Alcatraz Island is an island located in the San Francisco Bay, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) offshore from San Francisco, California, United States.[1] Often referred to as “The Rock”, the small island served as a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, and a Federal Bureau of Prisons federal prison until 1963.[2] Later, in 1972, Alcatraz became a national recreation area and received landmarking designations in 1976 and 1986. Today, the island is a historic site operated by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is open to tours. Visitors can reach the island by ferry ride from Pier 33, near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. In 2008 the nation’s first hybrid propulsion ferry started serving the island.[3] Alcatraz has been featured in many movies, TV shows, cartoons, books, comics, and games. The first Spaniard to document the island was Juan Manuel de Ayala in 1775, who charted San Francisco Bay and named the island “La Isla de los Alcatraces,” which translates as “The Island of the Pelicans,”[4][5][6][7][8][9] from the archaic Spanish alcatraz, “pelican”, a word which was borrowed originally from Arabic: ?????? al-qa?r?s, meaning sea eagle.[10] In modern Spanish, the word alcatraz stands for gannet.[11] The United States Census Bureau defines the island as Block 1067, Block Group 1, Census Tract 179.02 of San Francisco County, California. There was no permanent population on the island as of the 2000 census.[12] It is home to the now-abandoned prison, the site of the oldest operating lighthouse on the west coast of the United States, early military fortifications, and natural features such as rock pools, a seabird colony (mostly Western Gulls, cormorants, and egrets), and unique views of the coastline.The earliest recorded owner of the island of Alcatraz is one Julian Workman, to whom it was given by Mexican governor Pio Pico in June 1846 with the understanding that the former would build a lighthouse on it. Julian Workman is the baptismal name of William Workman, co-owner of Rancho La Puente and personal friend of Pio Pico. Later in 1846, acting in his capacity as Military Governor of California, John C. Fremont, champion of Manifest Destiny and leader of the Bear Flag Republic, bought the island for $5000 in the name of the United States government from Francis Temple.[13][14][15] In 1850, President Millard Fillmore ordered that Alcatraz Island be set aside specifically for military purposes based upon the U.S. acquisition of California from Mexico following the Mexican-American War.[16] Fremont had expected a large compensation for his initiative in purchasing and securing Alcatraz Island for the U.S. government, but the U.S. government later invalidated the sale and paid Fremont nothing. Fremont and his heirs sued for compensation during protracted but unsuccessful legal battles that extended into the 1890s.[14][16] Following the acquisition of California by the United States as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) which ended the Mexican-American War, and the onset of the California Gold Rush the following year, the U.S. Army began studying the suitability of Alcatraz Island for the positioning of coastal batteries to protect the approaches to San Francisco Bay. In 1853, under the direction of Zealous B. Tower, the Corps of Engineers began fortifying the island, work which continued until 1858, eventuating in Fortress Alcatraz. The island’s first garrison at Camp Alcatraz, numbering about 200 soldiers and 11 cannons, arrived at the end of that year. When the American Civil War broke out in 1861 the island mounted 85 cannons (increased to 105 cannons by 1866) in casemates around its perimeter, though the small size of the garrison meant only a fraction of the guns could be used at one time. At this time it also served as the San Francisco Arsenal for storage of firearms to prevent them falling into the hands of Southern sympathizers.[17] Alcatraz never fired its guns offensively, though during the war it was used to imprison Confederate sympathizers and privateers on the west coast.[18] [edit] Military prison Alcatraz Island, 1895 Due to its isolation from the outside by the cold, strong, hazardous currents of the waters of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz was used to house Civil War prisoners as early as 1861. Following the war in 1866 the army determined that the fortifications and guns were being rapidly rendered obsolete by advances in military technology. Modernization efforts, including an ambitious plan to level the entire island and construct shell-proof underground magazines and tunnels, were undertaken between 1870 and 1876 but never completed (the so called “parade ground” on the southern tip of the island represents the extent of the flattening effort).[19] Instead the army switched the focus of its plans for Alcatraz from coastal defense to detention, a task for which it was well suited because of its isolation. In 1867 a brick jailhouse was built (previously inmates had been kept in the basement of the guardhouse), and in 1868 Alcatraz was officially designated a long-term detention facility for military prisoners. Among those incarcerated at Alcatraz were some Hopi Native American men in the 1870s.[20] In 1898, the Spanish-American war increased the prison population from 26 to over 450. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, civilian prisoners were transferred to Alcatraz for safe confinement. On March 21, 1907, Alcatraz was officially designated as the Western U.S. Military Prison, later Pacific Branch, U.S. Disciplinary Barracks, 1915.[17] In 1909 construction began on the huge concrete main cell block, designed by Major Reuben Turner, which remains the island’s dominant feature. It was completed in 1912. To accommodate the new cell block, the Citadel, a three-story barracks, was demolished down to the first floor, which was actually below ground level. The building had been constructed in an excavated pit (creating a dry “moat”) to enhance its defensive potential. The first floor was then incorporated as a basement to the new cell block, giving rise to the popular legend of “dungeons” below the main cell block. The Fortress was deactivated as a military prison in October 1933, and transferred to the Bureau of Prisons.[17] During World War I the prison held conscientious objectors, including Philip Grosser, who wrote a pamphlet entitled ‘Uncle Sam’s Devil’s Island’ about his experiences.[The United States Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz was acquired by the United States Department of Justice on October 12, 1933, and the island became a Federal Bureau of Prisons federal prison in August 1934. During the 29 years it was in use, the jail held such notable criminals as Al Capone, Robert Franklin Stroud (the Birdman of Alcatraz), George "Machine Gun" Kelly, James "Whitey" Bulger, Bumpy Johnson, Rafael Cancel Miranda, member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party who attacked the United States Capitol building in 1954.,[23] Mickey Cohen, Arthur R. “Doc” Barker and Alvin Karpis (who served more time at Alcatraz than any other inmate). It also provided housing for the Bureau of Prison staff and their families. The majority of the prisoners at Alcatraz had been sent there after causing problems at other prisons. [edit] Escape attempts Chiseled cell air vent in Alcatraz View of San Francisco from Alcatraz Island During its 29 years of operation, the penitentiary claimed no prisoners had ever successfully escaped. Thirty six prisoners were involved in 14 attempts, two men trying twice; 23 were caught, six were shot and killed during their escape, and three were lost at sea and never found.[24] The most violent occurred on May 2, 1946 when a failed escape attempt by six prisoners led to the Battle of Alcatraz. On June 11, 1962, Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin carried out one of the most intricate escapes ever devised. Behind the prisoners’ cells in Cell Block B (where the escapees were interned) was an unguarded 3-foot (0.91 m) wide utility corridor. The prisoners chiseled away the moisture-damaged concrete from around an air vent leading to this corridor, using tools such as a metal spoon soldered with silver from a dime and an electric drill improvised from a stolen vacuum cleaner motor. The noise was disguised by accordions played during music hour, and their progress was concealed by false walls which, in the dark recesses of the cells, fooled the guards. The escape route then led up through a fan vent; the fan and motor had been removed and replaced with a steel grille, leaving a shaft large enough for a prisoner to climb through. Stealing a carborundum abrasive cord from the prison workshop, the prisoners had removed the rivets from the grille and substituted dummy rivets made of soap. The escapees also constructed an inflatable raft from several stolen raincoats for the trip to the mainland. Leaving papier-mâché dummies in their cells affixed with stolen human hair from the barbershop, they escaped. The prisoners are estimated to have entered San Francisco Bay at 10 p.m. The official investigation by the FBI was aided by another prisoner, Allen West, who also was part of the escapees’ group but was left behind (West’s false wall kept slipping so he held it into place with cement, which set; when the Anglin brothers (John and Clarence) accelerated the schedule, West desperately chipped away at the wall, but by the time he did his companions were gone). Articles belonging to the prisoners (including plywood paddles and parts of the raincoat raft) were discovered on nearby Angel Island, and the official report on the escape says the prisoners drowned while trying to reach the mainland in the cold waters of the bay. The MythBusters investigated the myth, concluding such an escape was plausible.[25] The attempt was the subject of the 1979 film Escape from Alcatraz with screenplay by Richard Tuggle; directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood as Frank Morris, Jack Thibeau as Clarence Anglin, and Fred Ward as John Anglin.Robert Stroud, who was better known to the public as the “Birdman of Alcatraz”, was transferred to Alcatraz in 1942. He spent the next seventeen years on “the Rock”—six years in segregation in D Block, and eleven years in the prison hospital. In 1959 he was transferred to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, (MCFP Springfield). Although called the Birdman of Alcatraz, Stroud was not allowed to keep birds while incarcerated there. When Al Capone arrived on Alcatraz in 1934, prison officials made it clear that he would not be receiving any preferential treatment. While serving his time in Alcatraz, Capone, a master manipulator, had continued running his rackets from behind bars by buying off guards.[clarification needed] “Big Al” generated incredible media attention while on Alcatraz though he served just four and a half years of his sentence there before developing symptoms of tertiary syphilis and being transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island in Los Angeles. George “Machine Gun” Kelly arrived on September 4, 1934. At Alcatraz, Kelly was constantly boasting about several robberies and murders that he had never committed. Although this was said to be an apparent point of frustration for several fellow prisoners, Warden Johnson considered him a model inmate. Kelly was returned to Leavenworth in 1951. Alvin “Creepy Karpis” Karpowicz arrived in 1936. He was not a model inmate, constantly fighting with other inmates. He also spent the longest time on Alcatraz island, serving nearly 26 years. He was sent to Alcatraz on convictions for worse crimes than any other inmate, though surprisingly he never once attempted an escape. James “Whitey” Bulger spent three years on Alcatraz (1959–1962) while serving a sentence for bank robbery. While there, he became close to Clarence Carnes, also known as the Choctaw Kid. Ellsworth Raymond “Bumpy” Johnson, the Godfather of Harlem, was an African-American gangster, numbers operator, racketeer, and bootlegger in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood in the early 20th century. He was sent to Alcatraz in 1954 and was imprisoned until 1963. It is believed that he was involved in the famous escape that became legend involving Frank Morris, John and Clarence Anglin.[26][27] Mickey Cohen worked for the Mafia’s gambling rackets and was charged with tax evasion and sentenced to 15 years in Alcatraz Island. Two years into his sentence an inmate clobbered Cohen with a lead pipe, partially paralyzing the mobster. On his release in 1972, Mickey returned to live a quiet life with his old friends.[28] Arthur R. “Doc” Barker the son of Ma Barker and a member of the Barker-Karpis gang along with Alvin Karpis. In 1935, Barker was sent to Alcatraz Island on conspiracy to kidnap charges. On the night of January 13, 1939, Barker with Henri Young and Rufus McCain attempted escape from Alcatraz. The attempt failed and Barker was shot and killed by the guards.[29] Rafael Cancel Miranda, member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party who attacked the United States Capitol building in 1954. On March 1, 1954, Cancel Miranda together with fellow Nationalists Lolita Lebron, Andres Cordero, and Irving Rodriguez entered the United States Capitol building armed with automatic pistols and fired 30 shots, hitting 5 congressmen who all survived their wounds.[23] [edit] Post prison years Alcatraz U.S. National Register of Historic Places U.S. National Historic Landmark The Social Hall, destroyed by fire during the Native American occupation. Location: California Built: 1847 Architect: U.S. Army, Bureau of Prisons; U.S. Army Architectural style: Mission/Spanish Revival Governing body: National Park Service NRHP Reference#: 76000209 Significant dates Added to NRHP: June 23, 1976[30] Designated NHL: January 17, 1986[31] Because it was far more expensive to operate than other prisons (nearly $10 per prisoner per day, as opposed to $3 per prisoner per day at Atlanta),[32] and due to half a century of salt water saturation which severely eroded the buildings, the penitentiary was closed on March 21, 1963 by decision of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Another contributing factor for the closure was the pollution produced by the sewage deposited into San Francisco bay from the approximately 250 inmates and 60 Bureau of Prisons families on the island. The United States Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, a traditional land-bound prison, opened that same year to serve as a replacement for Alcatraz.Beginning on November 20, 1969, a group of Native Americans from many different tribes occupied the island, and proposed an education center, ecology center and cultural center. According to the occupants, the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) between the U.S. and the Sioux included provisions to return all retired, abandoned or out-of-use federal land to the Native people from whom it was acquired. (Note: The Treaty of 1868 stated that all abandoned or unused federal land adjacent to the Sioux Reservation could be reclaimed by descendants of the Sioux Nation.) With the clarification, Indians of All Tribes abandoned the Sioux treaty as the basis of their occupation and claimed Alcatraz Island by “Right of Discovery”. Begun by urban Indians in San Francisco, some of whom were descended from people who relocated there under the Federal Indian Reorganization Act of 1934), the occupation attracted other Native Americans from across the country, including American Indian Movement (AIM) activists from Minneapolis. The Native Americans demanded reparation for the many treaties broken by the US government and for the lands which were taken from so many tribes. As part of the Right of Discovery, the historian Troy R. Johnson states in The Occupation of Alcatraz Island, that indigenous peoples knew about Alcatraz at least 10,000 years before any European knew about any part of North America. An example of policies which Native Americans objected to was pressure put on the Moqui Hopi in 1895, when they were one of the largest Indian groups being held as military prisoners by the US. The U.S. government offered to release them if they agreed to send their children to U.S. Indian schools. The Hopi refused, believing this would cause their culture to deteriorate and force assimilation. The effect of the policy was to break any positive relations the Hopi may have built with the U.S. government.[33] During the nineteen months and nine days of occupation, several buildings were damaged or destroyed by fire, including the recreation hall, the Coast Guard quarters and the Warden’s home. The origins of the fires are unknown. The U.S. government demolished a number of other buildings (mostly apartments) after the occupation had ended. Graffiti from the period of Native American occupation are still visible at many locations on the island.[34] During the occupation, the Indian termination policy, designed to end federal recognition of tribes, was rescinded by President Richard Nixon. He established a new policy of self-determination, in part as a result of the publicity and awareness created by the occupation. The occupation ended on June 11, 1971.[35] The results of Alcatraz inspired other political actions: the Trail of Broken Treaties and the Longest Walk in 1985. The occupation of Alcatraz played a large role in changing self-perception for many Native Americans. It is defined as a key movement in their struggle for what some felt was rightfully theirs. Following a succession of demands at Alcatraz, the U.S. government returned excess, unused land to the Taos, Yakama, Navajo and Washoe tribes.[33] [edit] Landmarking and development The entire Alcatraz Island was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976,[30] and was further declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986.[31][36] In 1993, the National Park Service published a plan entitled Alcatraz Development Concept and Environmental Assessment. This plan, approved in 1980, doubled the amount of Alcatraz accessible to the public to enable visitors to enjoy its scenery and bird, marine, and animal life, such as the California slender salamander.[37] Today American Indian groups such as the International Indian Treaty Council hold ceremonies on the island, most notably, their “Sunrise Gatherings” every Columbus and Thanksgiving Day. [edit] Proposed peace center The Global Peace Foundation proposed to raze the prison and build a peace center in its place. During the previous year, supporters collected 10,350 signatures that placed it on the presidential primary ballots in San Francisco for February 5, 2008.[38] The proposed plan was estimated at $1 billion. For the plan to pass, Congress would have had to have taken Alcatraz out of the National Park Service. Critics of the plan said that Alcatraz is too rich in history to be destroyed.[39] On February 6, 2008, the Alcatraz Island Global Peace Center Proposition C failed to pass, with 72% of voters rejecting the proposition.[40] Cisterns. A bluff that, because of its moist crevices, is believed to be an important site for California slender salamanders. Cliff tops at the island’s north end. Containing a onetime manufacturing building and a plaza, the area is listed as important to nesting and roosting birds. The powerhouse area. A steep embankment where native grassland and creeping wild rye support a habitat for deer mice. Tide pools. A series of them, created by long-ago quarrying activities, contains still-unidentified invertebrate species and marine algae.[citation needed] They form one of the few tide-pool complexes in the Bay, according to the report. Western cliffs and cliff tops. Rising to heights of nearly 100 feet (30 m), they provide nesting and roosting sites for sea birds including pigeon guillemots, cormorants, Heermann’s Gulls and Western Gulls. Harbor seals can occasionally be seen on a small beach at the base. The parade grounds. Carved from the hillside during the late 19th century and covered with rubble since the government demolished guard housing in 1971, the area has become a habitat and breeding ground for black-crowned night herons, western gulls, slender salamanders and deer mice. The Agave Path, a trail named for its dense growth of agave. Located atop a shoreline bulkhead on the south side, it provides a nesting habitat for night herons. Alcatraz prison and its surroundings. Flowers on Alcatraz [edit] Flora Gardens planted by families of the original Army post, and later by families of the prison guards, fell into neglect after the prison closure in 1963. After 40 years they are being restored by a paid staff member and many volunteers, thanks to funding by the Garden Conservancy and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. The untended gardens had become severely overgrown and had developed into a nesting habitat and sanctuary for numerous birds. Now, areas of bird habitat are being preserved and protected, while many of the gardens are being fully restored to their original state. In clearing out the overgrowth, many of the original plants were discovered to still be growing where they had been planted – some over 100 years ago. Numerous heirloom rose hybrids, including a Welsh rose that had been believed to be extinct, have been discovered and propagated. Many species of roses, succulents, and geraniums are to be found growing among apple and fig trees, banks of sweet peas, manicured gardens of cutting flowers, and wildly overgrown sections of native grasses with blackberry and honeysuckle.Alcatraz Island has appeared many times in popular culture, most notably “[The Rock (film)|The Rock]]” starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage. Its appeal as a film setting derives from its isolation and its history as a prison from which, officially, no prisoner ever successfully escaped. [edit] GalleryThe Federal Bureau of Prisons (often referred to operationally as the BOP)[1] is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system also handles prisoners who committed acts considered felonies under the District of Columbia’s law. The Bureau was established in 1930 to provide more progressive and humane care for federal inmates, to professionalize the prison service, and to ensure consistent and centralized administration of the 11 federal prisons in operation at the time. According to its official web site, the Bureau consists of more than 116 institutions, six regional offices, its headquarters office in Washington, D.C.,[2] 2 staff training centers, and 22 community corrections offices, and is responsible for the custody and care of approximately 210,000 federal offenders. Approximately 82 percent of these inmates are confined in Bureau-operated correctional facilities or detention centers. The remainder are confined through agreements with state and local governments or through contracts with privately-operated community corrections centers, detention centers, prisons, and juvenile facilities.[3] The Bureau is also responsible for carrying out all judicially mandated federal executions (other than those carried out under military law) in the United States, and maintains the federal lethal injection chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana. The Federal Prison System existed for more than 30 years before the establishment of the Bureau of Prisons. Although its wardens functioned almost autonomously, the Superintendent of Prisons, a Department of Justice official in Washington, was nominally in charge of Federal prisons,[4] starting with the passage of the Three Prisons Act in 1891, which authorized the Federal Government’s first three penitentiaries. Until 1907, prison matters were handled by the Justice Department’s General Agent. The General Agent was responsible for Justice Department accounts, oversight of internal operations, and certain criminal investigations, as well as prison operations. In 1907, the General Agent’s office was abolished, and its functions were distributed among three new offices: the Division of Accounts (which evolved into the Justice Management Division); the Office of the Chief Examiner (which evolved into the Federal Bureau of Investigation); and the Office of the Superintendent of Prisons and Prisoners, later called the Superintendent of Prisons (which evolved into the Bureau of Prisons).Pursuant to Pub. L. No. 71-218, 46 Stat. 325 (1930), the Bureau of Prisons was established within the Department of Justice and charged with the “management and regulation of all Federal penal and correctional institutions.” This responsibility covered the administration of the 11 Federal prisons in operation at the time. While time have passed and laws have changed, the Bureau’s responsibilities have grown, as has the prison population. At the end of 1930, the agency operated 14 facilities for just over 13,000 inmates. By 1940, the Bureau had grown to 24 facilities with 24,360 inmates. Except for a few fluctuations, the number of inmates did not change significantly between 1940 and 1980, when the population was 24,252. However, the number of facilities almost doubled (from 24 to 44) as the Bureau gradually moved from operating large facilities confining inmates of many security levels to operating smaller facilities that each confined inmates with similar security needs.[citation needed] As a result of Federal law enforcement efforts and new legislation that dramatically altered sentencing in the Federal criminal justice system, the 1980s brought a significant increase in the number of Federal inmates. The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 established determinate sentencing, abolished parole, and reduced good time; additionally, several mandatory minimum sentencing provisions were enacted in 1986, 1988, and 1990. From 1980 to 1989, the inmate population more than doubled, from just over 24,000 to almost 58,000. During the 1990s, the population more than doubled again, reaching approximately 136,000 at the end of 1999 as efforts to combat illegal drugs and illegal immigration contributed to significantly increased conviction rates.[citation needed] Staffing levels also have risen dramatically in recent years. In 1980, the Bureau had approximately 10,000 employees. That number almost doubled in 10 years to just over 19,000 in 1990. As of June 2003, there were about 34,000 employees in the Bureau.Bureau of Prisons Officers and employees are granted powers of arrest under Title 18, section 3050 of the United States Code under which they may: (1) make arrests on or off of Bureau of Prisons property without warrant for violations of the following provisions regardless of where the violation may occur: sections 111 (assaulting officers), 751 (escape), and 752 (assisting escape) of title 18, United States Code, and section 1826 (c) (escape) of title 28, United States Code; (2) make arrests on Bureau of Prisons premises or reservation land of a penal, detention, or correctional facility without warrant for violations occurring thereon of the following provisions: sections 661 (theft), 1361 (depredation of property), 1363 (destruction of property), 1791 (contraband), 1792 (mutiny and riot), and 1793 (trespass) of title 18, United States Code; and (3) arrest without warrant for any other offense described in title 18 or 21 of the United States Code, if committed on the premises or reservation of a penal or correctional facility of the Bureau of Prisons if necessary to safeguard security, good order, or government property; if such officer or employee has reasonable grounds to believe that the arrested person is guilty of such offense, and if there is likelihood of such person’s escaping before an arrest warrant can be obtained. If the arrested person is a fugitive from custody, such prisoner shall be returned to custody. Officers and employees of the said Bureau of Prisons may carry firearms under such rules and regulations as the Attorney General may prescribe.[5]All Bureau of Prisons employees undergo 200 hours of formal training in the first year of employment. All Bureau of Prisons employees must also complete 120 hours of training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, unincorporated Glynn County, Georgia.[6] There, Bureau employees receive training in correctional techniques, ethics, control techniques, applicable laws, self-defense, report writing, interacting with inmates, and firearms. With few exceptions, all Bureau of Prisons employees must qualify with three types of firearms: 9mm pistol, 12-gauge shotgun and M-16 rifle.The BOP has five security levels. Federal Prison Camps (FPCs), the BOP minimum security facilities, a lack of or a limited amount of perimeter fencing, and a relatively low staff to inmate ratio. Low security Federal Correctional Institutions (FCIs) have double-fenced perimeters, and inmates live in mostly cubicle or dormitory housing. Medium security FCIs and some United States Penitentiaries (USPs) are classified to hold medium security inmates. The medium facilities have strengthened perimeters, which often consist of double fences with electronic detection systems. Medium facilities mostly have cell housing. Most U.S. Penitentiaries are classified as high security facilities. The perimeters, highly secured, often have reinforced fences or walls. Federal Correctional Complexes (FCCs) are co-locations of BOP facilities with different security levels and/or genders.[7] Administrative facilities are BOP facilities with specialized missions. The administrative facilities include Federal Detention Centers (FDCs), Federal Medical Centers (FMCs), the Federal Transfer Center (FTC), Metropolitan Correctional Centers (MCCs), and Metropolitan Detention Centers (MDCs). The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility near Florence, Colorado is used to house prisoners that the BOP considers to be especially dangerous, escape-prone, or violent. The Medical Center for Federal Prisoners (MCFP) in Springfield, Missouri is a special unit for male prisoners who require medical care.[7] Some units have small, minimum security camps, known as “satellite camps,” adjacent to the main facilities. The camps provide labor to the main institutions and to off-site areas. Federal Correctional Institution, Memphis is served by an off-site satellite camp. Federal Correctional Institution, Elkton and Federal Correctional Institution, Jesup each have a low security satellite facility adjacent to each main institution. Federal Correctional Institution, La Tuna has a low security facility, affiliated with the main facility, that is not adjacent to the main prison.[7] [edit] Prisons with female inmates Federal Prison Camp, Alderson, one of the “Big Seven” BOP all-female facilities 28 facilities in the Federal Bureau of Prisons house female inmates. The Federal Bureau of Prisons refers to the seven facilities that house only female inmates as the “Big Seven.” The facilities are Federal Prison Camp, Alderson, Federal Prison Camp, Bryan, Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury, Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, Federal Correctional Institution, Tallahassee, and Federal Correctional Institution, Waseca; of them, Dublin and Tallahassee each have one small male detention unit. The other 21 facilities that house female inmates have mixed populations.[8] Of the regions of the United States defined by the Bureau of Prisons, each region has one of the “Big Seven” facilities, with the exception of the South Central Region, which has two of the facilities.[9] [edit] Contract facilities About 15% of the inmates under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Prisons are in facilities operated by third parties. Most of them are in facilities operated by private companies. Others are in facilities operated by local and state governments. Some are in Residential Reentry Centers (RRC) (AKA: Community Corrections Centers) operated by private companies. The bureau uses contract facilities to manage its own prison population. The bureau stated that contract facilities are “especially useful” for housing low security, specialized groups of people, such as sentenced criminal aliens.Conversions The Federal Bureau of Prisons has converted military bases to prison space. In one case, the bureau converted Yankton College into Federal Prison Camp, Yankton.[11] At least one abandoned federal prison, Alcatraz Island, has been converted into a park and preserved as a historic site. [edit] Maximum security facilities ADX Florence is the BOP’s administrative maximum facility for men The highest security BOP facility for male prisoners is the ADX Florence supermax in Fremont County, Colorado.[12] The BOP has not designated a “supermax” facility for women. Women in the BOP system who are classified as “special management concerns” due to violence and/or escape attempts are confined in the administrative unit of Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas. Most high security female prisoners reside in special restricted zones within general women’s prisons.[13] Alcatraz, controlled by the BOP from 1934 to 1963, historically was the BOP’s highest security facility for men. When United States Penitentiary, Marion opened in 1963, Alcatraz closed and its prisoners were transferred to Marion, which became the highest security prison for men. In 1994 ADX Florence opened, becoming the highest security prison in the BOP.[13] As of 2002 the control unit of USP Marion was the second highest security facility in the BOP.[12] As of 2010 USP Marion is now a medium security facility.[14] [edit] Inmate population The Federal Bureau of Prisons maintains custody of persons convicted of violating federal laws (laws of the Federal Government of the United States) and many pre-trial detainees for the U.S. Marshals Service and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.[15] In addition several inmates in BOP custody are persons awaiting trial for federal charges against them.[16] The bureau also incarcerates individuals convicted of felonies in the District of Columbia’s jurisdiction.[15] The BOP has had custody of the District of Columbia’s felons since the passing of the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997.[17] Most inmates convicted of violating local or state laws are sent to city, county, or state jails and prisons. The BOP has some state inmates in its custody. In its inmate locator, its website program for locating names, release dates, and locations of people incarcerated in the BOP system, the BOP has records of people who were never convicted of crime but were incarcerated in BOP facilities due to being held for civil contempt, as a material witnesses, or as a pre-trial detainees who were never convicted of federal crimes.[16] As of April 24, 2010, of the 211,108 inmates within the BOP system, 193,129 have been sentenced. 172,565 are in BOP facilities, 24,490 are in privately-managed secure facilities, and 14,053 are in other contract facilities. 197,345 of the inmates, 93.5%, are male, while 13,763 (6.5%) are female. The average age of a BOP inmate is 38 years. 122,273 (57.9%) are White, 81,373 (38.5%) are Black, 3,827 (1.8%) are Native American, and 3,635 (1.7%) are Asian. 69,709 (33%) are Hispanic of any race. 154,204 (73.0%) are citizens of the United States. Of the non-U.S. citizens, 38,457 (18.2 %) are from Mexico, 2,743 (1.3%) are from Colombia, 1,834 (0.9 %) are from Cuba, 2,690 (1.3 %) are from the Dominican Republic, and 11,180 (5.3%) are of other citizenships or of unknown citizenships.[18] [edit] Employee statistics As of April 24, 2010, of the employees working for the BOP, 23,510 (63.8%) are White, 7,844 (21.3%) are Black, 4,161 (11.3%) are Hispanic, 777 (2.1%) are Asian, 519 (1.4%) are Native American, and 15 are of other races. 26,670 (72.4%) employees are men, while 10,157 (27.6%) are women.[18] [edit] Special prison populations [edit] Juvenile prisoners Historically the juvenile population within the Federal Bureau of Prisons mostly consisted of Native American males who had extensive histories of recreational drug use, alcohol abuse, and/or violent behavior. Typically juveniles sent into BOP custody are between 17 and 20, must have been under 18 at the time of the offense and had been convicted of sex-related offenses. This is because the most severe crimes committed on Indian Reservations are usually taken to federal court. According to the BOP, most of the juveniles it receives had committed violent crimes and had “an unfavorable history of responding to interventions and preventive measures in the community.” Most federal juvenile inmates were from Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota.[19] The BOP contracts with facilities that house juvenile offenders. Title 18 U.S.C. 5039 specifies that “No juvenile committed, whether pursuant to an adjudication of delinquency or conviction for an offense, to the custody of the Attorney General may be placed or retained in an adult jail or correctional institution in which he has regular contact with adults incarcerated because they have been convicted of a crime or are awaiting trial on criminal charges.” The definition includes secure facilities and community-based correctional facilities. Federally-sentenced juveniles may be moved into federal adult facilities at certain points; juveniles sentenced as adults are moved into adult facilities when they turn 18. Juveniles sentenced as juveniles are moved into adult facilities when they turn 21.[20] [edit] Designation and Sentence Computation Center The BOP has the Grand Prairie Office Complex on the grounds of the U.S. Armed Forces Reserve Complex in Grand Prairie, Texas.[21] Within the complex the BOP operates the Designation and Sentence Computation Center (DSCC), which calculates federal sentences, keeps track of the statutory “good time” accumulated by inmates and lump sum extra “good time” awards, and detainers.[22]The federal death row for men is located at the United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute.[23] As of 2010, the two women on federal death row, Angela Johnson and Lisa M. Montgomery, are held at Federal Medical Center, Carswell.[24][25][26] Federal Medical Center, Carswell houses the BOP’s female death row inmates. The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 reinstituted the federal death penalty.[27] On July 19, 1993, the federal government designated USP Terre Haute as the site where federal death sentences would be implemented, including the establishment of the “Special Confinement Unit,” the federal death row for men. The BOP modified USP Terre Haute in 1995 and 1996 so it could house death row functions. On July 13, 1999, the Special Confinement Unit at USP Terre Haute opened, and the BOP transferred male federal death row inmates from other federal prisons and from state prisons to USP Terre Haute.San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean. Specifically, both rivers flow into Suisun Bay, which flows through the Carquinez Strait to meet with the Napa River at the entrance to San Pablo Bay, which connects at its south end to San Francisco Bay. However, the entire group of interconnected bays is often referred to as the “San Francisco Bay”. San Francisco Bay is located in the U.S. state of California, surrounded by a contiguous region known as the San Francisco Bay Area (often simply “the Bay Area”), dominated by the large cities San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. The waterway entrance to San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean is called Golden Gate. Across the strait spans the Golden Gate Bridge.The Bay covers somewhere between 400 and 1,600 square miles (1,040 to 4,160 square kilometers), depending on which sub-bays (such as San Pablo Bay), estuaries, wetlands, and so on are included in the measurement.[1][2] The main part of the Bay measures 3 to 12 miles (5 to 20 km) wide east-to-west and somewhere between 48 miles (77 km)1 and 60 miles (97 km)2 north-to-south. It is the largest Pacific estuary in North or South America. Mouth of San Francisco Bay looking east from the Pacific. The bay was navigable as far south as San Jose until the 1850s, when hydraulic mining released massive amounts of sediment from the rivers that settled in those parts of the bay that had little or no current. Later, wetlands and inlets were deliberately filled in, reducing the Bay’s size since the mid-19th century by as much as one third. Recently, large areas of wetlands have been restored, further confusing the issue of the Bay’s size. Despite its value as a waterway and harbor, many thousands of acres of marshy wetlands at the edges of the bay were, for many years, considered wasted space. As a result, soil excavated for building projects or dredged from channels was often dumped onto the wetlands and other parts of the bay as landfill. From the mid-19th century through the late 20th century, more than a third of the original bay was filled and often built on. The deep, damp soil in these areas is subject to liquefaction during earthquakes, and most of the major damage close to the Bay in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 occurred to structures on these areas. San Francisco, Oakland, and the Bay Bridge The Marina District of San Francisco, hard hit by the 1989 earthquake, was built on fill that had been placed there for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915), although liquefaction did not occur on a large scale. In the 1990s, San Francisco International Airport proposed filling in hundreds more acres to extend its overcrowded international runways in exchange for purchasing other parts of the bay and converting them back to wetlands. The idea was, and remains, controversial. (For further details, see the “Bay Fill and Depth Profile” section.) There are five large islands in San Francisco Bay. Isolated in the center of the Bay is Alcatraz, the site of the famous federal penitentiary. Mountainous Yerba Buena Island is pierced by a tunnel linking the east and west spans of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge. Attached to the north is the artificial and flat Treasure Island, site of the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. Closest to shore, Angel Island was known as “Ellis Island West” because it served as the entry point for immigrants from East Asia. Raccoon Strait, between Tiburon and Angel Island, is the deepest part of the Bay. The federal prison on Alcatraz Island no longer functions, and the complex is now a popular tourist site. Alameda, the largest island was created when the Oakland shipping lane was cut in 1901. Alameda is now predominately a bedroom community. San Francisco Bay, and the city skyline seen from Marin County in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. [edit] Geology San Francisco Bay is thought to represent a down-warping of the Earth’s crust between the San Andreas Fault to the west and the Hayward Fault to the east, though the precise nature of this remains under study. During the last ice age, the basin now filled by the bay was a large linear valley with small hills, similar to most of the valleys of the Coast Ranges. The rivers of the Central Valley ran out to sea through a canyon that is now the Golden Gate. As the great ice sheets melted, sea level rose 300 feet (91 m) over 4,000 years, and the valley filled with water from the Pacific, becoming a bay. The small hills became islands. [edit] History San Francisco Bay from space, September 1994 Main article: San Francisco Bay Discovery Site The first recorded European discovery of San Francisco Bay was on November 4, 1769 when Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolà, unable to find the port of Monterey, California, continued north close to what is now Pacifica and reached the summit of the 1,200-foot (370 m) high Sweeney Ridge, where he sighted San Francisco Bay. Portola and his party did not realize what they had discovered, thinking they had arrived at a large arm of what is now called Drakes Bay. At the time, Drakes Bay went by the name Bahia de San Francisco and thus both bodies of water became associated with the name. Eventually, the larger, more important body of water fully appropriated the name San Francisco Bay. The first European to enter the bay is believed to have been the Spanish explorer Juan de Ayala, who passed through the Golden Gate on August 5, 1775 in his ship the San Carlos, and moored in a bay of Angel Island now known as Ayala Cove. This famous bay was the center of American settlement in the Far West during the 19th century. From the 1820s onward, American presidents and expansionists coveted the bay as a great natural harbor in the Pacific. After many failed efforts to buy the bay and varying areas around it, the US Navy and Army seized the region from Mexico during the Mexican-American War (1845–1848). On February 2, 1848 California was annexed to the U.S. with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. A year and a half later, California requested to join the United States on December 3, 1849 and was accepted as the 31st State of the union on September 9, 1850. During the California gold rush of 1848-1850s, San Francisco Bay instantly became one of the world’s greatest seaports, dominating shipping and transportation in the American West until the last years of the 19th century. The bay’s regional importance became paramount when the transcontinental railroad reached its western terminus in Alameda on September 6, 1869.[3] The terminus was switched to the Oakland Long Wharf two months later on November 8, 1869.[4] San Francisco Bay continues to support some of the densest industrial production and urban settlement in the United States. The San Francisco Bay Area is the American West’s second-largest urban area with approximately 8 million residents.Despite its urban and industrial character, San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta remain perhaps California’s most important ecological habitats. California’s Dungeness crab, California halibut, and Pacific salmon fisheries rely on the bay as a nursery. The few remaining salt marshes now represent most of California’s remaining salt marsh, supporting a number of endangered species and providing key ecosystem services such as filtering pollutants and sediments from the rivers. San Francisco Bay is recognized for protection by the California Bays and Estuaries Policy.[5] San Francisco Bay ca. 1770-1820 Most famously, the bay is a key link in the Pacific Flyway. Millions of waterfowl annually use the bay shallows as a refuge. Two endangered species of birds are found here: the California least tern and the California clapper rail. Exposed bay muds provide important feeding areas for shorebirds, but underlying layers of bay mud pose geological hazards for structures near many parts of the bay perimeter. San Francisco Bay provided the nation’s first wildlife refuge, Oakland’s artificial Lake Merritt, constructed in the 1860s, and America’s first urban National Wildlife Refuge, the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge (SFBNWR) in 1972. The Bay is also plagued by non-native species. Salt produced from San Francisco Bay is shipped throughout the Western United States to bakeries, canneries, fisheries, cheese makers and other food industries and used to de-ice winter highways, clean kidney dialysis machines, for animal nutrition, and in many industries. Low-salinity salt ponds mirror the ecosystem of the bay, with fish and fish-eating birds in abundance. Mid-salinity ponds support dense populations of brine shrimp, which provide a rich food source for millions of shorebirds. Only salt-tolerant micro-algae survive in the high salinity ponds, and impart a deep red color to these ponds from the pigment within the algae protoplasm. The seasonal range of water temperature in the Bay is from about 8 °C (46 °F) to about 23 °C (73 °F). Humphrey the Whale entered San Francisco Bay twice on errant migrations, and was successfully rescued and redirected each time in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This occurred again with Dawn and Delta a mother and calf in 2007. Industrial, mining, and other uses of mercury have resulted in a widespread distribution in the bay, with uptake in the bay’s phytoplankton and contamination of its sportfish.[6] In November 2007, a ship named COSCO Busan collided with the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge and spilled over 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel, creating the largest oil spill in the region since 1996.[7] At times, San Francisco Bay is covered in fog. For the first time in 65 years, Pacific Harbor Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) returned to the Bay in 2009.[8] Golden Gate Cetacean Research, a non-profit organization focused on research on cetaceans, has developed a photo-identification database enabling the scientists to identify specific porpoise individuals and is trying to ascertain whether a healthier bay has brought their return.[9] Pacific harbor porpoise range from Point Conception, California to Alaska and across to the Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan. Recent genetic studies show that there is a local stock from San Francisco to the Russian River and that eastern Pacific coastal populations rarely migrate far, unlike western Atlantic Harbor porpoise.San Francisco Bay’s profile changed dramatically in the late 19th century and again with the initiation of dredging by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the 20th century. Before about 1860, most bay shores (exception: rocky shores such as those in Carquinez Strait, along Marin shoreline, Point Richmond, Golden Gate area) contained extensive wetlands that graded nearly invisibly from freshwater wetlands to salt marsh and then tidal mudflat. A deep channel ran through the center of the bay, following the ancient drowned river valley. In the 1860s and continuing into the early 20th century, miners dumped staggering quantities of mud and gravel from hydraulic mining operations into the upper Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. GK Gilbert’s estimates of debris total more than eight times the amount of rock and dirt moved during construction of the Panama Canal. This material flowed down the rivers, progressively eroding into finer and finer sediment, until it reached the bay system. Here some of it settled, eventually filling in Suisun Bay, San Pablo Bay, and San Francisco Bay, in decreasing order of severity. By the end of the 19th century, these “slickens” had filled in much of the shallow bay flats, raising the entire bay profile. New marshes were created in some areas. (1) Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, (2) Golden Gate Bridge, (3) San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, (4) San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, (5) Dumbarton Bridge In the last years of the nineteenth- and first decades of the twentieth-centuries, at the behest of local political officials and following Congressional orders, the US Army Corps began dredging the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and the deep channels of San Francisco Bay. This work has continued without interruption ever since, an enormous federal subsidy of San Francisco Bay shipping. Some of the dredge spoils were initially dumped in the bay shallows (including helping to create Treasure Island on the former shoals to the north of Yerba Buena Island) and used to raise an island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The net effect of dredging has been to maintain a narrow deep channel—deeper perhaps than the original bay channel—through a much shallower bay. At the same time, most of the marsh areas have been filled or blocked off from the bay by dikes. Large ships transiting the bay must follow deep underwater channels that are maintained by frequent dredging as the average depth of the Bay is as only as deep as a swimming pool–approximately 12 to 15 ft (3.7 to 4.6 m). Between Hayward and San Mateo to San Jose it is 12 to 36 in (300 to 910 mm). The deepest part of the bay is under and out of the Golden Gate Bridge, at 300 ft (91 m). [edit] Transportation Main article: Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area San Francisco Bay was traversed by watercraft since before the coming of Europeans; the indigenous peoples used their canoes to fish and clam along the shoreline. The era of sail brought ships that communicated with the rest of the world and served as early ferries and freighters within the Bay and between the Bay and inland ports such as Sacramento and Stockton. These were gradually replaced by steam-powered vessels starting in the late 19th century. Several shipyards were early established around the Bay, augmented during wartime. (See e.g. Kaiser Shipyards) San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco Bay is spanned by six bridges, five of them dedicated to vehicle traffic: the Golden Gate Bridge (which was the largest single span suspension bridge ever built at the time of its construction), the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge, the Hayward-San Mateo Bridge, and the Dumbarton Bridge. The sixth is the currently unused railroad bridge just south of the Dumbarton Bridge. The bay is also spanned by the Transbay Tube, an underwater tunnel through which BART runs. Prior to the construction of these infrastructures, transbay transportation was dominated by fleets of ferryboats operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad and the Key System transit company. However, in recent decades, ferries have returned, primarily serving commuters from Marin County, relieving the traffic bottleneck of the Golden Gate Bridge. (See article Ferries of San Francisco Bay). The Bay also continues to serve as a major international shipping port, served by a large container facility operated by the Port of Oakland, and two smaller facilities in Richmond and San Francisco. Port Of Oakland California [edit] RecreationSan Francisco Bay is a mecca for sailors (boats, as well as windsurfing and kitesurfing), due to consistent strong westerly/northwesterly thermally-generated winds (Beaufort force 6 (15-25 knots) is common on summer afternoons) and protection from large open ocean swells. Yachting and yacht racing are popular pastimes and the San Francisco Bay Area is home to many of the world’s top sailors. A shoreline bicycle and pedestrian trail known as the San Francisco Bay Trail encircles the edge of the bay. The San Francisco Bay Area Water Trail is a planned system of designated trailheads designed to improve non-motorized small boat access to the bay. The California Coastal Conservancy approved funding in March 2011 to begin implementation of the water trail. Kitesurfing and wind surfing are also popular in the bay.The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service that surrounds the San Francisco Bay area. It is one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States, with over 13 million visitors a year. It is also one of the largest urban parks in the world, with a size two-and-a-half times that of the consolidated city and county of San Francisco. The park is not one continuous locale, but rather a collection of areas that stretch from northern San Mateo County to southern Marin County, and includes several areas of San Francisco. The park is as diverse as it is expansive; it contains famous tourist attractions such as Muir Woods National Monument, Alcatraz, and the Presidio of San Francisco. The GGNRA is also home to 1,273 plant and animal species, encompasses 59 miles (95 km) of bay and ocean shoreline and has military fortifications that span centuries of California history, from the Spanish conquistadors to Cold War-era Nike missile sites.The park was created thanks in large part to efforts to create it by Congressman Phillip Burton. In 1972, President Richard Nixon signed into law “An Act to Establish the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.” The bill allocated $120 million for land acquisition and development. The National Park Service first purchased Alcatraz and Fort Mason from the U.S. Army. Then to complete the national park in the north bay, the Nature Conservancy purchased the land in the Marin Headlands that made up the failed development project called Marincello from the Gulf Oil Corporation. The Nature Conservancy then transferred the land to the GGNRA. These properties formed the initial basis for the park. Throughout the next 30 years, the National Park service acquired land and historic sites from the U.S. Army, private landowners and corporations, incorporating them into the GGNRA. The acquisitions range from the historic Cliff House restaurant and Sutro Baths in San Francisco, to large and expansive forest and coastal lands, such as Sweeney Ridge in San Mateo County and Muir Woods National Monument in Marin. Many decommissioned Army bases and fortifications were incorporated into the park, including Fort Funston, four Nike missile sites, The Presidio and Crissy Field. The latest acquisition by the National Park Service is Mori Point, a small parcel of land on the Pacifica coast. In 1988, UNESCO designated the GGNRA and 12 adjacent protected areas the Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve. In February 2005, Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation in the United States Senate that would add 4,700 acres (1,900 ha) of natural land to the GGNRA in San Mateo County including a 4,076 (acre?) parcel known as the Rancho Corral de Tierra. The property, located south of Pacifica and surrounding the communities of Moss Beach and Montara, is home to many diverse plant and animal species. The bill passed in the Senate, but did not pass the House of Representatives. Fort Baker – Former Army post located on the northern side of the Golden Gate Headlands Center for the Arts – Set in artist-renovated military buildings in the Marin Headlands, Headlands Center for the Arts is an internationally renowned artist residency program that promotes the role of artists in society. Headlands Center for the arts has Public Programs, including performances, discussions and lectures, and its Project Space, an 1,800-square-foot (170 m2) work space with a rotating roster of artists, is open 5 days a week to the public. Marin Headlands – Includes Nike missile site SF-88, The Marine Mammal Center, Fort Cronkhite, Fort Barry, Rodeo Lagoon, Rodeo Beach, Muir Beach, Tennessee Valley and Gerbode Valley Muir Woods National Monument – Huge Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) fill this forest, along with Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum), Tanbark Oak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), and California Bay Laurel (Umbellularia californica). Oakwood Valley – bordered by Marin City to the north and the Marin Headlands to the south,[1] Oakwood Valley contains the largest untouched woodland of Coast Live Oak and California bay trees in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.[1] Olema Valley – 10 miles (16 km) of grassland and forest that stretch from Tomales Bay to Bolinas Lagoon Point Bonita Lighthouse – An active lighthouse maintained by the United States Coast Guard Stinson Beach – Shark-laden beach north of San Francisco and south of Bolinas Lagoon Muir Beach Overlook – A former Army base-end station with a clifftop view of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco, on State Route 1 The United States Census Bureau (officially the Bureau of the Census, as defined in Title 13 U.S.C. § 11) is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as a leading source of data about America’s people and economy.[1] The most visible role of the Census Bureau is to perform the official decennial (every 10 years) count of people living in the U.S. The most important result is the reallocation of the number of seats each state is allowed in the House of Representatives,[1] but the results also affect a range of government programs received by each state. The agency director is a political appointee selected by the President of the United States. The Constitution of the United States (Article I, section II) directs that the population be enumerated at least once every ten years and the resulting counts used to set the number of members from each state in the House of Representatives and, by extension, in the Electoral College. The Census Bureau now conducts a full population count every 10 years in years ending with a 0 (zero) and uses the term “decennial” to describe the operation. Between censuses, the Census Bureau makes population estimates and projections.[2] In addition, Census data directly affects how more than $400 billion per year in federal and state funding is allocated to communities for neighborhood improvements, public health, education, transportation and much more. The Census Bureau is mandated with fulfilling these obligations: the collecting of statistics about the nation, its people, and economy. The Census Bureau’s legal authority is codified in Title 13 of the United States Code. In addition, the Census Bureau also conducts surveys on behalf of various federal government and local government agencies on topics such as employment, crime, health, consumer expenditures, and housing. Within the bureau, these are known as “demographic surveys” and are conducted perpetually between and during decennial (10-year) population counts. The Census Bureau also conducts economic surveys of manufacturing, retail, service, and other establishments and of domestic governments. From 1790 to 1840, the census was taken by marshals of the judicial districts.[3] The Census Act of 1840 established a central office[4] which became known as the Census Office. Several acts followed that revised and authorized new censuses, typically at the 10-year intervals. In 1902 the temporary Census Office was moved under the Department of Interior, and in 1903 it was renamed the Census Bureau under the new Department of Commerce and Labor. The department was intended to consolidate overlapping statistical agencies, but Census Bureau officials were hindered by their subordinate role in the department.[5] An act in 1920 changed the date and authorized manufacturing censuses every 2 years and agriculture censuses every 10 years.[6] In 1929, a bill was passed mandating that the House of Representatives be reapportioned based on the results of the 1930 Census.[6] In 1954, various acts were codified into Title 13 of the US Code.[7] By law the Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U.S. President by December 31, 2010. States within the Union receive the results in the spring of the following year. [edit] Uses of census data Many federal, state, local and tribal governments use census data to: Decide the location of new housing and public facilities, Examine the demographic characteristics of communities, states, and the USA, Plan transportation systems and roadways, Determine quotas and creation of police and fire precincts, and Create localized areas for elections, schools, utilities, etc. [edit] Businesses Business also has many uses for census data, as listed; Forecast future product demand, Determine site locations for expansion/new business, Determine future need for nursing homes, day care centers, hospitals, etc., Clarify if they are employing a representative workforce.[1] [edit] Data stewardship The United States Census Bureau is committed to confidentiality and guarantees non-disclosure of any addresses or personal information related to individuals or establishments. Title 13 of the U.S. Code establishes penalties for the disclosure of this information. All Census employees must sign a sworn affidavit of non-disclosure prior to employment. The Bureau cannot share responses, addresses or personal information with anyone including United States or foreign government and law enforcement agencies such as the IRS or the FBI or Interpol. “Providing quality data, for public good—while respecting individual privacy and, at the same time, protecting confidentiality—is the Census Bureau’s core responsibility,” says Arnold Jackson, chief operating officer for the US Census.[cite this quote] “Keeping the public’s trust is critical to the Census’s ability to carry out the mission as the leading source of quality data about the Nation’s people and economy.”[cite this quote] Only after 72 years does the information collected become available to other agencies or the general public. In 1918, the Census Bureau released individual information regarding several hundred young men to the Justice Department and Selective Service system for the purpose of prosecutions for draft evasion.[8][9] During World War II, the United States Census Bureau assisted the government’s Japanese American internment efforts by providing confidential neighborhood information on Japanese-Americans. The Bureau’s role was denied for decades but was finally proven in 2007. Since 1903, the official census-taking agency of the United States government has been the Bureau of the Census. The Census Bureau is headed by a Director, assisted by a Deputy Director and an Executive Staff composed of the associate directors. In April 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Robert M. Groves to head the Census Bureau. Census headquarters in Suitland, Maryland. The Census Bureau has had headquarters in Suitland, Maryland since 1942. A new headquarters complex was completed in 2007 and supports over 4,000 employees.[12] The Bureau operates regional offices in 12 cities: Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City, Seattle, Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, and Los Angeles. The National Processing Center is located in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Additional temporary processing facilities are used to facilitate the decennial census, which employs more than a million people. The cost of the 2000 Census was $4.5 billion. During the years just prior to the decennial census, parallel census offices, known as “Regional Census Centers” are opened in the field office cities. The decennial operations are carried out from these facilities. The Regional Census Centers l oversee the openings and closings of smaller “Local Census Offices” within their collection jurisdictions. The estimated cost of the 2010 Census is $14.7 billion. The Census Bureau also runs the Census Information Center cooperative program that involves 58 “national, regional, and local non-profit organizations.” The CIC program aims to represent the interests of underserved communities.The 1890 census was the first to use the electric tabulating machines invented by Herman Hollerith.[14][15] For 1890-1940 details, see Truesdell, Leon E. (1965). The Development of Punch Card Tabulation in the Bureau of the Census, 1890-1940: With outlines of actual tabulation programs. US GPO. In 1946, knowing of the Bureau’s funding of Hollerith and, later, Powers, John Mauchly approached the Bureau about early funding for UNIVAC development.[16] A UNIVAC I computer was accepted by the Bureau in 1951.[17] In order to reduce paper usage and reduce payroll expenses, 500,000 handheld computers (HHC’s) were used for the first time in 2009 during the address canvassing portion of the 2010 Decennial Census Project. Projected savings are over one billion dollars.[18] The further implementation of advanced computer systems in the planning for the 2020 census provides major challenges for an upgrade in the technological broadening of census protocol. [edit] Ongoing surveys A survey is a method of collecting and analyzing social, economic, and geographic data. It provides information about the conditions of the United States, states, and counties. Throughout the decade between censuses, the bureau is conducts surveys to produce a general view and comprehensive study of the United States’ social and economic conditions. Staff from the Current Surveys Program conduct ongoing and special surveys about people and their characteristics. A network of professional field representatives gathers information from a sample of households, responding to questions about employment, consumer expenditures, health, housing, and other topics.The National Park Service (NPS) is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations.[1] It was created on August 25, 1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act.[2] It is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior, a federal executive department whose head, the Secretary of the Interior, is a Cabinet officer nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Most of the direct management of the NPS is delegated by the Secretary to the National Park Service Director, who must also be confirmed by the Senate. The 21,989 employees of the NPS oversee 394 units, of which 58 are designated national parks.[National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior. The movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior. They wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits.[4] This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service. On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that mandated the agency “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”[5] Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS.[6] On March 3, 1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933. The act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasn’t until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, made use of this power. Deputy Director Horace M. Albright had suggested to President Roosevelt that the historic sites from the American Civil War should be managed by the National Park Service, rather than the War Department. President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. These two executive orders not only transferred to the National Park Service all the War Department historic sites, but also the national monuments managed by the Department of Agriculture and the parks in and around the capital, which had been run by an independent office.[7] In 1934, a series of ten postage stamps were issued to commemorate the reorganization and expansion of the National Park Service. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service and went to work on bringing park facilities up to the standards that the public expected. The demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, a ten-year effort to upgrade and expand park facilities for the 50th anniversary of the Park Service. New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded.[7] In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery and unique natural features to making parks accessible to the public. Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. By the end of the Twentieth Century, numerous National Heritage Areas were spread across the nation, preserving local parks for local people.[National Park System is a term that describes the collection of all units managed by the National Park Service. The title or designation of a unit need not include the term park; indeed, most do not. The system encompasses approximately 84.4 million acres (338,000 km²), of which more than 4.3 million acres (17,000 km²) remain in private ownership. The largest unit is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. At 13,200,000 acres (53,000 km²), it is over 16 percent of the entire system. The smallest unit in the system is Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, Pennsylvania, at 0.02 acre (80 m²). The National Park System (NPS) includes all properties managed by the National Park Service (also, confusingly, "NPS"). The System as a whole is considered to be a national treasure of the United States, and some of the more famous national parks and monuments are sometimes referred to metaphorically as "crown jewels".[12] In addition to administering its units and other properties, the National Park Service also provides technical and financial assistance to several “affiliated areas” authorized by Congress. The largest affiliated area is New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve at 1,164,025 acres (4711 km²). The smallest is Benjamin Franklin National Memorial at less than 0.01 acres (40 m2). Although all units of the National Park System in the United States are the responsibility of a single agency, they are all managed under individual pieces of authorizing legislation or, in the case of national monuments created under the Antiquities Act, presidential proclamation. For example, because of provisons within their enabling legislation, Congaree National Park is almost entirely wilderness area, yet Yosemite allows unique developments such as the Badger Pass Ski Area and the O’Shaughnessy Dam within its boundaries. Death Valley National Park has an active mine legislated within its boundaries. Such irregularities would not be found in other parks unless specifically provided for by the legislation that created them. Many parks charge an entrance fee ranging from US$3 to $25 per week. Visitors can buy a federal interagency annual pass, known as the “America the Beautiful – National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass,” allowing unlimited entry to federal fee areas (USDA Forest Service, National Park Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Reclamation) for $80 per year. This pass applies to entry fees only. Other applicable fees, such as camping, and backcountry access, still apply. U.S. citizens who are 62+ years old may purchase a version with the same privileges for $10, and citizens with permanent disabilities may receive a free version.[13] [edit] National Parks Grand Canyon National Park, south rim of canyon. A National Park Service MD 900 helicopter NPS Preliminary Survey party, Great Smoky Mountains, 1931 Winter at the Gettysburg Battlefield Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States’ national parks, which have grown in number over the years to 58. Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no state government to manage it, so the Federal Government assumed direct control. Yosemite National Park began as a state park; the land for the park was donated by the Federal Government to the State of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to Federal ownership. At first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the civilian staff was replaced by the U.S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Tyng Mather petitioned the Federal Government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, the National Park Service, to manage all national parks and some national monuments. Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916.[14] Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, many with varying designations as Congress created them.All units of the National Park System are established only by an act of Congress. The exeption under the Antiquities Act allows the president to designate and protect areas as National Monuments by executive order. Most units have been established by an act of Congress with the president confirming the action by signing the act into law. Regardless of the method used, all parks are to be of national importance.[16] A potential park should meet all four of the following standards: It is an outstanding example of a particular type of resource. It possesses exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the natural or cultural themes of our Nation’s heritage. It offers superlative opportunities for recreation, for public use and enjoyment, or for scientific study. It retains a high degree of integrity as a true, accurate, and relatively unspoiled example of the resource. [edit] Special designations Wilderness areas are covered by the US National Wilderness Preservation System, which protects federally managed lands that are of a pristine condition. Established by the Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577) in 1964. The National Wilderness Preservation System originally created hundreds of wilderness zones within already protected federally administered property, consisting of over 9 million acres (36,000 km²). Marine Protected Areas – Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the United States began with Executive Order 13158 in May 2000 when official MPAs were established for the first time.[17] The initial listing of U.S. areas was presented in 2010, consisting of areas already set aside under other legislation. The National Park Service has 19 park units designated as MPAs.[17] See also: #International Affairs. [edit] Budget See also: United States federal budget and United States budget process. The National Park Services budget is divided into two primary areas, discretionary and mandatory spending. Within each of these areas, there are numerous specific purposes to which Congress directs the services activities.[18] The budget of the National Park Service includes discretionary spending which is broken out into two portions: the direct operations of the National Parks and the special initiatives.[19] Listed separately are the special initiatives of the service for the year specified in the legislation. For Fiscal Year 2010, the service has been charged with five initiatives. They include: Stewardship and Education; Professional Excellence; Youth Programs; Climate Impacts; and Budget Restructure and Realignment.Discretionary spending includes the Operations of the National Parks (ONPS), from which all park operations are paid. The United States Park Police funds cover the high-profile law enforcement operations at some of the large parks; i.e., Gateway National Recreation Area, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and the National Mall. The National Recreation and Preservation Program and the Urban Park and Recreation Fund are outreach programs to support state and local outdoor recreational activities.[18] The ONPS section of the budget is divided into five operational areas. These areas include: Resource Stewardship: These are funds and people directed towards the restoration, preservation, and maintenance of natural and cultural resources. The resource staff includes biologists, geologists, archeologists, preservation specialists and a variety of specialized employees to restore and preserve cultural buildings or natural features.[19] Visitor Services: These funds go towards providing for public programs and educational programs for the general public and school groups. This area is commonly staffed by park rangers, who are trained in providing walks, talks, and educational programs to the public. There is an increased number of media specialists, who provide for the exhibits along trails, roads and in visitor contact facilities, as well as the written brochures and web-sites.[19] Park Protection: This includes the staff responding to visitor emergencies (medical and criminal), and the protection of the park’s natural and cultural resources from damage by those persons visiting the park. The staff includes park rangers, park police, criminal investigators, and communication center operators.[19] Facility Maintenance & Operations: This is the cost of maintaining the necessary infrastructure within each park that supports all the services provided. It includes the plows and heavy equipment for road clearing, repairs and construction. There are buildings, trails, roads, docks, boats, utility pipes and wires, and a variety of hidden systems that make a park accessible by the public. The staff includes equipment operators, custodians, trail crews, electricians, plumbers, architects, and other building trade specialists.[19] Park Support: This is the staff that provides for the routine logistical needs of the parks. There are human resource specialists, contracting officers, property specialists, budget managers, accountants and information technology specialists.[19] External Administrative Costs: These costs are bills that are paid directly to outside organizations as part of the logistical support needed to run the parks. It includes rent payments to the General Services Administration for building space; postage payments to the postal machine vendor, and other direct payments.These funds support the use of partnerships to achieve park preservation. 25 million dollars have been provided for FY 2010. These funds require matching grants from individuals, foundations, businesses, and the private sector.[19] Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) The LWCF supports Land Acquisition and State Conservation Assistance grant programs. The 2010 funds are the beginning of an incremental process to fully fund LWCF programs at $900 million. The Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service use these funds to purchase critical lands to protect exiting public lands. Grants will be made to states and local communities to preserve and protect Civil War battlefield sites that are not park of the national park system. The NPS State Conservation Assistance program distributes funding to States for land preservation.[19] Construction This segment of the budget provides for the construction of new facilities or the replacement of aging and unsafe facilities. Additionally, there are funds in the recreation fees, park roads funding, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that provide for other specific facilities/infrastructure work. Additional funds come from the Federal Land Highway Administration for the construction and repair of Park roads.[19] Historic Preservation Fund As the nation’s leader in cultural preservation, funds are provided for a variety of programs to meet these needs nationwide. Two specific programs include the Save America’s Treasures and the Preserve America. The Historic Preservation Offices makes grants available to the States, territories, and tribal lands.[19] National Recreation and Preservation These funds go to local communities to preserve natural and cultural resources. Among the programs supported are the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance programs that promote community links to parks, natural resource conservation and outdoor recreation across America.[19] Offsetting Reductions and Fixed Costs in Various Accounts Within this category are a number of one-time events, which are added or removed as the events require. Notably in the FY 2009 and FY 2010 is the removal of the costs for the presidential inaugural. Other savings are identified through reduced operational costs from energy-efficient retro-fitting and the demolition of structures beyond repair.[19] American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Otherwise known as “stimulus funds”, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides funds to restore and preserve major infrastructures within the national parks.[19] Great Lakes Restoration Initiative The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, is a $475.0 million proposal included in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency? budget. The park service will participate through the EPA in restoration activities in those parks that are within the watershed of the Great Lakes. Activities will include such actions as removal of dumps and fuel spills. Park will monitor mercury, lead, DDT, and other contaminants in six parks on the Great Lakes.[19] Mandatory spending Mandatory appropriations are those items created by other congressional legislation that must be paid for. They include the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program, which requires the distribution and expenditure of fees collected by the National Park Service. Other Permanent Appropriations includes special funding categories to non-profit and state entities, which have been assigned to the National Park Service to manage. Miscellaneous Trust Funds includes funding sources that have been created by the Federal Government or private citizen, where the National Park Service or a specific park have been identified as the beneficiaries. An there is also the L&WCF Contract Authority which is the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a congressionally created source of revenues, managed by the National Park Service.[18] Budgetary restraint and park closures It was reported on May 19, 2010, that budgetary restraints could result in the closure of some state parks and historic sites.National Preserves are for the protection of certain resources. Activities like hunting, fishing, and some mining are allowed. Big Cypress National Preserve and Big Thicket National Preserve were created in 1974 as the first national preserves. National Reserves are similar to national preserves, but the operational authority can be placed with a local government. New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve was the first to be established in 1978.[22] [edit] Visitors to the National Parks The National Park System receives over 270,000,000 visits each year throughout the 392 units.[23] Annually, visitors are surveyed for their satisfaction with services and facilities provided. The ten most visited units of the National Park System handle thirty percent of the visits to the 392 park units. The top ten percent of parks (39) handle 61.2% of all visits, leaving the remaining 352 units to deal with 38.8% of visits.[Overnight Stays Over 13.8 million visitors spent a night in one of the National Park Units during 2008. The largest number (3.59 million) stayed in one of the lodges. The second largest group were tent campers (2.96 million) followed by Miscellaneous stays (on boats, group sites—2.06 million). The last three groups of over-night visitors included RV Campers (2.01 million), Back country campers (1.80 million) and users of the Concession run campgrounds (1.22 million).[24] Over the last 30 years the largest change has been with RV users.The National Park Service offers a variety of youth oriented programs. They range from the Web Ranger on-line program to many programs in each National Park Unit.[25] The primary work opporunities for youth are through the Youth Corp networks. The oldest serving group is the Student Conservation Association (SCA). It was established in 1957, committed to conservation and preservation. SCA’s goal is to create the next generation of conservation leaders. SCA volunteers work through internships, conservation jobs, and crew experiences. Volunteers conduct resource management, historic preservation, cultural resources and conservation programs to gain experience, which can lead to career development and furather educational opportunties. SCA places volunteers in more than 350 national park units and NPS offices each year.[26] The Corps Network, formerly known as the National Association for Service and Corps (NASCC), represents 136 Service and Conservation Corps. These groups have programs in 42 states and the District of Columbia. Corpsmembers are between the ages of 16-25. Service and Conservation Corps are direct descendents of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) of the 1930s that built park facilities in the national parks and other public parks around the country. The Corps Network was established in 1985.[27] Youth Conservation Corps (ages 15–25) The Youth Conservation Corps (YCC), bring young people into a park to restore, preserve and protect a natural, cultural, or historical resources. Enrollees are paid for their work.[28] Public Land Corps (ages 16–25) The Public Land Corps (PLC) is a job helping to restore, protect, and rehabilitate a local national parks. The enrollees learn about environmental issues and the park. A dozen non-profit.[29] Programs for Boy Scouts (ages 7–18) The National Park Service works with the Boy Scouts of America. Members can become a Scout Ranger and earn a patch. The Service participates every four years at the BSA Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, Virignia. Many scouts have earned their Eagle projects in a National Park helping preserve the resources, while furthering the scouting experience.[30] Programs for Girl Scouts (ages 5–18) Girl Scouts can become a Girl Scout Ranger and earn a patch! The National Park Service works with Girl Scout Troops through their Linking Girls to the Land.[Access Pass The Access Pass offers free, lifetime admission to federal areas of the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, and Tennessee Valley Authority.[32] Service Animals Service animals are allowed in all facilities and on most trails, with the exceptions of stock trails and areas closed by the superintendent to protect park resources. Service animals must always be leashed. Service animals in training and pets are subject to other park regulations . When traveling with an animal, carry water, and allow for stops. Dispose of pet feces in a trash bin.[32] Camping The National Park System offers numerous accessible camping opportunities. In over 120 units, campgrounds have sites specifically designed for tent camper accessibility. Special camp sites are located near restrooms with paved walkways to and from the restroom and water sources. Sites have hardened tenting sites that provide for easy access, but allow for tents to be erected on soil. Many additional units have pull through trailer sites, providing for motorized use, but may have limited access to the rest of the campground facilities.[33] Trails Many National Park units have fully accessible trails. Visitors should check the park’s web-site to insure that the trail is designed to meet their individual needs. Trails may have a compacted gravel surface, paved with asphalt, or a board walk. Many will have guardrails, others may have a ridge along the edge, detectable by the visually impaired using a cane and capable of stopping a wheelchair. Many have no detectable edge when there is a stable surface.[34] Vistas Parks that are known for their scenic vistas make them available through a variety of designs. Paved overlooks with accessible parking is the most common, and not always identified in written material. Road designs are configured to provide for mountain and landscape visita from a vehicle.[In an effort to increase visitation and allow for a larger audience to enjoy national park land, the National Park Service has numerous concession contracts with private businesses to bring recreation, resorts and other compatible amenities to their parks. NPS lodging opportunities exist at places such as the Wawona Hotel in Yosemite National Park and the Fort Baker Retreat and Conference Center in Golden Gate National Recreation Area. "Adaptive reuses" like those at Fort Baker, have raised some controversy, however, from concerns about the historical integrity of these buildings, after such extensive renovations and whether such alterations fall within the spirit and/or the letter of the preservation laws they are protected by.Headquarters are located in Washington, D.C., with regional offices in Anchorage, Atlanta, Lakewood, CO (Denver), Omaha, NE, Oakland, CA, Philadelphia and Seattle. The headquarters building of the National Park Service Southwest Regional Office is architecturally signicant and is designated a National Historic Landmark. The National Park Service is a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Director is nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.[36] The Director is supported by six senior executives. They manage national programs, policy, and budget from the Washington, DC, headquarters. Under the Deputy Director of Operations are seven regional directors, who are responsible for national park management and program implementation. Together this group is called the National Leadership Council.[37] The national office is located in the Main Interior Building, 1849 C Street NW, several blocks southwest of the White House. The central office is composed of eleven directorates: Director/Deputy Directors; Business Services; Workforce Management; Chief Information Officer; Cultural Resources; Natural Resource Stewardship and Science; Office of the Comptroller; Park Planning, Facilities, and Lands; Partnerships and Visitor Experience; Visitor and Resource Protection; and the United States Park Police.[38] [edit] Working in a National Park Unit [edit] Employees of the National Park Service By middle 1950s, the primary employee of the Service was the Park Ranger and they did everything that was needed in the parks. They cleaned up trash, operated heavy equipment, fought fires, managed traffic, cleared trails and roads, provided information to visitors, managed museums, performed rescues, flew aircraft, and investigated crime.[39] By the 21st century, the demands of the service required specialists. Today, there is a broad array of career paths in the service:National Park Service Ranger Interpreter Law Enforcement Park Management (Superintendent/Deputy) United States Park Police Emergency Management (Emergency medical providers, search and rescue specialists) Dispatchers Maintenance (including carpenters, plumbers, masons, laborers, auto mechanics, motor vehicle operators, heavy equipment operators, electricians) Park Planning Architects, Engineers, and Landscape architects Resource Management (including archeologist, biologist, botanist, aquatics, soil scientist, geologist) History (curators, historians, preservation technicians, historic architects, archivists) Fire Management (managers, weather specialist, firefighters, engine chiefs) See also: Wildfire. In addition, many seasonal workers are hired to handle the increased need for staffing during the busy summer months. Locations are varied. Parks exist in the nation’s larger cities like New York City (Federal Hall Memorial National Historic Site), Atlanta (Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site), and San Diego (Cabrillo National Monument) to some of the remotest areas of the continent like Hovenweep National Monument in southeastern Utah, to Aniakchak National Monument in King Salmon, Alaska.[41] [edit] Volunteers in Park (VIP) See also: Volunteering, Voluntarism (action), and Peace Corps. The Volunteer-in-Parks program was authorized in 1969 by the Volunteers in the Parks Act of 1969.[42] for the purpose of allowing the public to serve in the nations parks providing support and skills for their enhancement and protection.[43] Volunteers come from all walks of life and perform many varied and exciting duties. Many volunteers come from the surrounding communities and include professionals, artists, laborers, homemakers and students. Some volunteers travel significant distances to reach the park where they wish to provide services.[43] In the 2005 annual report (most current report available), the National Park Service reported: “…137,000 VIPs contributed 5.2 million hours of service (or 2500 FTEs) valued at $91,260,000 based on the private sector value figure of $17.55 as used by AARP, Points of Light Foundation, and other large-scale volunteer programs including many federal agencies. There are 365 separate volunteer programs throughout the National Park Service. Since 1990, the number of volunteers has increased an average of 2% per year.”[44] FTE = Full Time Equivalency (1 work year) Artist-In-Residence Across the nation, there are special opportunties for artists (visual artists, photographers, sculptors, performers, writers, composers, and crafts) to live and work in a park. Twenty-nine parks currently participate in the Artist-In-Residence program.[45] [edit] Concessions As noted above, numerous Concessions operate lodging, gas stations, restaurants, and gift shops. Each offers an opportunity to work in a national park. [edit] Special divisions Historic Preservation Training Center The United States Park Police is a distinct law enforcement division of the National Park Service, with jurisdiction in all NPS sites, but primarily used in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, New York City and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, in and around San Francisco. Law enforcement services in other NPS units are provided by commissioned (sworn peace officer) park rangers. Other special NPS divisions include the Archeology Program,[46] Historic American Buildings Survey, National Register of Historic Places, National Natural Landmarks, the Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program,[47] the Challenge Cost Share Program,[48] the Federal Lands to Parks,[49] the Hydropower Relicensing Program,[50] the Land and Water Conservation Fund,[51] the National Trails System[52] and the Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers Program.[53] Park Police Main article: United States Park Police The United States Park Police (USPP) is the oldest uniformed federal law enforcement agency in the United States. It functions as a full service law enforcement agency with responsibilities and jurisdiction in those National Park Service areas primarily located in the Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and New York City areas. In addition to performing the normal crime prevention, investigation, and apprehension functions of an urban police force, the Park Police are responsible for policing many of the famous monuments in the United States and share law enforcement jurisdiction in all lands administered by the Service with a force of National Park Rangers tasked with the same law enforcement powers and responsibilities. Centers The National Park Service operates four archeology-related centers: Harpers Ferry Center in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, the Midwest Archeological Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Southeast Archeological Center in Tallahassee, Florida and the Western Archeological and Conservation Center in Tucson, Arizona. The Harpers Ferry Center specializes in interpretive media development and object conservation. The other three focus to various degrees on archaeological research and museum object curation and conservation. National Park Service training centers include: Horace Albright Training Center, Grand Canyon; Stephen Mather Training Center, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia; Historic Preservation Training Center, Frederick, Maryland and Capital Training Center, Washington, D.C. The Submerged Resources Center is the unit responsible for the submerged areas throughout the National Park system. The SRC is based out of the Intermountain Region’s headquarters in Lakewood, Colorado.The oldest Federal preservation program, the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER), produces graphic and written documentation of historically significant architectural, engineering and industrial sites and structures. Dating from 1934, the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) was chartered to document historic architecture—primarily houses and public buildings—of national or regional significance. Originally a New Deal employment/preservation program, after World War II, HABS employed summer teams of advanced undergraduate and graduate students to carry out the documentation, a tradition followed to this day. Many of the structures they documented no longer exist. HABS/HAER produces measured drawings, large-format photographs and written histories of historic sites, structures and objects, that are significant to the architectural, engineering and industrial heritage of the U.S. Its 25,000 records are part of the Library of Congress. HABS/HAER is administered by the NPS Washington office and five regional offices.[54] Historic American Building Survey In 1933, the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, established the Historic American Building Survey (HABS), based on a proposal by Charles E. Peterson, Park Service landscape architect. It was founded as a make-work program for architects, draftsmen and photographers left jobless by the Great Depression. Guided by field instructions from Washington, D.C., the first recorders were tasked with documenting a representative sampling of America’s architectural heritage. After 70 years, there is now an archive of historic architecture. HABS provided a database of primary source material for the then fledgling historic preservation movement. Historic American Engineering Record Recognizing a similar fragility in our national industrial and engineering heritage, the National Park Service, the Library of Congress and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) formed the HAER program in 1969, to document nationally and regionally significant engineering and industrial sites. A short while later, HAER was ratified by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (AIME). HAER documentation, in the forms of measured and interpretive drawings, large-format photographs and written histories, is archivally preserved in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress, where it is readily available to the public.[55] Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program The RTCA program of the National Park Service is designed to assist local communities and the public in preservation of rivers, trails and greenways. Unlike the mainline National Park Programs, these programs take place on non-federal property at the request of the local community. One of their better known programs is Rails to Trails, where unused railroad right-of-ways are converted into public hiking and biking trails.[56] National Trails System The National Trails System is a joint mission of the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. It was created in 1968 to establish a system of long-distance National Scenic and National Historic Trails, as well as to recognize existing trails in the states as National Recreation Trails. Several additional trails have been established since 1968, and in 2009 Congress established the first National Geologic Trail.Since 1973, the number of parks and protected areas globally has swelled from 1,200 to more than 100,000. In this leadership role, the Park Service has shared its talents, expertise, and experiences in with many international partnerships. These partnerships were created to establish, sustain and strengthen parks, heritage sites, and other types of protected areas.[58] Sister Parks There are 45 sister parks in eighteen countries. Thirty National Park Units are actively involved in these sister park relationships. Twelve of these ‘sister parks’ are in our neighbor to the south, Mexico. Both Canada and Mexico share common natural and historical events. Many of these sister park relations are built on this, as with Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta and Glacier National Park, Montana. The same cooperative design is also being used with Big Bend National Park, Texas; Maderas del Carmen, state of Coahuila, Mexico; and Canon de Santa Elena WPA, state of Chihuahua, Mexico.[59] Other pairings are based on common operational issues, i.e., Kampinoski National Park, Poland with Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Indiana; or the Lake Superior parks of Canada and the U.S.; Pukaskwa National Park, Ontario, and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan. Cooperative Work The National Park Service provides technical support to numerous intentional partners, beyond the support managed through the ‘Sister Park’ Program.[60] Technical support is provided through programs at the National Park Service training facilities in the United States and at U.S. Parks and through the dispatch of technical teams to a host country. Canada – In 1998, the Service and Parks Canada signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a program of technical exchange and cooperation. The MOU was renewed in 2003.[61] Latin America and Caribbean – Years of technical support have created numerous relationships. In 2009, major programs were under way in Argentina, Costa Rica, Chile, and Haiti.[62] North Africa and the Middle East – In 2008, the National Park Service (NPS) and the Department of the Interior’s International Technical Assistance Program (ITAP) brought Two Jordanians and one Bahraini wildlife specialist to US national parks to work with NPS wildlife biologists. Here, they learn and observe how to manage threatened and endangered species.[63] Asia – Technical teams and sister park relationship allow China, Korea, Japan, and Cambodia to share skills and techniques.[64] Africa- Since 1995, the National Park Service and South Africa have worked on numerous park projects. Additionally, technical support and training has been provided to eighteen other nations in AfricaWorld Heritage Sites have enough universally recognized natural and cultural features that they are considered to merit the protection of all the peoples in the world. The National Park Service is responsible for 16 of the 19 World Heritage Sites in the United States.[66] Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico Everglades National Park, Florida Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee and North Carolina Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii Independence Hall, Pennsylvania Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek Park, Alaska, U.S./ B.C. & Yukon, Canada Mammoth Cave, Kentucky Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado Olympic National Park, Washington Redwood National and State Parks, California Statue of Liberty, New York Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (union of Waterton Lakes (Canada) and Glacier (U.S.) parks), Montana & Alberta, Canada Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, extending into Montana and Idaho Yosemite National Park, California [edit] Initiatives 24-hr all Taxa BioBlitz: A joint venture of the National Geographic Society and the National Park Service. Beginning in 2004, at Rock Creek Parkway, the National Geographic Society and the National Park Service began a 10-year program of hosting a major biological survey of ten selected national park units. The intent is to develop public interest in the nations natural resources, develop scientific interest in America’s youth and to create citizen scientist. 2007: Rock Creek Park, Washington D.C. 661 species[67] 2008: Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Los Angeles, California. 1,700 species and more pending.[67] 2009: Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, greater Chicago, in northern Indiana. 1,716 species and still counting.[68] 2010: Biscayne National Park, Miami, Florida. 810 species were identified during this 24-hr event. As classification continues, more species will be added to the list.[69] 2011: Saguaro National Park, Tucson, Arizona.[69] Biological Diversity: Biological Diversity is the vast variety of life as identified through species and genetics. This variety is decreasing as people spread across the globe, altering areas to better meet their needs.[70] Climate Change: Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global sea levels. (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007).[71] South Florida Restoration Initiative: Rescuing an Ecosystem in Peril: In partnership with the State of Florida, and the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service is restoring the physical and biological processes of the South Florida ecosystem. Historically, this ecosystem contained some of the most diverse habitats on earth.[72] Vanishing Treasures Initiative: Ruins Preservation in the American Southwest: The Vanishing Treasures Initiative began in FY 1998 to reduce threats to prehistoric and historic sites and structures in 44 parks of the Intermountain Region. In 2002, the program expanded to include three parks in the Pacific West Region. The goal is to reduce backlogged work and to bring sites and structures up to a condition where routine maintenance activities can preserve them.[73] Wetlands: Wetlands includes marshes, swamps, and bogs. These areas and the plants and animals adapted to these conditions spread from the arctic to the equator. The shrinking wetlands provide habitat for fish and wildlife, help clean water and reduce the impact of storms and floods on the surrounding communities.[74] Wildland Fire: Fires have been a natural part of park eco-systems. Many plants and some animals require a cycle of fire or flooding to be successful and productive. With the advent of human intervention and public access to parks, there are safety concerns for the visiting public.[75] [edit] Climate Friendly Park The Climate Friendly Parks Program was created as a collaborative effort between the National Park Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As stewards of the nations important natural and cultural resources, the National Park Service is taking a proactive stance towards climate change. This program is meant to achieve two goals. First, it will measure and reduce greenhouse gases to help slow the effects of climate change. Secondly, it is an example of environmental leadership.[76] Each park that joins the initiative will move to climate affecting pollution and offers public education programs about how the parks are already affect. The program will provide climate friendly solutions to the visiting public, like using clean energy, reducing waste, and making smart transportation choices.[77] The CFP program has an established framework that can provide technical assistance, tools and resources for the parks and their neighboring communities to protect the natural and cultural resources.[78] Parks in the CFP program are creating and implementing plans to reduce greenhouse gases through reducing energy and water use. Facilities are being designed and retrofitted using sustainable materials. Alternative transportation systems are being developed to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.[76] • Travel Smart – Walk, bike, carpool, take mass transit, and drive a fuel-efficient car. • Save Energy – Choose energy-efficient appliances and convert lighting to compact fluorescent bulbs. • Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle – Buy products with reusable, recyclable, and reduced packaging and support community recycling.[76] The large, isolated parks typically generate their own electricity and heat and must do so without spoiling the values that the visitors have come to experience. There is the pollution emitted by the vehicles used to transport visitors around the often-vast expanses of the parks. Many parks have converted vehicles to electric hybrids, substitute diesel/electric hybrid buses for private automobiles. Replacement with electric vehicles would eliminate these (25 TPY) emissions entirely. A prison (from Old French prisoun)[1] is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime. Other terms are penitentiary, correctional facility, remand centre, detention centre, gaol, and jail. In the United States, “jail” and “prison” refer to separate levels of incarceration; generally speaking, jails are county or city administrated institutions which house both inmates awaiting trial on the local level and convicted misdemeanants serving a term of one year or less, while prisons are state or federal facilities housing convicted felons serving a term of more than one year. On the federal level, this terminology has been largely superseded by a more complex five-tier system implemented by the Federal Bureau of Prisons that ranges from low security “Prison Camps” to medium security “Correctional Institutions” and finally maximum security “Penitentiaries”. Federal prisons can also house pre-trial inmates.[2] A criminal suspect who has been charged with or is likely to be charged with criminal offense may be held on remand in prison if he is denied or unable to meet conditions of bail, or is unable or unwilling to post bail. A criminal defendant may also be held in prison while awaiting trial or a trial verdict. If found guilty, a defendant will be convicted and may receive a custodial sentence requiring imprisonment. As well as convicted or suspected criminals, prisons may be used for internment of those not charged with a crime. Prisons may also be used as a tool of political repression to detain political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and “enemies of the state”, particularly by authoritarian regimes. In times of war or conflict, prisoners of war may also be detained in prisons. A prison system is the organizational arrangement of the provision and operation of prisons, and depending on their nature, may invoke a corrections system.For most of history, imprisoning has not been a punishment in itself, but rather a way to confine criminals until corporal or capital punishment was administered. There were prisons used for detention in Jerusalem in Old Testament times, and the Bible details the imprisonment of Joseph in Egypt.[3] Dungeons were used to hold prisoners; those who were not killed or left to die there often became galley slaves or faced penal transportations. In other cases debtors were often thrown into debtor’s prisons, until they paid their jailers enough money in exchange for a limited degree of freedom. Only in the 19th century, beginning in Britain, did prisons as known today become commonplace. The modern prisons system was born in London, as a result of the views of Jeremy Bentham. The notion of prisoners being incarcerated as part of their punishment and not simply as a holding state until trial or hanging, was at the time revolutionary. This is when prisons had begun to be used as criminal rehabilitation centers. Britain practiced penal transportation of convicted criminals to penal colony in the British colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s and to penal colonies in Australia between 1788 and 1868. France sent criminals to tropical penal colonies including Louisiana in the early 18th century.[4] Penal colonies in French Guiana operated until 1951 (in particular, infamous Île du Diable (Devil’s Island)). Katorga prisons were established in the 17th century in Tsardom of Russia in underpopulated areas of Siberia and the Russian Far East that had few towns or food sources. Since these times, Siberia gained its fearful connotation of punishment. [edit] Design and facilities Barbed tape is a feature of prisons. A modern jail cell Male and female prisoners are typically kept in separate locations or separate prisons altogether.[5] Prison accommodation, especially modern prisons in the developed world, are often divided into wings. A building holding more than one wing is known as a “hall”. Many prisons are divided into two sections, one containing prisoners before trial and the other containing convicted prisoners. Amongst the facilities that prisons may have are: A main entrance, which may be known as the ‘gatelodge’ or ‘sally port’ (stemming from old castle nomenclature) A religious facility, which will often house chaplaincy offices and facilities for counselling of individuals or groups An ‘education facility’, often including a library, providing adult education or continuing education opportunities A gym or an exercise yard, a fenced, usually open-air-area which prisoners may use for recreational and exercise purposes A healthcare facility or hospital A segregation unit (also called a ‘block’ or ‘isolation cell’), used to separate unruly, dangerous, or vulnerable prisoners from the general population, also sometimes used as punishment (see solitary confinement) A section of vulnerable prisoners (VPs), or protective custody (PC) units, used to accommodate prisoners classified as vulnerable, such as sex offenders, former police officers, informants and those that have gotten into debt or trouble with other prisoners A section of safe cells, used to keep prisoners under constant visual observation, for example when considered at risk of suicide A visiting area, where prisoners may be allowed restricted contact with relatives, friends, lawyers, or other people A death row in some prisons, a section for criminals awaiting execution A staff accommodation area, where staff and prison officers live in the prison, typical of historical prisons A service/facilities area housing support facilities like kitchens Industrial or agricultural plants operated with convict labour A recreational area containing items such as a TV and pool table Prisons are normally surrounded by fencing, walls, earthworks, geographical features, or other barriers to prevent escape. Multiple barriers, concertina wire, electrified fencing, secured and defensible main gates, armed guard towers, lighting, motion sensors, dogs and roving patrols may all also be present depending on the level of security. Remotely controlled doors, CCTV monitoring, alarms, cages, restraints, nonlethal and lethal weapons, riot-control gear and physical segregation of units and prisoners may all also be present within a prison to monitor and control the movement and activity of prisoners within the facility. Modern prison designs have sought to increasingly restrict and control the movement of prisoners throughout the facility while permitting a maximal degree of direct monitoring by a smaller prison staff. As compared to traditional large landing-cellblock designs which were inherited from the 19th century and which permitted only intermittent observation of prisoners, many newer prisons are designed in a decentralized “podular” layout. Smaller, separate and self-contained housing units known as “pods” or “modules” are designed to hold between sixteen and fifty prisoners each and are arranged around exercise yards or support facilities in a decentralized “campus” pattern. A small number of prison officers, sometimes a single officer, is assigned to supervise each pod. The pods contain tiers of cells arranged around a central control station or desk from which a single officer can monitor all of the cells and the entire pod, control cell doors and communicate with the rest of the prison. Pods may be designed for high-security “indirect-supervision”, in which officers in segregated and sealed control booths monitor smaller numbers of prisoners confined to their cells. An alternative is “direct-supervision”, in which officers work within the pod and directly interact with and supervise prisoners, who may spend the day outside their cells in a central “dayroom” on the floor of the pod. Movement in or out of the pod to and from exercise yards, work assignments or medical appointments can be restricted to individual pods at designated times and is generally centrally controlled. Goods and services, such as meals, laundry, commissary, educational materials, religious services and medical care can increasingly be brought to individual pods or cells as well. Despite these design innovations, overcrowding at many prisons, particularly in the U.S., has resulted in a contrary trend, as many prisons are forced to house large numbers of prisoners, often hundreds at a time, in gymnasiums or other large buildings that have been converted into massive open dormitories. Lower-security prisons are often designed with less restrictive features, confining prisoners at night in smaller locked dormitories or even cottage or cabin-like housing while permitting them freer movement around the grounds to work or activities during the day. [edit] Security levels The levels of security within a prison system are categorized differently around the world, but tend to follow a distinct pattern. Most developed countries divide prisons into separate security classes depending on the inmate population and the security needed to keep them under control. Accordingly, most developed countries have classes ranging from the most secure, which typically hold violent prisoners and those judged most likely to escape, to the least, which are most often used to house non-violent offenders or those for whom more stringent security is deemed unnecessary. Below are some different examples of prison classifications from around the world. [edit] England and Wales Main article: Prison security categories in the United Kingdom In England and Wales, prisoners are assigned security classes when they are sentenced. Thus prisons are given security classifications depending on the prisoners they are designed to hold. Therefore, prisons classified as “A” would typically house prisoners assigned the “A” category during sentencing, and be designed with the level of security necessary for that class. The categories of prisoners in descending order are: Category A: prisoners are those whose escape would be highly dangerous to the public or national security. Category B: prisoners are those who do not require maximum security, but for whom escape needs to be made very difficult. Category C: prisoners are those who cannot be trusted in open conditions but who are unlikely to try to escape. Category D: prisoners are those who can be reasonably trusted not to try to escape, and are given the privilege of an open prison. Prisoners at ‘D Cat’ (as it is commonly known) prisons, are, subject to approval, given ROTL (Release On Temporary Licence) to work in the community or to go on ‘home leave’ once they have passed their FLED (Full Licence Eligibility Dates), which is usually a quarter of the way through the sentence. The British prison system is also divided into “Open” and “Closed” prisons. Categories A-C are considered “Closed” prisons as prisoners cannot be trusted to interact with society, while category D prisons are generally “Open”, meaning that prisoners with a good record and who are approved can be allowed limited function in society such as home-leave or a nominal employment. [edit] United States ADX Florence is presently the only facility housing supermax units operating in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Federal Prison Camp, Alderson, a minimum security U.S. federal prison for women The exact classification systems differ between county, state, and federal systems. Some common types of prisons include: Supermax: As the name implies, the custody level goes beyond Maximum by segregating the “worst of the worst” criminals and terrorists who pose a threat to national security. These inmates have individual cells and are kept in lockdown for 23 hours per day. Meals are served through “chuck holes” in the cell door, and each inmate is permitted out of their cell for one hour of exercise per day, alone. They are permitted no contact with other inmates and are under constant surveillance via closed-circuit television cameras. Administrative: Administrative security is a classification of prisons or detention centers that are for a specific purpose, such as housing mentally ill offenders. These range in levels of security from Minimum to Administrative Maximum Security (ADMAX), as in the case of ADX Florence in Colorado. Maximum: A custody level in which both design and construction as well as inmate classification reflect the need to provide maximum external and internal control and supervision of inmates primarily through the use of high security perimeters and extensive use of internal physical barriers and check points. Inmates accorded this status present serious escape risks or pose serious threats to themselves, to other inmates, to staff, or the orderly running of the institution. Supervision of inmates is direct and constant. High: The “Middle Ground” for violent crimes, High security institutions have highly-secured perimeters (featuring walls or reinforced fences), multiple- and single-occupant cell housing, the highest staff-to-inmate ratio, and close control of inmate movement. Medium: A custody level in which design and construction as well as inmate classification reflect the need to provide secure external and internal control and supervision of inmates. Inmates accorded to this status may present a moderate escape risk or may pose a threat to other inmates, staff, or the orderly running of the institution. Supervision remains constant and direct. Through an inmate’s willingness to comply with institutional rules and regulations, increased job and program opportunities exist. Close Security: Close Security prisons are institutions which house inmates too dangerous for Low Security, but who did not commit a crime worthy of incarceration in a Medium Security Facility. These prisons are rare, as most inmates fall into either “Medium” or “Low” Security Classifications. These facilities are often located in separate areas of a Low or Medium security Prison. Low: A custody level in which both the design and construction as well as inmate classification reflect the goal of returning to the inmate a greater sense of personal responsibility and autonomy while still providing for supervision and monitoring of behavior and activity. Inmates within this security level are not considered a serious risk to the safety of staff, inmates or to the public. Program participation is mandated and geared toward their potential reintegration into the community. Additional access to the community is limited and under constant direct staff supervision Minimum: The Lowest Level of Security to which an inmate can be assigned directly. This type of Prison is typically a “Prison Farm”, or other work-oriented facility, and most often houses petty or “White collar” criminals. Pre-release. A custody level in which both design and construction as well as inmate classification reflect the goal of restoring to the inmate maximum responsibility and control of their own behavior and actions prior to their release. Direct supervision of these inmates is not required, but intermittent observation may be appropriate under certain conditions. Inmates within this level may be permitted to access the community unescorted to participate in programming, including but not limited to work release or educational release. [edit] Special types of prison [edit] Juvenile Main article: Youth detention center Prisons for juveniles (people under 17 or 18, depending on the jurisdiction) are known as young offender facilities or similar designation and hold minors who have been remanded into custody or serving sentence. Many countries have their own age of criminal responsibility in which children are deemed legally responsible for their actions for a crime. Countries such as Canada may try to sentence a juvenile as an adult, but have them serve their sentence in a juvenile facility until they reach the age of majority, at which time they would be transferred to an adult facility. [edit] Military The United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas is a military prison. Main article: Military prison Prisons form part of military systems, and are used variously to house prisoners of war, unlawful combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by military or civilian authorities, and members of the military found guilty of a serious crime. [edit] Political Main article: Political prisoner Certain countries maintain or have in the past had a system of political prisons; arguably the gulags associated with Stalinism are best known. [edit] Psychiatric Main article: Psychiatric hospital Some psychiatric facilities have characteristics of prisons, particularly when confining patients who have committed a crime and are considered dangerous. In addition, many prisons have psychiatric units dedicated to housing offenders diagnosed with a wide variety of mental disorders.Asia and Oceania [edit] Australia Further information: List of Australian prisons, Immigration detention centres, and Mandatory detention in Australia Many prisons in Australia were built by convict labour in the 19th century. During the 1990s, various state governments in Australia engaged private sector correctional corporations to build and operate prisons whilst several older government run institutions were decommissioned. Operation of Federal detention centres was also privatised at a time when asylum seekers began to be mandatorily detained in Australia. [edit] China Further information: Laogai China’s prison population is estimated at about 2 million.[6] [edit] Japan Further information: Penal system of Japan [edit] New Zealand Mount Eden Prison is a 19th-century brick stockade located just south of the Auckland CBD, a very populous (and affluent) neighbourhood of Mt Eden in Auckland, New Zealand. Further information: Department of Corrections (New Zealand) and List of correctional facilities in New Zealand New Zealand currently maintains 19 prisons around the country. The Department of Corrections has an annual budget of NZD$748 million and assets worth over NZD$1.7 billion. Official statistics show (as of June 30, 2007) that there are currently 7,605 prisoners within the New Zealand correctional system. (5,490 Sentenced Prisoners and 1,552 Remanded Prisoners) + 5,795 staff. Breakouts are only at 0.15 per 100 prisoners and there is a rate of only 15% positive drug results during random drug testing in NZ prisons.[7] [edit] Europe [edit] Estonia Main article: Prisons in Estonia Estonia currently maintains five prisons around the country: Harku Prison, Murru Prison, Tallinn Prison, Tartu Prison and Viru Prison.[8] In March 2011, there were 3,405 persons incarcerated in Estonia, and the number of prisoners per 100,000 residents were 254, which is the third highest rate in the EU. These figures include pre-trial detainees and remand prisoners.[9][10] It is, however, a much lower rate than in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the Estonian prison population reached almost 5,000 persons.[9] [edit] France The French Ministry of Justice’s French Prison Service division has 194 prisons in mainland and the overseas territories. As of 1 January 2009, statistics showed approximately 52,000 available places, with around 58,000 “hosted” prisoners.[11] France is home to Fleury-Mérogis Prison, Europe’s largest correctional facility. [edit] Germany Main article: Prisons in Germany Germany has 194 prisons (of which 19 are open institutions). Official statistics showed 80,214 places on March 31, 2007. On the same day, there were 75,719 prisoners (of which 13,168 pre-trial; 60,619 serving sentences; 1,932 others, i.e. mainly civil prisoners; 4,068 were female). This is less than the highest value of 81,176 prisoners on March 31, 2003.[12][13] [edit] Ireland Main article: Prisons in Ireland Mountjoy Campus, North Circular Road, Dublin 7, Ireland, containing 4 prisons including: Mountjoy Prison; the Dóchas Centre; St. Patrick’s Institution; and, The Training Unit. There are currently 14 prisons operating in the Republic of Ireland with a total bed capacity of 4,106 as of the 31 December 2009. The daily average number of prisoners in custody in 2009 was 3,881. However, most of these prisons currently operate at or above capacity.[14] [edit] Poland As of the end of August 2007, Poland officially declared 90,199 prisoners (13,374 pre-trial; 76,434 serving sentences; 391 others; 2,743 prisoners were female), giving an imprisonment rate per 100,000 inhabitants of about 234. The overpopulation rate (number of prisoners held compared to number of places for prisoners) was estimated by the official prison service as 119%.[15] The growth rate of imprisonment in Poland during 2006–2007 was approximately 4% annually, based on the August 2007 estimate of 90,199 prisoners and the June 2005 estimate of 82,572 prisoners.[16] [edit] Turkey Main article: Prisons in Turkey Prisons in Turkey are classified as closed, semi-open and open prisons. Closed prisons are separated into different kinds according to its structure and the number of prisoners held. Examples are A type, B type, E type and F type. F types are high security prisons, known in the United States as Supermax.In the United States penal system, a jail is a facility used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the state, including accused persons awaiting trial and those who have been convicted of a crime and are serving a sentence of less than one year.[17][18] Jails are generally small prisons run by individual counties and cities,[18] though some jails in larger communities may be as large and hold as many inmates as regular prisons. As with prisons, some jails have different wings for certain types of offenders, and have work programs for inmates who demonstrate good behavior. Approximately half of the U.S. jail population consists of pretrial detainees who have not been convicted or sentenced. Prisoners serving terms longer than one year are typically housed in prison facilities operated by state governments.[19] Unlike most state prisons, a jail usually houses both men and women in separate portions of the same facility. Some jails lease space to house inmates from the federal government, state prisons or other counties as a revenue-raising method. Number of inmates. 1920 to 2006. In 2005, a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 62 percent of people in jails have not been convicted, and are awaiting trial.[20] As of 2005, local jails held or supervised 819,434 individuals. Nine percent of these individuals were in programs such as community service, work release, weekend reporting, electronic monitoring, and other alternative programs.[18] The United States has less than 5% of the world’s population[21] and 23.4% of the world’s prison population.[22] 2,304,115 were incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails in 2008.[23] In 2002, 93.2% of prisoners were male. About 10.4% of all black males in the United States between the ages of 25 and 29 were sentenced and in prison, compared to 2.4% of Hispanic males and 1.3% of white males.[24] In the United States, as compared to regular ‘mainline’ state and federal prisons, in which prisoners have already been investigated and classified by correctional personnel before being assigned to a level of security, in which many of the prisoners are committed for longer periods of time, and in which the population is on average older, jails usually house prisoners who are on average younger and have varying or unknown histories and propensities for violence or disciplinary problems. As a result, many jails operate their booking and receiving units at a relatively high level of correctional security, and also witness a disproportionately large amount of violence and disciplinary problems as compared to mainline facilities. There are three main management styles common in most U. S. jails. The first and oldest style is Intermittent Surveillance. Intermittent Surveillance involves rows of cells along security corridors. These corridors are patrolled by staff providing periodic observation. Most problems occur between these intermittent patrols. The second supervisory style is Remote Surveillance. Remote Surveillance involves cells and their corresponding dayrooms divided into “pods” which are under constant supervision by jail staff from a central control room. Staff in the central control room commonly observe three to four “pods” at one time. The third and most recently conceived supervisory style is Direct Supervision.[25] Direct Supervision involves a dayroom with numerous cells under constant and direct supervision by staff who are stationed inside the housing unit. Staff are constantly interacting with inmates and controlling inmate behavior. The success of Direct Supervision relies on the staff’s ability to control this behavior and for facility management to create detention environments that facilitate the staff’s effectiveness. This style is also the most cost effective of the three.[25] Dorchester Penitentiary in New Brunswick, Canada, part of Corrections Canada. Opened in 1880 as a maximum security prison, it now functions as a medium security facility. [edit] Canada The 52 penitentiaries in Canada are operated by the federal government, and are for those who have been sentenced to serve more than 2 years of custody. The boundary of two years separating provincial and federal custody underlies the sentencing of some offenders to “two years less a day”, so they can serve their sentences in provincial correctional institutions.Meta-analysis of previous studies shows that prison sentences do not reduce future offenses, when compared to non-residential sanctions.[27] This meta-analysis of one hundred separate studies found that post-release offenses were around 7% higher after imprisonment compared with non-residential sanctions, at statistically significant levels. Another meta-analysis of 101 separate tests of the impact of prison on crime found a 3% increase in offending after imprisonment.[28] Longer periods of time in prison make outcomes worse, not better; offending increases by around 3% as prison sentences increase in length.[27] Effective rehabilitation programs reduce the likelihood of re-offense and recidivism.[28] Effective programs are characterised by three things: first, they provide more hours for people with known offense risk factors (the Risk Principle); secondly, they address problems and needs that have a proven causal link to offending (the Needs Principle); and thirdly, they use cognitive-behavioural approaches to behaviour modification (the Responsivity Principle). Providing rehabilitation to people at lower risk of reoffending results in a 3% reduction in reoffending, while providing rehabilitation to people with a high risk of reoffending is three times as effective, resulting in a 10% reduction in subsequent offending.[28] Risk factors for reoffending are: age at first offense, number of prior offenses, level of family and personal problems in childhood and other historical factors, along with level of current needs related to offending. Those individuals who had many personal and family problems in childhood (particularly 19 or more), started offending before puberty, and have committed multiple priors are more likely to reoffend in future, according to longitudinal studies internationally.[29] In support of the Needs Principle, programs that specifically target criminogenic needs (causal needs and problems), see a 19% reduction in reoffending.[28] In support of the Responsivity Principle, there is a 23% reduction in reoffending after participating in programs that use cognitive-behavioural methods to bring about changes in behaviour, thinking, and relationships.[28] When all three principles are effectively applied, the impact on offending is a 26–32% reduction,[28][30] compared to a 3–7% increase in offending found with imprisonment alone. Residential approaches—whether in prison or some other live-in option—tend to be less effective than non-residential approaches.[28] These researchers found that effective programs delivered in the community were followed by a 35% reduction in reoffending, whereas effective programs delivered in residential settings (such as prisons and halfway houses) were followed by a 17% reduction in reoffending. One very likely reason for this is that for teens and adults, mixing with antisocial peers increases the risk of offending. In prison or residences inmates spend a great deal of time with other people immersed in criminal pursuits and beliefs, whereas in community-based programs there is more opportunity to mix with people involved in constructive, law-abiding activities. Antisocial peers in prisons and residences can form a very powerful pressure group, subtly and not so subtly influencing the behavior of other inmates. [edit] Resocialization Rabbi Philip R. Alstat, c. 1920 Main article: Resocialization Resocialization is a sociological concept dealing with the process of mentally and emotionally “re-training” a person so that he or she can operate in an environment other than that which he or she is accustomed to. Resocialization into a total institution involves a complete change of personality. Key examples include the process of resocializing new recruits into the military so that they can operate as soldiers (or, in other words, as members of a cohesive unit) and the reverse process, in which those who have become accustomed to such roles return to society after military. [edit] Prison libraries Library services for people in jail and in prison exist to provide opportunity for education, recreation and legal needs. [31] In her classic book, The Prison Library Primer: A Program for the Twenty-First Century Brenda Vogel makes it very clear that the needs of incarcerated people affect every single librarian in the United States. Most offenders are eventually released from institutions. On re-entry to the general population these offenders become a part of the public. They should then be encouraged and supported in the use of public libraries. Families of offenders may need specialized services during the incarceration and after. Think of families traveling many miles to visit someone in prison or jail. Librarians in the general population can assist people when they get out of jail or prison; they can help the families of people in jail. [32] The public library model applied to correctional facilities is provided in a study by Clark and MacCreigh. [33] [edit] Prison ministry Main article: Prison religion Rabbi Philip R. Alstat, an early champion of prison ministry who served as a chaplain for three decades for The Tombs, the Manhattan Detention Facility, described the role of prison chaplains through its link to both rehabilitation and resocialization. In a 1970 interview with a New York Times reported, he was quoted as saying, “My goals are the same as those of the prison authorities–to make better human beings. The only difference is that their means are discipline, security, and iron bars. Mine are the spiritual ministrations that operate with the mind and the heart.”[34]As of 2006, it is estimated that at least 9.25 million people are currently imprisoned worldwide.[35] It is probable that this number is much higher, in view of general under-reporting and a lack of data from various countries, especially authoritarian regimes. The image (right) shows large spots of blue and grey in middle Africa and the Middle-East, where these regimes are most common. In absolute terms, the United States currently has the largest inmate population in the world, with more than 2.5 million[36] or more than one in a hundred adults[37] in prison and jails. Although the United States represents less than 5% of the world’s population, over 25% of the people incarcerated around the world are housed in the American prison system. Pulitzer Prize winning author Joseph T. Hallinan wrote in his book Going Up the River: Travels in a Prison Nation, “so common is the prison experience that the federal government predicts one in eleven men will be incarcerated in his lifetime, one in four if he is black.” In 2002, both Russia and China also had prison populations in excess of 1 million.[38] By October 2006, the Russian prison population declined to 869,814 which translated into 611 prisoners per 100,000 population. As a percentage of total population, the United States also has the largest imprisoned population, with 739 prisoners per 100,000 residents.[39] In June 2011, the United Kingdom had an imprisonment rate of 152 prisoners per 100,000 residents, the second highest rate among the western members of the European Union (EU) after Spain at 159 prisoners per 100,000 residents.[10] The highest imprisonment rates among the larger EU members include that of Poland, which in May 2011 had an imprisonment rate of 218 per 100,000,[10] while the highest rates are in the Baltic states Latvia (314), Lithuania (276) and Estonia (254).[A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses are used to mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals and reefs, and safe entries to harbors, and can also assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance and replacement by modern electronic navigational aids.In a lighthouse, the source of light is called the "lamp" (whether electric or fueled by oil) and the concentration of the light is by the "lens" or "optic". Originally lit by open fires and later candles, the Argand hollow wick lamp and parabolic reflector was developed around 1781 in Europe. In the US, whale oil was used with solid wicks as the source of light, until the Argand parabolic reflector system was introduced around 1810 by Winslow Lewis. Colza oil replaced whale oil in the early 1850s, but US farmers' lack of interest in growing this caused the service to switch to lard oil in the mid 1850s. Kerosene started replacing lard oil in the 1870s and the service was finally totally converted by the late 1880s. Electricity and carbide (acetylene gas) started to replace kerosene around the turn of the 20th century.[1] The use of the latter was promoted by the Dalén light, which automatically lit the lamp at nightfall and extinguished it at dawn. [edit] Lens technology How a Fresnel lens works. Prior to modern strobe lights, lenses were used to concentrate the light from a continuous source. Two tasks were involved: vertical light rays of the lamp are redirected into a horizontal plane horizontally the light is focused into one or a few directions at a time, with the light beam sweeping around; as a result, in addition to seeing the side of the light beam, one can see the light directly from a further distance away. [edit] Fresnel lens Main article: Fresnel lens This concentration of light is accomplished with a rotating lens assembly. In classical period lighthouses, the light source was a kerosene lamp or, earlier, an animal or vegetable oil Argand lamp, and the lenses rotated by a weight driven clockwork assembly wound by lighthouse keepers, sometimes as often as every two hours. The lens assembly sometimes floated in mercury to reduce friction. In more modern lighthouses, electric lights and motor drives were used, generally powered by diesel electric generators. These also supplied electricity for the lighthouse keepers.[1] Efficiently concentrating the light from a large omnidirectional light source requires a very large diameter lens. This would require a very thick, heavy lens if naïvely implemented. Development of the Fresnel lens (pronounced /fre??n?l/) in 1822 revolutionized lighthouses in the 19th century, focusing 85% of a lamp’s light versus the 20% focused with the parabolic reflectors of the time. Its design enabled construction of lenses of large size and short focal length without the weight and volume of material in conventional lens designs. Although the Fresnel lens was invented in 1822, it was not used in the US until the 1850s due to the parsimonious administrator of the United States Lighthouse Establishment, Stephen Pleasonton. With the creation of the United States Lighthouse Board in 1852, all US lighthouses received Fresnel lenses by 1860.[2]Fresnel lenses were ranked by Order, with a first order lens being the largest, most powerful and expensive; and a sixth order lens being the smallest. The order is based on the focal length of the lens. A first order lens has the longest focal length, with the sixth being the shortest. Coastal lighthouses generally use first, second or third order lenses, while harbor lights and beacons use fourth, fifth or sixth order lenses.[3] Some lighthouses, such as those at Cape Race, Newfoundland, and Makapuu Point, Hawaii, used a more powerful hyperradiant Fresnel lens manufactured by the firm of Chance Brothers. In recent times, many Fresnel lenses have been replaced by rotating aerodrome beacons which require less maintenance. In modern automated lighthouses, this system of rotating lenses is often replaced by a high intensity light that emits brief omnidirectional flashes (concentrating the light in time rather than direction). These lights are similar to obstruction lights used to warn aircraft of tall structures. Recent innovations are “Vega Lights”, and initial experiments with LED panels.[1] See the old and the new lighthouses in Sinquerim Goa India (the new lighthouse is also equipped with DGPS)http://wikimapia.org/#lat=15.4920235&lon=73.7725872&z=19&l=0&m=b [edit] Light characteristics See also: Light characteristic. In any of these designs an observer, rather than seeing a continuous weak light, sees a brighter light during short time intervals. These instants of bright light are arranged to create a light characteristic or, pattern specific to the particular lighthouse.[4] For example, for the Scheveningen lighthouse, time intervals between flashes are alternately 2.5 and 7.5 seconds. Some lights have sectors of a particular color (usually formed by colored panes in the lantern) to distinguish safe water areas from dangerous shoals. Modern lighthouses often have unique reflectors or Racon transponders so the radar signature of the light is also unique. [edit] Building [edit] Design Architect’s design of Split Rock Lighthouse The lighthouses in Finland as of 1909 showing differing architecture To be effective the lamp must be high enough to be seen before the danger is reached by a mariner. The minimum height is calculated according to trigonometry by taking the square root of the height of a lighthouse in feet and multiplying it by 1.17 to yield the distance to the horizon in nautical miles.[5] Where dangerous shoals are located far off a flat sandy beach, the prototypical tall masonry coastal lighthouse is constructed to assist the navigator making a landfall after an ocean crossing. Often these are cylindrical to reduce the effect of wind on a tall structure, such as Cape May Light. Smaller versions of this design are often used as harbor lights to mark the entrance into a harbor, such as New London Harbor Light. Where a tall cliff exists, a smaller structure may be placed on top such as at Horton Point Light. Sometimes, such a location can be too high – as along the west coast of the United States. In these cases, lighthouses are placed below clifftop to ensure that they can still be seen at the surface during periods of fog, as at Point Reyes Lighthouse. Another victim of fog was Point Loma Light (old) which was replaced with a lower lighthouse, Point Loma Light (new). As technology advanced, prefabricated skeletal iron or steel structures tended to be used for lighthouses constructed in the 20th century. These often have a narrow cylindrical core surrounded by an open lattice work bracing, such as Finns Point Range Light. Sometimes a lighthouse needs to be constructed in the water itself. Wave-washed lighthouses are masonry structures constructed to withstand water impact, such as Eddystone Lighthouse in Britain and the St. George Reef Light off California. In shallower bays, screw pile ironwork structures are screwed into the seabed and a low wooden structure is placed above the open framework, such as Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. As screw piles can be disrupted by ice, in northern climates steel caisson lighthouses such as Orient Point Light are used. Orient Long Beach Bar Light (Bug Light) is a blend of a screw pile light that was later converted to a caisson light because of the threat of ice damage.[6] In waters too deep for a conventional structure, a lightship might be used instead of a lighthouse. Most of these have now been replaced by fixed light platforms (such as Ambrose Light) similar to those used for offshore oil exploration.While lighthouse buildings differ depending on the location and purpose, they tend to have common components. A Light Station comprises the Lighthouse tower and all outbuildings, such as the keeper’s living quarters, fuel house, boathouse, and fog-signaling building. The Lighthouse itself consists of a tower structure supporting the lantern room where the light operates. The Lantern Room is the glassed-in housing at the top of a lighthouse tower containing the lamp and lens. Its glass storm panes are supported by metal Astragal bars running vertically or diagonally. At the top of the lantern room is a stormproof Ventilator designed to remove the smoke of the lamps and the heat that builds in the glass enclosure. A Lightning rod and grounding system connected to the metal Cupola roof provides a safe conduit for any lightning strikes. Immediately beneath the lantern room is usually a Watch Room or Service Room where fuel and other supplies were kept and where the keeper prepared the lanterns for the night and often stood watch. The clockworks (for rotating the lenses) were also located there. On a lighthouse tower, an open platform called the gallery is often located outside the watch room (called the Main Gallery) or Lantern Room (Lantern Gallery). This was mainly used for cleaning the outside of the windows of the Lantern Room.[8] Lighthouses near to each other that are similar in shape are often painted in a unique pattern so they can easily be recognized during daylight. This marking is called a daymark. The black and white barber pole spiral pattern of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is one example. Race Rocks Light in western Canada is painted in horizontal black and white bands to stand out against the horizon. [edit] Range lights Main article: Range lights Range Lights in Nantucket, Massachusetts, indicating the observer is left of the desired channel Aligning two fixed points on land provides a navigator with a line of position called a range in the USA and a transit in Britain. Ranges can be used to precisely align a vessel within a narrow channel such as in a river. With landmarks of a range illuminated with a set of fixed lighthouses, nighttime navigation is possible. Such paired lighthouses are called range lights in the USA and leading lights in the United Kingdom. Two lights are used in this scheme. The one closer to the vessel is named the beacon or front range; the furthest away is called the rear range. The rear range light is almost always taller than the front. When the vessel is on the correct course, the two lights line up above one another. But when the observer is out of position, the difference in alignment indicates the proper direction of travel to correct the problem. [edit] History Further information: History of lighthouses Kõpu Lighthouse in Estonia, the third oldest operating lighthouse in the world. [edit] Ancient Perhaps the most famous lighthouse in history is the Lighthouse of Alexandria, built on the island of Pharos in Hellenistic Egypt. The name Pharos is still used as the noun for “lighthouse” in some languages, for example: Albanian, Catalan and Romanian (far), French (phare), Italian, Galician and Spanish (faro), Portuguese (farol), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish (fyr), Bulgarian (???), and Greek (?????). The term “pharology” (study of lighthouses) also derives from the island’s name.[1] The Lighthouse of Alexandria was built in 280 BC to serve as the port’s landmark. With a height variously estimated between 115 and 135 meters (383 – 440 ft) it was among the tallest man-made structures on Earth for many centuries, and was identified as one of the Seven Wonders of the World by classical writers. Two lighthouses, each called the Pharos, were built at Dover soon after the Roman conquest of Britain. They were sited on the two heights (Eastern Heights and Western Heights) and modeled on the one built for Caligula’s aborted invasion at Boulogne.[1] Tang Dynasty Chinese writer Jia Dan wrote in his book (written between 785 – 805) that in the sea route forming the opening mouth of the Persian Gulf, the medieval Iranians had erected large minaret towers that served as lighthouses. Confirming the Chinese reports, a century later, Arab writers al-Mas’udi and al-Muqaddasi wrote of the same lighthouses.[1] In China, the medieval mosque at Canton had a minaret that served as a lighthouse. The later Song Dynasty Chinese pagoda tower built in medieval Hangzhou, known as the Liuhe Pagoda (erected in 1165), also served as a lighthouse for sailors along the Qiantang River. During the Dark Ages, Roman lighthouses fell into disuse, but some remained functional, such as the “Farum Brigantium”, now known as the Tower of Hercules, in A Coruña, Spain, and others in the Mediterranean Sea. As navigation improved, lighthouses gradually expanded into Western and Northern Europe.[1] One of the oldest working lighthouses in Europe is Hook Lighthouse located at Hook Head in County Wexford, Ireland. It was built during the medieval period, in a sturdy circular design. A century later, in the Late Middle Ages, a 40 ft tower was built by Edward the Black Prince at Cordouan near Gironde, France. One hundred years later, in 1581, Henri III asked architect Louis de Foix to survey it and estimate the cost of repair.[9] The high cost led to de Foix being contracted three years later to build a new one.[10] Building the lighthouse took twenty-seven years; finally completed in 1611, the tiered Cordouan symbolized French maritime power and prestige. The interior had sumptuous king’s apartments, decorated pillars and murals. Its upper level was rebuilt in 1788,[9] and the lighthouse has remained active since. The tower later became the first to use the revolutionary Fresnel lens, in the early 1820s. While visiting at this time, Briton Robert Stevenson was deeply impressed by the work being done with the new light. He sought to expand its use across Scotland as, fueled by the demands of the Age of Sail, lighthouse development began to gain pace.[11] [edit] Classic period Barnegat Lighthouse, a classic coastal lighthouse built by George Meade on Long Beach Island, New Jersey Lighthouse development accelerated in the 17th century with Britain’s Trinity House constructing its first in 1609, and a national lighthouse services established in Denmark (1650). In the UK, the first Eddystone Lighthouse was lit in 1698, though its third incarnation was the most enduring, designed by John Smeaton and finished in 1759.[12] As Britain became the dominant seapower, lighthouses constructed by the Stevenson family for the Northern Lighthouse Board began to appear in Scotland.[1] The earliest ‘lighthouse’ in North America was in St. Augustine, depicted on the map of Boazio, printed in London in 1791. Menendez built the tower after his landing in 1586. Boazio interviewed the Drake’s crew upon their return from the sack of St. Augustine. The next lighthouse in America was Boston Light on Little Brewster Island (1716). The first keeper was George Worthylake who drowned, along with his wife and daughter, when returning to the island in 1718. The original tower was destroyed by the British during the evacuation of Boston and eventually reconstructed in 1784. The oldest existing lighthouse in the United States is the Sandy Hook Lighthouse, NJ (1764), which is still in operation. By the end of the 19th century, the United States, with its long coastlines had the most lighthouses of any nation.[13] A modern automated lighthouse on St. Paul Island. The US Bureau of Lighthouses was created in 1789 by the 9th Act of the first Congress which placed lighthouses under federal control. Over the years, lighthouses were placed under the direction of Department of Revenue (this department was disbanded in 1820), Department of Treasury (until 1903), then the Department of Commerce. The Lighthouse Board (of the U.S. Lighthouse Establishment) held sway from 1852 to July 1, 1910, when Commerce created the Lighthouse Service. The United States Coast Guard took over on July 7, 1939.[14] After 1852 the US was divided into Lighthouse Districts; originally eight, they eventually numbered 19. Each District was run by a Naval Officer appointed by the Lighthouse Board as the District Inspector. He ran the district in tandem with an Army Corps of Engineers’ officer who was in charge of engineering projects. In 1910, civilians started replacing the military officers.[14] The first lighthouse in Canada was the Louisbourg Light built by the French in Nova Scotia in 1734. It was destroyed during the Siege of Louisbourg in 1758. The British built the Sambro Island Light at Halifax, Nova Scotia in the same year which has survived to the present day, making it the oldest surviving lighthouse in North America. The network of lighthouse built by the colonies of British North America were united in 1867 by the Canadian government which greatly expanded the Canadian lighthouse system through the Canadian Department of Marine, largely through economical wooden lighthouses staffed by families.[15] Lighthouses were extremely labour intensive in the classic era of lighthouse operation. Lighthouse keepers were needed to trim the wicks, replenish fuel, wind clockworks and perform maintenance tasks such as cleaning lenses and windows. In 1907, Nils Gustaf Dalén produced the sun valve which turned the beacon on and off using daylight. The first one was erected on Furuholmen’s lighthouse between Stockholm and Vaxholm.[16] In 1912 Dalén was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of ‘automatic valves designed to be used in combination with gas accumulators in lighthouses’.[17] Dalén’s inventions, electrification and automatic lamp changers began to make lighthouse keepers obsolete. For many years, lighthouses still had keepers, partly because lighthouse keepers could serve as a rescue service if necessary. Improvements in maritime navigation and safety such as GPS have led to the phasing out of non-automated lighthouses, with the last keepers removed in the 1990s.Often in inaccessible locations, modern lighthouses are more functional and less picturesque; usually they use solar-charged batteries and have a single stationary flashing light sitting on a steel skeleton tower. The last manned lighthouse built in the US was the Charleston Light constructed in 1962. Resembling an air traffic control tower, it features a modern triangular shape, aluminum alloy skin, air conditioning, and an elevator.[1] [edit] Famous lighthouse builders Point Reyes Lighthouse, showing the lighthouse and buildings comprising the light station John Smeaton is noteworthy for having designed the third and most famous Eddystone Lighthouse but some builders are well known for their work in building multiple lighthouses. The Stevenson family (Robert, Alan, David, Thomas, David Alan and Charles) made lighthouse building a three generation profession in Scotland. Irishman Alexander Mitchell invented and built a number of screwpile lighthouses despite blindness. Corps of Engineers Lieutenant George Meade built numerous lighthouses along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts before gaining wider fame as the winning general at the Battle of Gettysburg. Colonel Orlando M. Poe, engineer to General William Tecumseh Sherman in the Siege of Atlanta, designed and built some of the most exotic lighthouses in the most difficult locations on the Great Lakes. Alexander Ballantyne built two of the most challenging wave-washed lighthouses on barren rock in the Pacific, Tillamook Rock Light and St. George Reef Light.[19] Englishman James Douglass was knighted for his work on lighthouses. French merchant navy officer Marius Michel Pasha built a hundred of lighthouses along the coasts of the Ottoman Empire in a period of twenty years after the Crimean War (1853–1856).In the United States, lighthouses are maintained by the United States Coast Guard (USCG).[14] Those in England and Wales are looked after by Trinity House; in Scotland, by the Northern Lighthouse Board; and in Ireland by the Commissioners of Irish Lights. In Canada, they are managed by the Canadian Coast Guard. In Australia, lighthouses are conducted by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. The Soviet Union built a number of automated lighthouses powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators in remote locations. They operated for long periods without external support with great reliability.[21] However numerous installations deteriorated, were stolen, or vandalized. Some cannot be found due to poor record keeping.[22] [edit] Preservation As lighthouses became less essential to navigation, many of their historic structures faced demolition or neglect. In the United States, the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 provides for the transfer of lighthouse structures to local governments and private non-profit groups, while the USCG continues to maintain the lamps and lenses. In Canada, the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society won heritage status for Sambro Island Lighthouse, and sponsored a bill to change Canadian federal laws to protect lighthouses.[23] Many groups formed to restore and save lighthouses around the world. They include the World Lighthouse Society and the United States Lighthouse Society.[24] A further international group is the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society, which sends amateur radio operators to publicize the preservation of remote lighthouses throughout the world.[25] [edit] Popular culture and symbolism Split Point Lighthouse, used in the popular Australian TV series Round the Twist Cabo Branco Lighthouse in João Pessoa, Brazil is a major attraction at the easternmost inland point of the Americas Visiting and photographing lighthouses are popular hobbies as is collecting ceramic replicas. Some lighthouses are popular travel destinations in their own right, and the buildings maintained as tourist attractions. In the US, National Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend is celebrated on the first weekend of August, and International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend on the third weekend. Many lighthouses are open to the public and amateur radio operators communicate between them on these days. Lighthouses are popular icons on vehicle license plates. Barnegat Lighthouse, Tuckerton Island Lighthouse, Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse, Saybrook Breakwater Light, White Shoal Light, and Biloxi Light are so depicted.[26] The Disney film Pete’s Dragon featured a lighthouse and the resulting Helen Reddy song “Candle on the Water” alludes to it. The Australian television series Round the Twist also involved a family living at Split Point Lighthouse. The long-running American soap opera Guiding Light has featured a lighthouse in many of its opening title segments, and the fictional Springfield has a lighthouse situated near the town.[27] To recognize the role of lighthouse keepers in maritime safety, the US Coast Guard named a class of 175-foot (53 m) coastal buoy tenders after famous US lighthouse keepers. Fourteen ships in the class were built between 1996 and 2000.[28] Due to their function as beacons of safety, organizations choose lighthouses as a symbol. The lighthouse is the symbol of Lighthouse International, a US organization for the blind.[29] Lighthouses are often interpreted in dreams as beacons of truth or as male fertility and influence. Lighthouses were once regarded as an archetypal public good, because ships could benefit from the light without being forced to pay. One reason the Confederacy broke off from the United States was the former’s opposition to most taxpayer-funded internal improvements; yet even the Confederate States Constitution explicitly allowed public funds to be spent on lighthouses.[30] Their isolated and mysterious nature makes lighthouses a frequent feature of horror or suspense films, and adventure video games. Recently, a lighthouse played a pivotal role in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, and was featured in the final shot of the film. St. Anthony’s Lighthouse at St. Anthony’s Head near Falmouth, Cornwall was featured in the title sequence of the children’s live action puppet television program series Fraggle Rock created by Jim Henson.Most appearances of Alcatraz in popular culture are related to its former status as a federal prison. Both real life and fictional accounts of imprisonment on the island have been popular. One of the most well-known of Alcatraz’s historic inmates was Robert Franklin Stroud, known as “The Birdman of Alcatraz”. His biography was written by Thomas E. Gaddis and then adapted into a film in 1962, with Burt Lancaster playing the lead role. The 1995 film Murder in the First depicts a man who spends three years in solitary confinement at the prison. [edit] Escape and attempted escape [edit] In film and television Many films and television series have exploited Alcatraz Island’s reputation as being a prison from which it was almost impossible to escape. Don Siegel’s 1979 thriller Escape from Alcatraz chronicles the story of Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin, who escaped from Alcatraz in 1962, although it is not known whether they survived the trip across the bay. There is some hint at the end of the film that they did survive. The film portrayed both the conditions of life in the prison and the difficulty of escaping from it. Magician David Copperfield used the fascination surrounding escapes from Alcatraz as the foundation for an illusion, when he escaped from an Alcatraz prison cell in a 1987 television special, The Magic of David Copperfield IX. In The Jail Break, a 1946 short starring Mighty Mouse, “Bad Bill Bunion” escapes from Alcatraz (which is also shown to be holding Frankenstein’s monster and Count Dracula). In the episode 13th. of the 3rd. season of That 70′s Show, Steven says that he and his friends are in Alcatraz when he realize that they can’t escape from a restaurant. [edit] In video games Main article: Alcatraz: Prison Escape A computer video game was based on, but not directly referencing, some famous escapes from the prison facility. The video game, entitled Alcatraz: Prison Escape, was released worldwide on November 23, 2001. It was developed by Zombie Studios and published by Activision Value. The island was also featured as a playable level on the 2002 video game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4. The storyline of the Ghostlight game, Shadow Hearts: From The New World, takes the player to Alcatraz in order to bust out Al Capone, who was formerly a real-life prisoner of the island. “Crysis 2″ protagonist, “Alcatraz” is named after the Island. [edit] Hostages Alcatraz’s isolated and fortified image has meant that it has been used as a location for fictional hostage scenarios in various instances. The most successful of such films was The Rock (1996), in which a group from the United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance holds 81 tourists hostage, demanding monetary reparations. To defeat the hostage-takers, the Navy SEAL team enlist the help and knowledge of John Patrick Mason, the only inmate of Alcatraz who ever successfully escaped. Terrorists also use Alcatraz as a hiding-place after taking the Mayor of San Francisco hostage in the 1976 film The Enforcer.