Alcatraz is now and always has been open to inspection and investigation by any qualified or properly commissioned person or groups. It has been inspected by Judges, Congressmen, penologists and qualified private citizens and has been approved as a modern and intelligent method of protecting the public from those desperate criminals who have proved themselves to be wholly intractable.
The institution, for instance, was recently inspected by experts of The Osborne Association of New York, a private philanthropic organization devoted primarily to the investigation of prisons, and was pronounced by them as well managed and operated and as using no improper system of discipline. Members of the Appropriations Committee of Congress in the course of their examination of our estimates also recently inspected the institution and made no criticism of its methods or operations.
I have visited Alcatraz frequently as have various members of our staff and know personally most of the inmates, including Young. As a matter of fact, I have on several occasions personally interviewed Young and done everything possible to obtain his cooperation. I have never found or had called to my attention any authentic case of brutality or inhumanity at Alcatraz.
Corporal punishment is prohibited in all the Federal penal institutions including Alcatraz. We stand on our record as the most modern and humane penal system in the world. I have every confidence in Warden Johnston. He is a just, humane, and intelligent prison warden capably performing the most difficult job any warden was ever asked to assume. The entire institutional staff has consistently displayed their courage, patience, and devotion to the public service. They deserve the support of every fair-minded citizen whose homes and safety they have helped to protect.
The statements made by the prisoners so far called to my attention have already been carefully investigated by the Department [of Justice] and found to be wholly unfounded. When, however, a transcript of the testimony has been received, it will be carefully gone over as in every other case, and if any evidence or facts are found showing brutal or inhuman treatment, vigorous corrective measures will be taken.
Following the trial, Henri Young continued to be a difficult and violent inmate. He would serve several more years in solitary confinement, and he remained insolent toward fellow inmates and staff. One year after the trial, prison staff members started documenting the unusual behavior exhibited by Young. A report filed by Chief Medical Officer Romney M. Ritchey on May 14, 1942 states in part:
The above captioned inmate who has been in D-Block for some time began showing peculiar conduct last night. The officer on-duty reported that about 5:00 p.m. he started tearing up all of his papers, mostly those he had prepared for Correspondence Courses, etc... He refused to speak to the Officer when addressed. Then he rolled up his mattress and placed it near the back of his cell and sat down on it with his head in his arms and back to the front of his cell...
The staff on Alcatraz noted that Young had taken an interest in psychology, but they couldn’t be sure whether his new behavior resulted from a legitimate mental disorder, or was simply contrived. There were several documented episodes when Young was found sitting for several days in a near catatonic state, not moving, and refusing to eat meals delivered to his cell. Over the years this condition seemed to worsen, with an increase in the frequency of the sporadic episodes, which usually lasted for a few days. Nevertheless, he continued to be an incorrigibly difficult inmate.
On April 11, 1944, Young instigated a bitter fistfight with inmate Joe Cretzer, who would later murder a correctional officer and injure several others during the escape attempt of 1946. Then on February 27, 1945, inmates Rufus Franklin and Willis Coulter attacked Young in the recreation yard, inflicting a minor stab wound to his back. The inmates had used a kitchen knife that had been sharpened into a dagger. Young remained hospitalized until March 8, 1945, with a puncture wound that went deep into his scapula. Following his release from the hospital, he was returned to D Block. When interviewed regarding the attack, Young would offer no reason for his conflict with Franklin and Coulter.
A disciplinary report describing a fight between Henri Young and Joseph Cretzer. Cretzer, one of the primary conspirators of the 1946 “Battle of Alcatraz,” would die during the failed escape attempt.
Willis Coulter
A letter describing Young’s condition after he was found with self inflicted wounds, following an attempt to sever his Achilles tendons.
Young’s mental condition continued to deteriorate. In June of 1948 he was admitted to the hospital, where “he postured, stared, and didn’t talk to personnel, but talked with other inmates.” Although his condition was considered suspect, Warden Swope finally received orders to transfer Young to the Springfield Medical Facility for the duration of his prison term, and he was sent there on September 13, 1948. The staff at Springfield conducted exhaustive examinations, but they were unable to render an accurate diagnosis or to determine whether he was feigning his illness. Throughout his stay at Springfield Young was considered a model inmate, and he seemed to adjust well to his new environment.
When Young’s Federal sentence expired in 1954, he was turned over to the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla to begin a life sentence for an earlier murder conviction. A special progress report dated September 2, 1954 indicates that Young was already planning for his release and intended to work for a trucking company in Kansas as a shipping clerk. Young was finally paroled in 1972. He subsequently violated his parole by failing to report his status and despite comprehensive searches, Henri Young disappeared and was never to be seen again. Young’s attorney James MacInnis, along with his wife would die tragically in a fatal car accident in 1979.
Henri Young in 1954.
One of the last known images of Young taken in November of 1970.
The Hollywood Version
Hollywood Actors Kevin Bacon (Young) and Christen Slater (Young’s attorney), in a fictionalized version of Young’s trial portrayed in the Warner Brothers motion picture Murder in the First.
Fifty years after Young’s trial, Warner Brothers Motion Pictures released a powerful drama that claimed to chart the true story of Henri Young, and was entitled Murder in the First. The film would succeed in making Young a legend, but it would not present an accurate portrayal of his life and crimes. The film itself was a great dramatic achievement for the filmmakers, but the script written by Dan Gordon was almost wholly fictional. Henri Young’s own autobiographical writings, in which he describes his adolescence and his descent into a life of delinquency, fully contradict the movie’s portrayal of him as a teenaged orphan sentenced to Alcatraz for stealing $5 from a grocery store in order to feed his starving sister.
The film featured some of the industry’s most prominent filmmakers and actors. The executive producer was David L. Wolper, who had previously produced such films as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factoryand the first documentary ever nominated for an Academy Award, The Race for Space. Director Marc Rocco was a young visionary who successfully captured the depth and darkness of the prison. Seasoned actor Kevin Bacon starred as Henri Young in a chilling portrayal, and Christian Slater played his principled and idealistic young attorney. The film also featured actor Gary Oldman in the role of the Warden of Alcatraz.