Alcatraz

You've heard the names... Al Capone. The Anglin brothers. The Birdman of Alcatraz. Whitey Thompson. They all spent time behind bars. So did I, but I wasn't inmate number 302 or 547, I wore the badge.In 1993, I walked the cellblocks of Alcatraz, known as ”The Rock."I stood inside San Quentin when notorious serial killer David Mason walked into the gas chamber as calmly as a man headed for a haircut.I've been strapped into Trenton State Prison's infamous electric chair, known as "Old Sparky", where 160 men met their end. I sat in that chair just ten years after it claimed its last victim, Ralph Hudson.The difference?  They were condemned.  I was there to learn.  I was a cop, a flatfoot, the fuzz, Five-O. And every time those prison gates closed behind me... they opened again.  I got to go home.  They did not.'m Detective Sergeant First Class Harry Gavel, join me in this podcast for a firsthand look at the places where crime and justice collided, from the perspective of a cop who always walked back out.