Professor Sheds Light on Secret Tunnels Below Alcatraz

Looks like the old timey prisoners at Alcatraz didn't need to dig escape tunnels after all. According to a professor from Texas A&M University, Alcatraz has decades-old tunnels and storage rooms below the prison's recreation yard and parade ground. He's working with a team from Chico State University and the National Park Service to research with ground penetrating radar hidden tunnels and embankments that date to the Civil War era. Before the island became a prison in 1933, it was a lighthouse, a military fort, and a military prison. The old tunnels were probably built in the mid-1800s and were covered up when the prison built a recreation yard.
· A&M prof searching Alcatraz for hidden tunnels [Chron]