Biography history channel documentary alcatraz

The Warden and the Guards

In November 1933 the attorney general selected James A. Johnston of San Francisco to be the first warden of Alcatraz. Johnston, by reputation a tough disciplinarian, had already made a name for himself by carrying out reform of the state institutions at Folsom and San Quentin. He accepted the new assignment with enthusiasm and, as time would prove, with the determination to make the Rock a place of rigid discipline and cold impartiality. Johnston took office as warden on January 2, 1934, at first maintaining his office in San Francisco. On April 5 he moved into the commandant's quarters on the island, three months before the official establishment of the penitentiary.

Director Bates prepared a memorandum for the attorney general in December of 1933 listing the principles and general regulations under which the prison wo