Inside Alcatraz: My Time on the Rock - Jim Quillen Audiobook

Written by Jim Quillen
Read by Jeff Harding
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 32 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Random House
Release date: January 15, 2015
Duration: 10:47:06

Each day we saw the outside world in all its splendour, and each day that view served as a reminder that we had wasted and ruined our lives.

Jim Quillen, AZ586 - a runaway, problem child and petty thief - was jailed several times before his twentieth birthday. In August 1942, after escaping from San Quentin, he was arrested on the run and sentenced to forty-five years in prison, and later transferred to Alcatraz.

This is the true story of life inside America’s most notorious prison - from terrifying times in solitary confinement to daily encounters with ‘the Birdman’, and what really happened during the desperate and deadly 1946 escape attempt.

A reaser’s review…” This book tells the story not only of his stay there but how he got there in the first place with a difficult family situation who eventually fell into crime at an early age. He freely admits he deserved to be in prison and talks about his attempts at escape at other prisons but also tells of his rehabilitation and eventual return to society. Throughout “Inside Alcatraz” Quillen tries to be as honest as possible in describing the penal system as fairly as he can when explaining political and social circumstances played a big hand in how it operated. For Quillen it was not a pleasant life both when he was free and behind bars.

Alcatraz was billed as being escape proof and Quillen contends that A good portion of the book is devoted to the disastrous attempted escape of March 1946 where several prisoners overpowered guards and gained control of C Block leading to an eventual standoff and shoot-out where prisoners involved where killed. In vivid details Quillen describes what happened to the prisoners - both innocent and not - and the guards involved. Though Quillen was in C Block he chose not to become involved instead hiding under a mattress in his cell but was there as the break out unfolded.

The book is quite easy to read and moves along at a reasonable pace. An amazing story and one worth reading for anyone who has been compelled by the Alcatraz story.”