Shortly after President Roosevelt heard about the kidnappings, the Flying Squads were assembled and consisted of specialist agents who targeted gang members. PA Images via Getty Images. Every night for five months, they used discarded saw blades and smuggled cafeteria spoons to burrow into the rotting cement at the back of their cells. Alcatraz was designed to house the worst of the worst in the U.S. prison system at the time. A prison cook stands ready to serve inmates their meal on Christmas Day. Robert Stroud became famous when Hollywood made a movie called The Birdman of Alcatraz. It read in part: My name is John Anglin. A view from behind the bars in a guard station with cell block B on the left and cell block C on the right. There are very few prisons as notorious as Alcatraz, located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California. //-->