Alcatraz Hospital

In 1870, the military hospital had ten beds, as well as tables, chairs, washstands, a dumbwaiter, and a closet. Measuring 35 by 26 feet (10.7 m × 7.9 m), it was heated by coal stoves.^[2] It was expanded in the late 19th century.^[3]

The penitentiary hospital was established on June 14, 1934. It provided medical and dental service to inmates, prison personnel, Lighthouse Service employees, and to civilians on the island.^[4] The hospital was situated on the floor above the dining room. It contained three large wards with five hospital beds each, two isolation wards, a treatment room, surgery room, and a supply room, a doctor's office, dentists office, and chief Medical Technical Assistant's (MTA) office, plus a kitchen, and a bathroom with toilet and shower.^[5]

During its penitentiary years, the hospital was initially staffed by U.S. Public Health Service personnel who were assigned to the Federal Prison Service. While a physician was in residence on the island through the 1950s, cost-cutting measures included switching to private contracted physicians.^[6] Two of the most notable hospital patients were Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz", who spent eleven years confined to the infirmary to separate him from the general population,^[7] and Al Capone who spent more time in the hospital than in the general prison population.^[8]