Robert Stroud

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Robert Franklin Stroud (January 28, 1890 – November 21, 1963), popularly known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz", was an American murderer and federal prisoner who became an ornithologist and author while imprisoned at Leavenworth. He was one of the most notorious criminals in American history. Born in Seattle, Washington, Stroud ran away from his abusive father as a teenager and later worked as a pimp in the Alaska Territory. In 1909, he killed a bartender and was convicted of manslaughter, receiving a 12-year sentence at McNeil Island. While imprisoned, he developed a reputation for violence, culminating in the fatal stabbing of a prison guard at Leavenworth in 1916. Convicted of first-degree murder and initially sentenced to death, he was granted presidential clemency, and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in solitary confinement. At Leavenworth, he became known for raising canaries, published two books on avian diseases, and made several important contributions to avian pathology...

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