All corrections
Wikipedia March 21, 2026 at 01:20 AM

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz_Island

3 corrections found

1
Claim
The facility was later discontinued for Prisoners of War in 1846.
Correction

This date is impossible. Alcatraz was not even set aside as a U.S. military reservation until 1850, and Army use of the island continued until 1933.

Full reasoning

The year 1846 cannot be correct here.

  • The Federal Bureau of Prisons says Alcatraz was set aside for U.S. military use in 1850 and that the Army used the island from 1850 until 1933.
  • The National Park Service says Alcatraz was officially designated the military prison for the Department of the Pacific in 1861.

So a claim that the facility was "discontinued for Prisoners of War in 1846" is chronologically impossible: it predates both the island's U.S. military reservation status and its later prison use. This appears to be an erroneous date.

2 sources
  • BOP: Alcatraz

    In 1850, a presidential order set aside the island for possible use as a United States military reservation... The U.S. Army used the island for more than 80 years--from 1850 until 1933, when the island was transferred to the U.S. Department of Justice...

  • The Post on Alcatraces - Alcatraz Island (U.S. National Park Service)

    In 1861, Alcatraz was officially designated the military prison for the Department of the Pacific.

2
Claim
United Indians of All Tribes
Correction

The group that occupied Alcatraz was called Indians of All Tribes, Inc., not 'United Indians of All Tribes.'

Full reasoning

The organization name here is wrong.

The National Park Service's history of the occupation identifies the group as "Indians of All Tribes, Inc." It does not call the Alcatraz occupation group "United Indians of All Tribes."

That mistaken name matters because it conflates the Alcatraz occupiers with a different organization name used elsewhere.

2 sources
3
Claim
In 1972, the National Park Service purchased Alcatraz along with Fort Mason from the U.S. Army to establish the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Correction

Alcatraz was not purchased by the National Park Service from the Army in 1972. Official histories say the Army transferred Alcatraz to the Justice Department in 1933, and Congress created Golden Gate National Recreation Area in 1972, after which Alcatraz was added to the new park.

Full reasoning

This sentence gets the chain of custody wrong.

  • The Federal Bureau of Prisons says the U.S. Army used Alcatraz until 1933, when the island was transferred to the U.S. Department of Justice.
  • The National Park Service says Golden Gate National Recreation Area was established in 1972 by Public Law 92-589.
  • The Park Service's own Alcatraz history says that in May 1971 the General Services Administration announced plans to transfer Alcatraz to the Department of the Interior, and that in 1972 Alcatraz was added to the properties included in GGNRA.

So the Park Service did not "purchase Alcatraz ... from the U.S. Army" in 1972. By then, the Army had not controlled the island for decades.

3 sources
Model: OPENAI_GPT_5 Prompt: v1.16.0