Customer Reviews

Alcatraz Island: Memoirs of a Rock Doc

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With the unique perspective of a young doctor on his first assignment to one of the then newest & most unescapable penal colonies in the US, Dr. Beacher's memoir tells the history of Pelican Island from its discovery in the late 1770s to its use for military defense one hundred years later, to its last incarnation as a bleak jail. He also recounts the stories of the many inmates he cared for, where ruthlessness was the norm, both in the colorless, hopeless daily grind & in the unfettered behavior of the guards

I can't say that ALCATRAZ ISLAND is a good read. It is too full of dire, irreparable damage, offering not an iota of redemption. It is a suffocating read, so much so, that I had to do it in small doses, although once I was immersed in its narration, I was enthralled.

If history of prison life interests you, if how the doctors of that time treated their captive patients fascinates you, then ALCATRAZ ISLAND will be a good read for you. It is a thought-provoking book that will linger long in your mind.

Set in the time of imprisoned gangsters such as Al Capone, Alcatraz Island: Memoirs Of A Rock Doc is the personal story of Milton Daniel Beacher, a physician who cared for the prison population of Alcatraz Island for one year. Deftly edited by Dianne Beacher Perfit, Alcatraz Island is a candid and revealing journal of brutal living conditions, a prisoner's strike, a successful escape, suicides, and much more. A vivid, gripping book, written in gut-wrenching descriptive language that brings the forbidding rock to life, Alcatraz Island is highly recommended reading for students of American penology as well as a riveting autobiography of life behind bars from the unique perspective of a prison doctor.

This book reads like a laundry list of who was treated, what heppened, a bit about who the inmate was. I had the feeling that much of the source material was daily logs, and perhaps a few patient charts, but the memories have faded a bit by now. This book failed to transport me to the Rock.
I wanted to feel how the doctor changed over time, what defenses he erected, and which turned out to be soul-saving. The central conflict between a doctor's inherent mission and that of the institution's did not emerge. I cannot, however, give anyone 1 star who has served in such a brutal place, and I hope the next book will show the results of digging deeper.

I enjoyed the book, it brought out new aspects from the prisoners of how life was on the island. The damage inflicted by prisoners on themselves because of the strict regime and how the young Dr had to deal with this is just a great reflection. A shame the book was not able to be published earlier.