Snapshots of a Childhood on Alcatraz

Open from 1934 to 1963, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary was thought to house some of America’s most ruthless criminals. But it also was home for many of the guards who patrolled the prison and their young families.

Many guards applying to work on the island moved there with their families if they got the job. Of the 70 guards who lived on the island during the federal prison era, 60 had families.

Chuck Stucker was 4 months old when his family moved onto Alcatraz in 1940. He lived there on and off until he was 13.

“In retrospect, [the experience] was not a whole lot different than people who grew up on a small military base,” Chuck Stucker, now 77, told InsideEdition.com.

Alcatraz Island had a small commissary that sold household staples, a post office and a preschool that young children living there attended.

But once they outgrew pre-school, the children took a boat to school on the mainland.

Dog tags-- like the one belonging to Steve Mahoney, who lived on the island until he was 6-- helped alert authorities on the mainland to the children’s unique living situations.

Children like Chuck also carried permanent resident cards. 

Kids celebrated Halloween, played ball and flew kites on the island.

The island was its own close-knit community.

“We’d get loaves of bread and feed them to small sharks. For us, it was a big playground,” Steve Mahoney, now 60, said.

Until he was 6 years old, Mahoney lived on the island with his parents and his two younger brothers. He left only when the prison closed in 1963.

Until he was 6 years old, Mahoney lived on the island with his parents and his two younger brothers. He left only when the prison closed in 1963.

“My dad had the first color TV on the island and it was a real popular thing for the adults,” Mahoney said. “Most evenings, you were either at someone’s house for dinner or they were at yours.”

“While you made friends in the city, your friends on Alcatraz were it,” Chuck Stucker said.

Kids loved to explore the island and try to find ways to get as close to the prison as possible.

“I mean, put yourself in my place: Only one-third of the island was accessible to you. Everything is marked, ‘Do not go here,’ ‘Danger,’ ‘Don’t go here.’ What does a young kid do? You do exactly what you’re not supposed to do,” Chuck Stucker said, laughing.

Of the many questions surrounding life on Alcatraz, those who once lived on the island are most often asked about the inmates.

Though children paid no mind to most inmates, everyone knew when Al Capone arrived on Alcatraz.

Roy "Rocky" Chandler (left) met Al Capone during a trip to the prison hospital for an asthma attack, Chuck Stucker said.

"Roy — he went by Rocky then — he said, ‘I can still remember the warmth of this man’s hand when I shook it,'" Chuck Stucker said.

Inmates and guards made lasting impressions on each other, which have endured through generations.

Steve Mahoney’s father was gifted paintings by the family of a man who used art as an escape while at Alcatraz.

George Franklin Heck painted the portraits in 1949.

“My dad made it a point to have me meet with convicts and talk to them,” Steve Mahoney said. “They did what they did.”

George Franklin Heck painted the portraits in 1949.

Steve Mahoney also owns a pair of handcuffs that were used on Alcatraz. 

"Property of Alcatraz" can be clearly seen on the cuffs. 

Expensive to run, hard to maintain and the subject of heated investigations, officials finally decided to close Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on March 21, 1963.  

At least 55 years have passed since Alcatraz was their home, but those who were raised there have not yet tired of looking back on their time on The Rock.

“The island was a very special place. If it was possible to do it again … sure; it would be fun to go back,” Chuck Stucker said. “But my island is gone.”