Employees who lived on Alcatraz Island had different experiences than those who lived on the mainland. Those who lived on the island had a relatively normal and safe life considering they lived in close proximity to several hundreds of America's most dangerous criminals. The Rock's civilian population numbered over two hundred. The island had enough apartments and cottages to house about sixty families and rooms for about ten bachelors. Sometimes there would be as many as seventy-five children living within the small, close-knit community.

Some residents described Alcatraz as a peaceful place, even going so far as to call it a poor man's Hawaii. Jolene Babyak's father worked at Alcatraz penitentiary from 1953 through 1962. Part of that time, the family lived on the island, occupying either the socalled Sixty-four Building or the associate warden's Spanish-style duplex. Babyak...