A closer look
Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay was a maximum-security federal penitentiary famous for housing notorious criminals like Al Capone, yet its most effective security measure was not the concrete walls, but the freezing, shark-infested waters surrounding it. The prison was incredibly expensive to operate because absolutely everything, including fresh water, had to be shipped over by boat, leading to its closure in 1963. Now, it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in California, meaning you literally have to book tickets months in advance for the privilege of voluntarily going to prison for the afternoon. The self-guided audio tour is undeniably excellent, but nothing quite matches the irony of hundreds of people eagerly cramming themselves into tiny, miserable solitary confinement cells to take smiling selfies, enthusiastically romanticizing a miserable historical facility where desperate men spent decades slowly losing their minds in agonizing isolation
