Most people know Alcatraz as the infamous prison in San Francisco Bay, a place of punishment, isolation, and harsh living. Yet the story of the island is much richer than that. Long before it became a federal penitentiary, Alcatraz had gardens. In fact, the history of gardening on the island stretches back three times longer than its life as a prison.

Dermot Gavin tells us the story of the gardens of Alcatraz.