It was at Leavenworth that he found a nest of sparrows in the prison exercise yard and began to study birds. He acquired canaries and became a self-taught expert on diseases affecting the birds. Eventually, Stroud wrote two books on the subject, and developed medicines for the treatment of various bird diseases – remarkable in itself, since his formal education stopped at third grade. His canary “business” grew to take over a second cell, and at one point prison authorities discovered he was using lab equipment to distill alcohol. That led to his transfer to Alcatraz (former home of Al Capone) – without his birds or equipment. He spent his time there writing a history of the federal penal system and his autobiography, neither published during his lifetime. Gaddis wrote Birdman in 1955, and 1962’s movie version saw Burt Lancaster playing Stroud as a man struggling to maintain his dignity while incarcerated. Stroud never got to read the book or see the movie; whether he was dignified or not, prison officials considered him violent and a dangerous sexual predator. In 1959, Stroud was transferred yet again, to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, where he died in 1963.

You have to admit, “Alcatraz” just has better ring to it than “Leavenworth.”