Sustaining the city in the bay

Throughout the military and penitentiary years, Alcatraz was much like a small town. Keeping the town going—and the convicts under control—depended on the uninterupted service of the power plant to your left and the warehouse straight ahead. Because of the vital nature of these facilities, they were strictly off-limits to prisoners, unlike some operations on the island that relied on inmate labor.

Completed in 1912, the power plant generated the island's electricity and powered the pumps that provided fresh and salt water for all needs, including cooking, drinking, bathing, producing steam heat, irrigating the gardens, and fighting fires. The warehouse, built in 1921, stored essential supplies and equipment brought from the mainland, and provided workshop space. Today, both buildings serve many of the same functions.

"The operation of all activities within the institution relies wholly upon 24-hour services furnished by the power plant....No outside services are available."
Thomas Butterworth, Chief Mechanical Inspector, Bureau of Prisons, 1946

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