Alcatraz from Inside: The Hard Years 1942-1952 [Paperback]

Jim Quillen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1991

Collectible Signed by author paperback

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Quillen's autobiography focuses on his decade-long incarceration at the "Rock," the former federal prison on Alcatraz Island, Calif., including the 1946 escape attempt that left several inmates and guards dead. Arguing that the brutality of the system made the bloodshed inevitable, he calls Alcatraz "a prison where the sole purpose was to degrade, deprive, humiliate and break the inmates." But Quillen never proves his case; most of his anger arises from the constant surveillance and security that made escape virtually impossible. Indeed, what comes through the author's deliberately low-key account is the fervor with which he thought about, dreamed about and planned escapes. A veteran of two escapes from a state reformatory as well as one from San Quentin prison (during which he kidnapped two hostages), Quillen did try to escape from Alcatraz. Most readers will find it hard to empathize with his complaints of overly restrictive security given that record. Ultimately, however, the details of life inside jail are more intriguing than the failed attempt to blame the system. Those details, and the story of Quillen's eventual rehabilitation after release, redeem the book.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 164 pages
• Publisher: Golden Gate Natl Park Assn; 1st edition (1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962520616
• ISBN-13: 978-0962520617
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,065 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More about how prisons change a man than Alcatraz itself, December 3, 1999

By 

thorvald (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alcatraz from Inside: The Hard Years 1942-1952 (Paperback)

While Alcatraz is the centerpoint of the book, the overall story is about a young man's life and how it changes--how it is forcibly changed, rather, through a prison system that had reached its limit with him. Though he describes other prisons (including San Quinten), it is Alcatraz that breaks him of his youthful attitudes of rebellion and crime. And that's how Alcatraz was to him and others--not a place of rehabilitation nor even pennance, but a place meant to break them and make them harmless, or kill them. The awful sense of frustration and desperation that must accompany prison life comes through vividly in his narrative.

The story is told with honesty. I felt I had a sense of him as a young man, and later as an older one facing the real, adult world for the first time. Stories of Alcatraz itself, and its escapes, are well-told from an insider's view, with only hints of residual anger.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Feels like you're there!, September 5, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Alcatraz from Inside: The Hard Years 1942-1952 (Paperback)

Gripping account of how Jim Quillen's life of crime started during his childhood, culminating in his incarceration at Alcatraz. He describes in great detail, life at Alcatraz, infamous inmates that were there with him, and escape attampts (including the famous and bloody 1946 attempt that was made into a TV movie). The last part of the book deals with how he turned his life around towards the end of his sentence at Alcatraz and what he has been doing for the past 30+ years as a free man.

You will come away with some incredible insights into criminal life, the penal system, and man's ability to survive, adapt, and most importantly--change.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very touching true account of life from within Alcatraz, May 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Alcatraz from Inside: The Hard Years 1942-1952 (Paperback)

A truly suberb, heart warming account of Jim Quillen's life. Having met Jim on Alcatraz in 1997. I felt nothing but sympathy and admiration for this man who had suffered so much. Anna