Alvin Karpis - Imprisonment

Imprisonment

Sentenced to life imprisonment, Karpis was incarcerated at the recently formed Alcatraz federal penitentiary from August 1936 to April 1962. For six months in 1958, he had been transferred to the Leavenworth federal penitentiary, but was then returned to Alcatraz. His main job at Alcatraz was working at the bakery. He was far from a model prisoner, frequently fighting with other inmates. Karpis served the longest sentence of any prisoner at Alcatraz (26 years). In April 1962, with Alcatraz in the process of being closed, he was transferred to McNeil Island Penitentiary in Washington state. While at McNeil, Karpis met a young Charles Manson. Karpis wrote about Manson in his autobiography with Robert Livesey (1980):

This kid approaches me to request music lessons. He wants to learn guitar and become a music star. “Little Charlie” is so lazy and shiftless, I doubt if he'll put in the time required to learn. The youngster has been in institutions all of his life — first orphanages, then reformatories, and finally federal prison. His mother, a prostitute, was never around to look after him. I decide it's time someone did something for him, and to my surprise, he learns quickly. He has a pleasant voice and a pleasing personality, although he's unusually meek and mild for a convict. He never has a harsh word to say and is never involved in even an argument.

After Manson had become somewhat proficient on the guitar, he asked Karpis for help in getting a job playing in Las Vegas as Karpis had contacts with nightclub and casino owners there. Manson told him he would be bigger than the Beatles, but Karpis decided to leave Manson on his own regarding his music career.