Charles Hopkins - Hard Time: The Life of an Incorrigible on Alcatraz

HARD TIME

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HARD TIME: THE LIFE OF AN INCORRIGIBLE ON ALCATRAZ

By Charles Hopkins

As Told to Don DeNevi

Copyright 2019 Don DeNevi

Cover copyright 2019 by Creative Texts Publishers, LLC

All Rights Reserved

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Published by Creative Texts Publishers, LLC

PO Box 50

Barto, PA 19504

www.creativetexts.com

ISBN: 978-0-578-55244-6

HARD TIME

The Life of an Incorrigible on Alcatraz

by

CHARLES HOPKINS

AS TOLD TO

DON DeNEVI

CREATIVE TEXTS PUBLISHERS

Barto, Pennsylvania

My friend and fellow alumni Charlie Hopkins and I both graduated from Americas Top Crime School- Charlie was a better student than I- Hes still free!

James Whitey Bulger

#1428 AZ

Early in prison, I was classified as psycho and incorrigible. It didnt matter, because I had already wasted the best part of my life racing toward hell. In the fifteen impressionable years of federal prison life that followed, I was housed daily with some of the most dangerous and notorious criminals in the annals of history. In some ways, I dont regret it, because many of them were the best friends I ever had.

Charlie Hopkins, 1999

#1186 AZ

From The Publisher

Although Alcatraz officially ceased prison operations in 1963, it remains the single most notorious, and possibly the most infamous, prison in the world. Even now more than 55 years after its closing as a functioning prison, the view of The Rock sitting alone in a tempestuous San Francisco Bay conjures up questions of what, exactly, would one have to do to be sent to such a place.

In its time, from 1934 until 1963, Alcatraz was the pinnacle of what it meant to be an escape-proof maximum-security penitentiary. Not only was Alcatraz home to thieves, bank robbers, kidnappers, and murderers, but it was home to what was considered to be the absolute worst of each type. Certainly, any federal prison is a tough environment, but to be sent to Alcatraz meant that the inmate being sent there required a level of security reserved for only 1% of all inmates, and also usually that they were either too violent or too much of an escape risk for any other maximum-security federal penitentiary.

Alcatraz, for example, was the place where men like Al Capone and Creepy Al Karpis were kept, both of whom were designated Public Enemy #1 by law enforcement prior to their capture. It was also the place where Robert Stroud, The Birdman of Alcatraz, was sent after killing a prison guard at another prison. Another notorious inmate of Alcatraz was The Atomic Spy Morton Sobell, who was widely publicized in the press for being a part of the network of Russian spies that were stealing American nuclear secrets after World War Two. The other two conspirators in the spy ring, a young couple by the name of Rosenberg, were sent to the electric chair, but Sobell went to Alcatraz.

Yet another notable Alcatraz inmate was Jack Twinning, who after being released from Alcatraz would go on in 1970 to participate in the murder no less than four California Highway Patrol officers in what would be dubbed the Newhall Massacre, the single bloodiest day in the history of California law enforcement and an incident that would change the way police departments train and conduct traffic stops forever.

But lest one think that Alcatraz is ancient history because the names listed are not familiar or their crimes occurred long ago, it should be recalled that it was only fairly recently, in 2011, that the notorious Boston gangster James Whitey Bulger, who was himself once an Alcatraz inmate, was captured and then subsequently murdered in prison in 2018.

No, Alcatraz may not be as familiar to the public today as it was when it was an active prison, but it is not ancient history. It is fair to say, however, that the men that served hard time there are a dying breed. As of 2019, it is estimated that no more than six of these men are still alive and when fate does call them to their eternal destiny, all of their memories and experiences will be lost to history forever unless captured for future generations. All told only about 1500 men served hard time in Alcatraz and only a very few have told their story.

In 2018, Creative Texts Publishers signed author Don DeNevi, who, in addition to being an Ed.D., served as Supervisor of Recreation for San Quentin State Prison for more than 15 years. Don has written several books on Alcatraz, including the one that became the basis for the television movie Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story starring Telly Savales and Art Carney. What Creative Texts did not realize at the time, however, was that Don also had an unpublished manuscript, one from former Alcatraz inmate Charlie Hopkins, that he had written in 1999.

Even more remarkable than the fact that the manuscript was unpublished was the fact that Mr. Hopkins is still alive and had made the news over the past several months for being the pen pal of James Whitey Bulger. Several years ago, Charlie reached out to Whitey in prison to thank him for what he did for Joe Carnes. Carnes was a notable Alcatraz inmate who participated in the bloody escape attempt in 1946 that left many guards dead and sent several prisoners to the electric chair. Carnes survived to be ultimately released but upon his death was buried in an unmarked grave. Bulger found out about it and paid thousands not only to have him reburied properly but also to have him moved to the Choctaw Reservation.

In Alcatraz, Joe was one of Charlies best friends. Years later, when Bulger went to Alcatraz, Joe was one of his best friends as well. Once acquainted through letters, Bulger and Charlie became extremely close, and one may accurately say best friends. Charlie is in possession of dozens of letters from Bulger and he is currently working on putting together a new manuscript based on those, but that is another story.

Charles Edward Hoppy Hopkins was Alcatraz inmate #1187 and he was far from an ordinary inmate. Charlie was born in 1932 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president and grew up during the Great Depression. Charlie was in and out of reform school as a boy and it was there that he met the Anglin brothers who years later would be the only inmates ever to escape from Alcatraz in 1962.

During one weekend in October 1952 Charlie and an accomplice decided it would be a good idea to do some joyriding and that joyriding trip evolved into a 3-day kidnapping spree that would encompass the capture of more than 20 people in at least 3 different states. One such person the men had kidnapped was a disabled war veteran and Charlie had a falling out with his partner over the disrespect his partner showed toward the man.

The next morning, Charlie awoke to find that his partner, aptly nicknamed the three-gun maniac, had a gun in his ribs and told him in no uncertain terms that he was leaving him and that he was lucky he was leaving him alive. He then split, leaving Charlie to face law enforcement alone.