A new exhibit at Alcatraz discusses the history of incarceration in the United States/NPS file

Incarceration in the United States takes on an educational role at Alcatraz Island, where a new exhibit delves into the legal, social, and political issues of being locked up.

The Big Lock Up: Mass Incarceration in the United States is a permanent multimedia exhibit developed by the National Park Service in consultation with dozens of community members and academic experts with support by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. 

The exhibit is located in the historic Band Practice Room on the basement floor of the Cell House and is available as a free optional offering to park visitors. Through text, photographs and interactive content, it follows the legal, social, and political issues of incarceration in the United States. The Big Lock Up, which replaces an out-of-date exhibit by the Bureau of Prisons from the 1990s, invites visitors to develop their own thoughts about topics surrounding the country’s prison system.  

The exhibit engages audiences on the history of incarceration in the United States, both before and after the period during which Alcatraz Island was a military prison in the 1860s, a federal maximum security prison from 1934 to 1963 and later the site of a Native American protest between 1969 and 1971.  

“The Big Lock Up tells untold stories important to our nation’s history concerning the complex issue of incarceration and furthers the park’s mission to provide transformative and thought-provoking experiences,” said Michele Gee, chief of interpretation and education for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. “While the island has hosted many prison-related art exhibitions, installation of this permanent exhibit represents the completion of a major visitor enhancement.”  

The Big Lock Up is available following the popular Cell House audio tour describing the daily conditions and prisoner life, as told by those formerly imprisoned and guards, at Alcatraz during its federal penitentiary era. It joins the temporary exhibit Red Power on Alcatraz: Perspectives 50 Years Later, which chronicles the 1969 occupation through photographs and primary source materials contributed by scholars and those that lived through the experience. 

The Big Lock Up, which was funded through a combination of monies from the NPS, donations through the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, and Alcatraz City Cruises concessions fees, furthers the mission of the NPS to tell every side of the complex stories that surround our parks.