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Rock Hard: Autobiography of Former Alcatraz Inmate Leon "Whitey" Thompson

May 6, 2018
"Rock Hard" was originally self-published by the author under the title "Last Train to Alcatraz." I read the book in the late 1980s or early 1990s, as I had met the author selling and signing copies of his book at the Alcatraz bookshop. He spent the years 1958 to 1963 on Alcatraz when it was a prison, when he was transferred from the federal penitentiary at McNeil Island, as he was constantly getting into trouble with other prisoners and the guards. Alcatraz aka "The Rock" was a place for hardened prisoners. Thompson was convicted for bank robbery. He did calm down quite a bit at The Rock and found that he enjoyed painting and made friends of some of the other prisoners and also gained respect from several of the guards.

He writes about his life wherein he didn't feel loved and felt bullied and kicked around, especially by his father. He had a really bad temper that got him into trouble. I noticed this temper when I met him as I noticed for some reason he was getting irritated. I en
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Last Train to Alcatraz: The Autobiography of Leon (Whitey) Thompson, Former Alcatraz Inmate

July 4, 2020
4,5 stars

In October 1998 I was in San Francisco and of course also visited Alcatraz Island. After I've finished the audio tour over the premises and seen the cells, and the small court the inmates could use, I came by the souvenir shop. There was a small table with lots of red books that caught my attention. An old man, with a grey beard and a pony tail was signing them. I had missed his speech and they were already in the final stages of the Q&A session, so I didn't learn much about this person or his story. And the book was a costly $20. Still, I was curious and also intrigued by the life story of someone who was once an inmate here. So I bought the book, plus got myself an autograph of Mr. Thompson. I didn't regret it!

The book begins with the childhood of Leon Thompson, which was not a very nice affair. He was out on the street and responsible for himself at a very young age, and thus was easily led to petty crimes. He then went into the military and served in World
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Rock Hard: Autobiography of Former Alcatraz Inmate Leon ""Whitey"" Thompson

Leon Whitney Thompson. Pocket Books, $6.99 (384pp) ISBN 978-0-671-74363-5

Thompson spent the years 1958-1962 in the notorious Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay, and his book offers some interesting Alcatraz tales. However, the book also tells Thompson's entire life story, and despite the 70-year-old author's grit, the third-person narrative is burdened by excessive detail, cliched writing and dubiously reconstructed dialogue. Thompson recounts a troubled youth at the hands of a violent father, an early career as an armed robber and his betrayal by a confederate. Sentenced in 1948 to 15 years for bank robbery and other crimes, Thompson's volatile behavior earned him a transfer to Alcatraz. He describes a dog-eat-dog world, in which he would test his cell's light bulb daily for explosives and barely avoided killing a snitch. Despite an absence of rehabilitation programs, Thompson, prompted by a fellow inmate, took up painting and kept his cool when scapegoated for an escape. Released thanks to a court

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