Paul Joseph Madigan (March 13, 1897 – December 25, 1974) was the third

warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically identic ...

of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, which was situated on Alcatraz Island, California, US. He was born in Maple Lake, Minnesota in 1897. Madigan served as the warden of Alcatraz from 1955 to 1961. He had earlier served as the last Associate Warden during the term of

James A. Johnston James Aloysius Johnston (September 15, 1874 – September 7, 1954) was an American politician and prison warden who served as the first and longest-serving warden of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, serving from 1934 to 1948. He had earlier served ...

, the first Warden of Alcatraz. He has been cited as the only warden who had worked his way up from the bottom of the ranks of the prison staff hierarchy, having worked originally as a Correctional Officer on Alcatraz from the 1930s. On May 21, 1941, Madigan was important in quashing an escape attempt after being held hostage in the

Model Industries Building The Model Industries building or Industries Building is a three/four-story building on the northwest corner of Alcatraz Island off the coast of San Francisco, USA. This building was originally built by the U.S. military and was used as a laundry bu ...

, which later led to a promotion to associate warden. He was a stout, ruddy-faced, pipe-smoking, devout Irish Catholic. Unlike his predecessors, Madigan was known for being more lenient and softer in his approach to administering the prison and was better liked by the prison staff. During his term as warden from January 1955, there was a movement underway headed by the likes of

James V. Bennett James Van Benschoten Bennett (August 29, 1894, in Silver Creek, New York, United States – November 19, 1978) was a leading American penal reformer and prison administrator who served as director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) from 1937 t ...

to close Alcatraz and replace it with a new centralized penitentiary. The decision was finalized in 1961, the year Madigan's term ended, and Alcatraz was closed two years later. In 1958-9 he was involved in a legal case against John Lee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madigan, Paul American prison wardens Wardens of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary 1897 births 1974 deaths People from Maple Lake, Minnesota Catholics from Minnesota Catholics from California