PRIESTLEY’S Criminology students have visited a city that is home to one of the world’s most notorious prisons, Alcatraz.
They headed to San Francisco and visited Alcatraz – a prison that once held infamous criminals such as Al Capone, Robert Franklin Stroud (the ‘Birdman of Alcatraz’) and George ‘Machine Gun’ Kelly.
“Alcatraz was a great experience,” said Ashleigh Jones, a former pupil at The Heath.
“I found all the stories interesting and being there brought it all to life.”
During their visit to Alcatraz the 31 students heard about the infamous criminals of America’s past and found out about some of the city’s current crime concerns.
The trip enabled them to see how US prisons were formed and compare their design with those in the UK.
Criminals they had learnt about in class were brought to life as they took a crime tour around San Fransisco learning about the Zodiac Killer, a murder case which remains unsolved, and visiting the former Cole Street home of Charles Manson.
There were some lighter-hearted moments as they stopped by Fisherman’s Wharf, which is one of the main tourist destinations in the area, where they enjoyed meals at Bubba Gump and The Hard Rock Cafe.
The group also took a ride on the iconic cable cars with some of the braver students opting to ride on the outside of the cars.
And, of course, they had the opportunity to walk across the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.
“This was one of the highlights of the trip as we were surrounded by clouds as we walked across it, and then took a coach ride up above the clouds – it was quite surreal,” said Criminology tutor Claire Colwell.
