Find the Black Sheep in Your Family: Records From Alcatraz and Other Federal Prisons Now Online at Ancestry.com

PROVO, Utah, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Does every family really have a "black sheep?"  According to Ancestry.com, one in eight Americans has a felon in their family tree. If you're curious whether your ancestor is among those who did time for their crime, Ancestry.com has made available online a collection of nearly 75,000 records of prisoners from several of the nation's most infamous U.S. penitentiaries, including Alcatraz, Leavenworth, McNeil Island and Atlanta. The prison record collection spans 1875 to 1963 and even includes photo ID cards of nearly 3,500 inmates who did time in McNeil Island.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101021/LA85713)

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20101021/LA85713)

"I think many of us at one time or another has wondered whether we have an outlaw in our past, and if we might be related to Billy the Kid, Jesse James or Al Capone," said Quinton Atkinson, director of content acquisition at Ancestry.com. "This unique collection allows individuals to explore that curiosity to see if they really do have an outlaw ancestor, and offers us a peak behind bars to see what their criminal life might have looked like."

Those who search this collection of prison records can learn a wealth of information about the inmates such as conviction date, offense committed, alias, where the prisoner came from and much more. In fact, the record indexes from Leavenworth and Alcatraz will be permanently available for free on Ancestry.com.

If your ancestor served time at one of these institutions, they could easily have rubbed elbows with some of America's most well-known criminals also found in the collection, including:

• Al Capone—This notorious Prohibition-era Chicago gangster was among the first to be sentenced to Alcatraz after making life too cozy for himself in another penitentiary.
• The "Birdman of Alcatraz"—Robert Stroud, otherwise known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz," was sentenced to 12 years for manslaughter in August 1909 at McNeil Island, was transferred to Leavenworth in 1912, and finally ended up in Alcatraz in 1942.
• Roy Gardner—Gardner, an infamous bank and train robber, escaped twice on his way to McNeil Island and later escaped McNeil Island in 1921. His mug shot and prison record from McNeil Island can be found in this collection.
• George "Machine Gun Kelly" Barnes—Barnes, a Prohibition-era robber and kidnapper, did time in both Leavenworth and Alcatraz.

This collection of prison records also reveals other notable facts about our nation's criminal past from that timeframe, including:

• Worst and best-behaved states— Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, Mississippi and Oklahoma top the list of worst behaved states according to this collection. Which states made the list for "best-behaved?"  Those include Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
• Common offenses—Some of the most common offenses perpetrated by these inmates included bank and postal robbery, which were most common in maximum-security facilities. Mail fraud, IRS law violations and counterfeiting topped offenses of those in medium-security facilities.
• Likelihood of Going to the Slammer—From the late 1870s through the mid 1900s, if you committed a felony your chances of going to the slammer was about 1 in 10, which is surprisingly comparable to today.
• Length of Sentence—The average length of sentence that an inmate served during this timeframe was nearly 2 1/2 years.

Those interested in exploring whether they have a black sheep in their own family tree can search today by going to www.ancestry.com/blacksheep.

About Ancestry.com Inc.

Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOM) is the world's largest online family history resource, with approximately 1.3 million paying subscribers. More than 5 billion records have been added to the site in the past 13 years. Ancestry users have created more than 19 million family trees containing over 1.9 billion profiles. Ancestry.com has local Web sites directed at nine countries, including its flagship Web site at www.ancestry.com.

SOURCE Ancestry.com