With shackles on your hands and feet, you face the floor and shuffle from the island ferry with the others following close behind. You look up to glimpse the substantial structure in front of you with a correctional officer standing in front of it. You put your head back and continue walking. The correctional officer smiles a smile you don't see, but you can hear his simple but chilling words: "Welcome home." Known to be cold and unforgiving, miles from the mainland, on a 22-acre mass of rock, lies a prison where America's most uncontrollable prisoners were controlled with strict daily routines and unsympathetic punishments...DiscoveryBefore Alcatraz was used by the Americans for various purposes, it was discovered in 1775 by Juan Manuel de Ayala, a Spanish explorer who the viceroy Antonio Maria de Bucareli y Ursua sent to explore the area of ​​the Bay of San Francisco by sea while another group of settlers and soldiers explored the area by land. This was all part of the Viceroy's expedition to the Spanish settlement in the San Francisco Bay area. On the San Carlos, a ship of which de Ayala was captain came across a 22-acre rocky island. He mapped and named this island La Isla de los Alcatraces [meaning pelican or strange bird] because of the group of pelicans that soar above it. Although before Ayala, members of the Ohlone tribe may have visited the island to gather food such as eggs and fish. However, other tribes may have avoided the island entirely because they thought it contained evil spirits. Military fort Beginning The name of Isla de los Alcatraces changed to Alcatraz under the influence of the American language. In 1850, the 13th American President Millard Fillmore ordered the island to be set aside as a place of worship p...... middle of paper ......the view of the Golden Gate Bridge was blocked during the prison's construction, "[t]he lighthouse has become obsolete" (history.com). In 1909 the lighthouse was replaced with a new, taller one. With the new prison, the US Army operated a rather mild institution with minimal security. “Prisoners spent their days working and learning…Many prisoners worked as gardeners while a select few were employed as babysitters for the children of prison officers (Mahaney, Erin. History and Facts about Alcatraz. About.com). Great Closure Depression of the 1930s meant that the already high expenses of running the Army barracks were nearly doubled. Current prisoners were deported to other prisons in Kansas and New Jersey. In 1933, the Army abandoned prison. Alcatraz continued to be a prison for more than 100 years, but just under different control... Federal Penitentiary