Alcatraz Island: Memoirs of a Rock Doc

By Milton Daniel Beacher

Book Overview

Milton Daniel Beacher, M.D. arrived on Alcatraz Island a na ve and compassionate young doctor. It was April 26, 1937. One year later, he left with a journal. It chronicled the suicides, discipline problems, force feedings, and details of a long strike and successful escape. He also penned conversations with famous prisoners like Al Capone, Alvin Karpis, and "Machine Gun" Kelly. Dr. Beacher later wove the journal into a vivid account of life on the Rock. Befriended by some prisoners, he included their first-person narratives and original prisoner poetry. His daughter, Dianne Beacher Perfit, published her father's journal in 2001.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 097103320X
• ISBN13: 9780971033207
• Release Date: July 2020
• Publisher: Pelican Island Publishing
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A new book and a new view.

I enjoyed the book, it brought out new aspects from the prisoners of how life was on the island. The damage inflicted by prisoners on themselves because of the strict regime and how the young Dr had to deal with this is just a great reflection. A shame the book was not able to be published earlier.

a unique chronicle of jail life

With the unique perspective of a young doctor on his first assignment to one of the then newest & most unescapable penal colonies in the US, Dr. Beacher's memoir tells the history of Pelican Island from its discovery in the late 1770s to its use for military defense one hundred years later, to its last incarnation as a bleak jail. He also recounts the stories of the many inmates he cared for, where ruthlessness was the norm, both in the colorless, hopeless daily grind & in the unfettered behavior of the guardsI can't say that ALCATRAZ ISLAND is a good read. It is too full of dire, irreparable damage, offering not an iota of redemption. It is a suffocating read, so much so, that I had to do it in small doses, although once I was immersed in its narration, I was enthralled.If history of prison life interests you, if how the doctors of that time treated their captive patients fascinates you, then ALCATRAZ ISLAND will be a good read for you. It is a thought-provoking book that will linger long in your mind.

Written in gut-wrenching descriptive language

Set in the time of imprisoned gangsters such as Al Capone, Alcatraz Island: Memoirs Of A Rock Doc is the personal story of Milton Daniel Beacher, a physician who cared for the prison population of Alcatraz Island for one year. Deftly edited by Dianne Beacher Perfit, Alcatraz Island is a candid and revealing journal of brutal living conditions, a prisoner's strike, a successful escape, suicides, and much more. A vivid, gripping book, written in gut-wrenching descriptive language that brings the forbidding rock to life, Alcatraz Island is highly recommended reading for students of American penology as well as a riveting autobiography of life behind bars from the unique perspective of a prison doctor.