Alcatraz is back in the headlines. The former penitentiary-turned-national park space is making news once again, with the Trump administration apparently considering kicking out the tourists to reopen the island as a prison.It’s one more strange chapter in the story of Alcatraz, which has long captured the public imagination. Could the park turn prison again? And why did it close in the first place?At 6 p.m. on July 24, join Chronicle Culture Critic Peter Hartlaub and retired national park rangers John A. Martini and John Cantwell for a night of rare photos, myths, and real stories about Alcatraz. They’ll discuss Hollywood’s fascination with the notorious prison island, its years as a military installation and federal penitentiary, what it’s like to work at the national park site, and President Trump’s proposal that Alcatraz could house prisoners again.They’ll also show rarely seen photos of Alcatraz over the years from the Chronicle archive, including images from the 1962 escape that helped speed its closure and recently rediscovered images from the Chronicle’s Vince Maggiora, who was the first photographer embedded with the 1969 Native American occupation.
