Quartermaster Warehouse and Power Plant

During Alcatraz's military and penitentiary years, the island functioned much like a small town, and its daily operation depended on uninterrupted service from the power plant and warehouse. Because these facilities were vital to keeping the institution running and prisoners under control, they were strictly off-limits to inmates, unlike some other island operations that used prison labor. Completed in 1912, the power plant generated electricity and powered pumps that supplied fresh and salt water for cooking, drinking, bathing, steam heat, garden irrigation, and firefighting. The warehouse, built in 1921, stored essential supplies and equipment brought from the mainland and also provided workshop space. In 1946, Bureau of Prisons Chief Mechanical Inspector Thomas Butterworth emphasized that all institutional activities relied entirely on the power plant's 24-hour services because no outside services were available. Today, both buildings still serve many of the same functions.

San Francisco, California · United States