Frank Lucas Bolt — Alcatraz Inmate AZ-1

Frank Lucas Bolt was the first listed federal inmate assigned to Alcatraz, receiving inmate number AZ-1. The National Archives’ official former Alcatraz inmate list records him as “BOLT, FRANK LUCAS 1.”

Bolt was serving in the U.S. Army in Panama when he was convicted of sodomy in 1932. He was first sent to a Pacific-area military prison, then transferred to Alcatraz in June 1934, before the prison’s official federal opening on August 11, 1934.

His case is historically important because he was not one of the famous gangsters usually associated with Alcatraz. Instead, Bolt’s imprisonment shows that Alcatraz was also used to punish people the government considered socially or morally undesirable at the time. HISTORY notes that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover signed Bolt’s admission papers and wanted Alcatraz to symbolize federal toughness, including the prosecution of homosexuality.