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On the morning of March 21, 1963, Alacatraz, the most secure prison and symbol of American justice across the nation closed down for good. The last prisoner off the island, Frank Weatherman, a gun smuggler and jailbreaker, offered an epitaph to the island's 29 years as the toughest federal penitentiary in the country. "Alcatraz was never no good for nobody," he said. Life Magazine assigned photographer Leigh Wiener to cover closing day at Alcatraz on March 21, 1963. Most of what he shot went unpublished until his son Devik rediscovered the images 45 years later. In 2012, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy published Wiener's photos in a book, Alcatraz: The Last Day.
-Vintage everyday
