Her Father was a Guard and the Warden of San Quentin

Jean Meredith lived on Alcatraz from 1941-1944 and then 1946-1948. Her father was a guard on Alcatraz.

Interviewed by Gennifer Choldenko in Walnut Creek, CA, on June 27, 2013.

Jean Meredith

1. You have said that on Alcatraz there were no places to play but the parade ground which was a “block of cement” … what kind of games did you play?
We flew kites and roller-skated. We played crack-the-whip, hide-and-seek, and sardines (one person hides, when others find her, they hide with her). In the Social Hall, we bowled, played pool and ping pong, but we had to be invited to the Social Hall, we couldn’t just go there whenever we wanted.
2. Did you ever break the rules while on Alcatraz?
The beach was off limits but sometimes we went down there. Once we “encouraged someone” to take the warden’s secretary’s shoes off of his porch and toss them in the bay.
3. If you wanted to have a friend come over, what did you need to do?
We would get permission from our parents, who would submit the name and get approval from the prison administration. The friend would be given a boat time and they had to be on that boat. We would wait for them at the dock on Alcatraz and sign them in.
4. The convicts did your laundry. Did it ever come back mangled in any way?
My father had a black and white striped basketball referee shirt. He sent that through the laundry and it didn’t come back. Later, he found pieces of it in various prison cells. Another time when he was relatively new, my father’s shirt came back with slashes in the back.
5. How did your father interpret this? Did something he did provoke the convicts to slash his shirt?
No. He felt it was intended to scare him.
6. Did your father ever talk to you about the prisoners on Alcatraz?
My father said sometimes the convicts were there because they had done terrible things. Other times they were escape-prone. People thought you couldn’t escape from Alcatraz.
7. Did you ever have a toy confiscated?
Yes, my cap pistol. Toy guns were not allowed on the island. I never got it back, either.
8. Did you ever meet an inmate while he was collecting your garbage?
No, but at San Quentin our gardener was an inmate. He was really chatty. He liked to entertain my friends.
9. At one point, your dad was the warden of San Quentin. Could you tell us what it was like to be the daughter of a warden?
I was already in college by then, but I did come and visit often. We had one inmate who worked for us. He was a murderer who was (by then) in his seventies. He’d get feisty in prison, and my father would put him at our house to straighten him out and my mother would order him around.

“Mom,” I said, “Don’t forget the last woman who yelled at him was his wife and he cut off her head.”

“Oh no,” she said “he’s not going to do that here.”

10. You lived on the island during the 1943 escape. Can you tell us about this?
We knew a couple of convicts had escaped and had not yet been apprehended so we were supposed to stay inside. But I knew something was up because the boat had left the dock at an unspecified time. When it came back, two prisoners were on board. They were covered in axle grease, handcuffed with leg irons. They were scary looking. That’s not something I’ll ever forget.
11. What did the convicts think of your dad?
They respected him. He got Father’s Day cards and birthday cards from inmates and former inmates. When he went back to visit San Quentin, many of them begged for him to come back and be warden again.

Jean raised 5 children; was a community volunteer; “stay at home mom”. In 1980 she ran a friend’s successful campaign for the State Assembly and headed his District Office for 11 years (got paid!); still volunteers in church, politics, and three non-profits; visits with 7 grandchildren whenever she can and enjoys life with her husband of 61 years, Peter, a retired Berkeley Police Lieutenant.