually landed him in Alcatraz was an escape attempt from another prison. He is frank to the point of crassness, and expresses contempt toward the prison system and most of the people who work in it – though he does have a kind word for guards he felt did their jobs honestly and fairly.

Overall, he has a great deal more interest and sympathy for his fellow inmates in all of the prisons that he describes. He speaks of the friendships that flourished between them as they worked together, taught each other card games, secretly fermented alcohol in trash cans, plotted escape attempts and simply sat and watched San Francisco from inside Alcatraz’s walls, dreaming of what they would do when they left. One particularly memorable line describes one of Baker’s fellow inmates; “he was a really nice guy; he just really liked to rob banks.” Baker sees nothing wrong with that.

The style of the book is conversational; the writing familiar at best, clunky and meandering at worst. It is littered with swear words and questionable grammar. The narrative jumps across time in a way that is more confusing than artistic, although Baker certainly uses it to provide insight into his upbringing, what set him on the path of a career criminal who was consistently in and out of prison and what kept him there. There is one stretch in the book that takes place in another prison and goes on for so long that I began to wonder why the book is named Alcatraz-1259 rather than simply The Life of William Baker. The writing is definitely not the strong suit of the book. Nor is it the history of Alcatraz that makes it worth reading, as there are far more comprehensive and focused books on the subject out there.

However, the sometimes awkward and confusing anecdotes give voice to a perspective on prison life that is not heard enough – and in the case of Alcatraz, the chance to understand these experiences is rapidly diminishing, with few former inmates still alive today. Despite his crass and clunky style, Baker still manages to get across a great deal about what it meant to be an Alcatraz inmate. The reader is exposed to glimpses of daily life: the monotony, the excitement, the cringe-worthy moments and the strange but wonderful triumphs. While looking for something to do on yard breaks, Baker decides that he will plant, water and nurture a small patch of earth. The plants are mostly weeds, but his awe when they bloom creates an unexpectedly touching moment.

This open-hearted honesty is so very human, empathetic and poignant. It is what makes Baker’s book worth the read. At times, that honesty made me feel uncomfortable or alienated as I struggled to understand how someone could fail to see that stealing money was morally wrong. Sometimes, that honesty is sexist.

Yet the writing is compelling precisely because it is so barefaced. Baker never apologizes for his actions or his viewpoints, or for those of his fellow inmates. He simply offers them up as his experience, leaving the reader to decide what they want to make of them. I may not know much about the history of Alcatraz’ most infamous residents, but I learned a lot more about what the inmates actually thought and felt than I ever could have from someone who had merely researched the place. There may be parts that I disagreed with or that felt far removed from my own personality, but by unabashedly showing the good, the bad and the ugly, Baker allows for much more truthful insight than would have been possible had he tried to make the story palatable to the widest possible audience.