I grew up on Alcatrazthis is what living on the notorious prison island was really like

President Donald Trump may want to open up the once-notorious Alcatraz Island prison to again house the “worst of the worst” criminals, but one woman remembers “The Rock” as a wonderful place to grow up.“Weren’t you scared?” is a question that Jolene Babyak routinely gets about her childhood on a prison island known for housing infamous criminals such as gangsters Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, and Mickey Cohen.Located about 1.25 miles off the San Francisco shore and overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, the federal penitentiary, which once housed approximately 250 men, became famous for being “impossible” to escape — though many tried.Only five succeeded in getting off the island, but are missing and presumed to have drowned in the surrounding choppy waters of San Francisco Bay.Many movies were based on the notorious prison, including Clint Eastwood’s 1979 film “Escape from Alcatraz.”But “scared” is not a word that Babyak would use to describe living on the island.“We had a very tight-knit community, plenty of entertainment, a low-crime neighborhood, and million dollar views!” she says.Most people don’t realize prison staff and their children lived on the island alongside the prisoners.Babyak resided there from 1954 to 1955 (from the age of 7 to 9) and again in 1962 when she was 15 years old.Her father, Arthur Dollison, was the associate and also acting warden.With her parents and her two older siblings, Babyak first lived in a two-bedroom apartment in Building 64, an old military barracks.The bottom portion of the building dated back to the 1860s, and the top (where they lived) was finished in 1906.

Babyak and her sister, Corinne (who passed away in 2016), shared one large bedroom, while her brother got an “unlighted hallway.”The island had a small general store and a post office but not much else.There wasn’t a hospital or medical clinic.“Don’t get hurt,” was the advice the kids got.Babyak, who t...